Suchergebnisse

This article explores the social relations of production within the rural household of colonial New England. It draws upon a review of the litera ture as well as primary research in Western Massachusetts to describe important aspects of patriarchal domination of sons and the extent and significance of the sexual division of labor. Two significant theoretical issues are emphasized: 1) There are important interconnections between control over children and control over women which have important implications for understanding the impact of the growth of capitalism on the family and 2) The fact that women in colonial New England played an important role in production did not ensure them any objective power within the household.

Lerner believes that patriarchy is a product of historical process and seeks to accelerate its demise by developing feminist consciousness. Covers more than 6000 years halting her study in 400 BC, in her search to uncover the roots of patriarchy and to understand the process by which it became entrenched. (JLN)

Abstract
This article seeks to demonstrate that the gendered structuring of property relations in England can be understood in terms of the historical development of modes of production and reproduction. Society at the barbarian chiefdom, feudal, and capitalist stages of development is analysed. It is argued that gender relations within barbarian chiefdoms were contradictory, and that these contradictions had detrimental implications for women under feudalism. Given this historical legacy, it is then argued that the specificity of capitalist property rights laid the basis for the division of classes along the lines of gender.