fratriarchy

English

Etymology

From, or as if from, Latin fratriarchia, modelled on fratri- (as in fraternal, fratricide) + -archy (as in patriarchy).

Noun

fratriarchy (countable and uncountable, plural fratriarchies)

1. A social system in which power is held by brothers.
   • 1964, John Marshall Holt, The Patriarchs of Israel:

     Nevertheless, the institution of fratriarchy would have no separate status if it were merely a matter of the son's taking the place of the deceased father. Consequently, the parallel with Hebrew fratriarchy is closer still, for in both cases it would appear that the father, while still alive, shared his authority as head of the family with the sons of the family.

   • 1988, Katarzyna Grosz, The Archive of the Wullu Family, Museum Tusculanum Press, →ISBN, page 19:

     This last problem received rather less attention than the previous three. a) The nature of family Koschaker perceived the family at Nuzi as a patriarchal one with vestigious remains of fratriarchy.

   • 2007, David Toshio Tsumura, The First Book of Smauel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, →ISBN, page 518:

     It reflects a system of the fratriarchy; his father Jesse had already retired (see 17:12; also Laban's role in Gen. 24:50). Note that McCarter too quickly emends the text to the plural “my brothers” following LXX and 4QSamb.

2. A power structure in which a fraternal group of men are dominant.

   Coordinate term: patriarchy

   • 2006, Jeff Hearn, Men In The Public Eye, Routledge, →ISBN:

     A recent example of this approach has been outlined by John Remy (1990) with patriarchy and fratriarchy seen as two arms or modes of a unitary system of dominance of rule by men. The relationship of the two modes may be antagonistic but ...

   • 2019, Professor Bob Pease, Facing Patriarchy: From a Violent Gender Order to a Culture of Peace, Zed Books Ltd., →ISBN:

     One way of framing homosociality between men is that of fratriarchy, which refers to male power associated with brotherly alliances and groups (Tallberg 2003). Isenberg (2013) defines it as a fusion of patriarchy and fraternity, ...

3. A hierarchical or discriminatory fraternity or fraternal interest group.
   • 2007, Michael Flood, Judith Kegan Gardiner, Bob Pease, Keith Pringle, International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Hearn,for instance, describes bureaucracies as mixtures of patriarchal and fratriarchal organisations, where men meet in fratriarchies, but relate through patriarchal hierarchies (Hearn 1992). Fratriarchy's 'competitive bonding' is based ...

   • 2009, Olympika:

     Fratriarchies are fraternal interest groups whose masculine practices serve to construct and reconstruct masculine hegemony. They foster masculine domination in a threefold manner by bringing men together, keeping men together, and putting women down.

   • 2011, Steve Georgakis, Katrina Marie Russell, Youth Sport in Australia, Sydney University Press, →ISBN, page 149:

     In the second section I examine surf lifesaving and surfing as fratriarchies, or brotherhoods, in which members bond through physical rites, intimidation, violence and denigrating women (Loy 1995).

   • 2011, H. Thorpe, Snowboarding Bodies in Theory and Practice, Springer, →ISBN, page 183:

     As well as excluding older and less skilled males, the snowboarding fratriarchy also has the potential to be violently homophobic. 'I hate to think what the young hard-core boarders would do to a homosexual rider,' said Nick.