The Socialist Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics

by Nancy Holmstrom (Editor)

Socialist feminist theorizing is flourishing today. This collection is intended to show its strengths and resources and convey a sense of it as an ongoing project with a vital role to play in struggles for emancipation from all forms of oppression and exploitation today. Not every contribution to that project bears the same theoretical label, but the writings collected here share a broad aim of understanding women's subordination in a way which integrates class and sex—as well as aspects of women's identity such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation—with the aim of liberating women.
Socialist Feminism brings together the most important recent socialist feminist writings on a wide range of sex and reproduction, the family, wage labor, social welfare and public policy, the place of sex and gender in politics, and the philosophical foundations of socialist feminism. Although focusing on recent writings, the collection shows how these build on a struggle for women's liberation with earlier beginnings.
These writings demonstrate the range, depth, and vitality of contemporary social feminist debates. They also testify to the distinctive capacity of this project to address issues in a way that embraces collective experience and action while at the same time enabling each person to speak in their own personal voice.

Genres: Feminism, Gender and Sexuality, Politics, Gender

400 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ramin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book, with contributions from dozens of writers, most of whom are experts in women's studies, sociology, and political science. The articles cover a wide range of issues from a variety of different perspectives. I very much recommend this book.

It is a reader, but it is almost too long. My only criticism is that they seem to have tried to include too much, with some articles being cut too short to fit into the book. They also include a chapter containing only passages from earlier theorists, from Marx & Engels to Emma Goldman. This is only somewhat useful, because most readers of this book will already be familiar with these writers, and the other readers will not understand the passages out of context. Perhaps the book could have been split into two volumes.

[butterbook · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was not impressed by the bulk of essays in this collection. most were either 4th dimensionally academic or painfully uninsightful (or both). holmstrom seems to have had very little unifying criteria for the essays she chose. many of the essays were chapters pulled from larger works which did not stand well on their own. overall not worth reading.

[Maria S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good collection of recent writings to update older theory. Great for people who consider themselves feminists but haven't really explored what that means beyond the superficial definition that "women should have equal rights as men."

[(unknown) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i should really call her Nancy.