Suchergebnisse

Reading feminist theory as a complex imaginative achievement, Feminist Imagination considers feminist commitment through the interrogation of its philosophical, political and affective connections with the past, and especially with the `race' trials of the twentieth century. The book looks at: the 'directionlessness' of contemporary feminist thought; the question of essentialism and embodiment; the racial tensions in the work of Simone de Beauvoir; the totalitarian character in Hannah Arendt; the 'mimetic Jew' and the concept of mimesis in the work of Judith Butler. Vikki Bell provides a compe

An analysis of a paradigm shift in US academia which posits that the major legacy of literary, artistic, & philosophical works to be transmitted to future generations should represent more than just the white, European & North American, male experience. Feminist scholarship has been a force in advancing this shift, primarily through identifying the misogynist underpinnings of Western tradition & the persistent misogynist orientation in political theory & empirical research. Gender is not even considered to be an analytical category; it is thus trivialized & left with no explanatory framework. The traditional alliances of feminist theory with the traditions of Sigmund Freud & Friedrich Nietzsche have been counterproductive because these two thinkers also held misogynist views. The current alliance between feminism & poststructuralism also presents political & intellectual problems. Thus, feminist theory still awaits critical application to the present. C. Grindle

Je passe en revue, dans cet article, certains problèmes clés des théories socialistes‐féministes de la reproduction de ľoppression des femmes; et j'appelle à un dialogue plus soutenu entre théorie féministe et 'théorie critique'. Bien que cette dernière ait jusqu'à maintenant peu étudié les questions de sexe, on les trouve en filigrane dans les thèmes principaux de la théorie critique. De plus, ces questions représentent une illustration de choix du besoin de reformulation des problématiques marxiennes traditionnelles si ľon veut mieux comprendre les formes complexes de domination inexplicables par la relation capital/salaire. Je crois qu'il est possible de reconstruire la théorie féministe au moyen de la théorie critique de façon à plus clairement articuler le role de ľaction sociale dans la reproduction et la transformation des structures de domination; cette reconstruction pourra aussi fonder la transformation socialiste sur la base de valeurs féministes.This paper reviews key problems in current socialist‐feminist theories of the reproduction of women's oppression, and argues for increased dialogue between feminist theory and 'critical theory'. While gender has not been a focus of critical theory, it is implicated in its central themes, and provides a ready illustration of the need to reframe the traditional Marxian problematic to more adequately understand complex forms of domination that cannot be explained by the capital/wage relationship. It is suggested that work in the tradition of critical theory may be instructive in reconstructing socialist feminist theory to articulate more clearly the role of agency in both reproducing and transforming structures of domination, and in grounding feminist values as a basis for socialist transformation.