Bell Hooks Critical Analysis

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The critical approach to institutional contexts and social structures is one that aims to analyze them carefully and shrewdly, taking into consideration for example, how they exist in relation to and as agents of oppression, as well as examining the ways in which these institutions and social structures inherently propagate the oppression of marginalized peoples. As well as that, the critical approach intends to judiciously evaluate the function of these institutions and social structures in regards to the power relationship within them with an end goal of alleviating the struggle of those marginalized, exploited, and oppressed. Specifically, the critical approaches taken by bell hooks in “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression” and Michael Kimmel in “Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity” do not present the ideas of feminism and masculinity as just catch-all terms, but rather emphasize the complexities and intricacies of these concepts as they occur in the world. These texts also include varied perspectives on feminism and masculinity and analyze how they come together to create a thorough and comprehensive analysis of these concepts.
In “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression”, hooks, through critical analysis, proposes that a definitive and inclusive definition is needed in order for feminism to accomplish that which it wants. She first seeks to identify some of the many ways in

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