PHL323H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Class Conflict, Socialist Feminism, Radical Feminism
Gender, Class, and Race
Is gender oppression just class oppression (in disguise)?
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Is race oppression just class oppression (in disguise)?
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Is class oppression just gender oppression (in disguise)?
•
If gender and race oppression just are class oppression, then emancipating
non-men and people of colour is the same thing as emancipating the lower
classes.
•
If gender and race oppression are not just class oppression, then
emancipating non-men and people of colour is not the same thing as
emancipating the lower classes.
•
Barbara Ehrenreich: What is Socialist Feminism?
Socialist feminism is something more than a conjunction of socialism and
feminism
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Radical feminism = all oppression is gender oppression. Class oppression is
just male aggression
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Mechanical Marxism = the only important features of capitalist society are
those relating to means of production or the conventional political sphere
•
Marxism and feminism both look at the world critically
Women's frustrations in the world lead us to socialism and feminism
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Will one subsume the other?
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Social sciences view the world as comprised of static balances and
symmetries
Dynamic antagonisms between opposing forces and groups
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Terrifying and liberating realisation of how terrible the world is but we
know what we need to do about it
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Intersection of theoretical and practical wisdom
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Capitalist societies are characterised by systemic inequality
Marxists: this is inherent to capitalism
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Profits are made by paying ppl less than their job is worth
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State has a monopoly on violence
State are the only ones who can imprison, kill, etc. without
repercussions
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This keeps capitalism in place
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Marxism - state power needs to be seized by the working class•
Feminism addresses gender inequality
General explanation: men have a physical advantage over women
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The reward for being good is protection from male violence
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Threatens the protection from male violence
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Capitalism's natural democracy and pluralism are myths•
Instinct and romantic love are also myths
Women are told they need to stay home for love
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We want a society that doesn’t need myths•
Radical feminism says all oppression is a result of male aggressiveness
This is myopic
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Leaves out details of men and women
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Radical feminism rules out possibility of reconciliation between men and
women
Rules out humanitarian and egalitarian society
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Socialist society displays far less violence towards women•
We must see how patriarchal oppression is altered by capitalism•
If we alter the means of production and the conventional political sphere, we
alter the peripheral parts of society
This does not work the other way
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According to Mechanical Marxism
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Socialist feminism: capitalism is a social and cultural totality; it is not confined
to select social spheres
Even unwaged housewives produce surplus value
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Classes can be oppressed in non-economic ways•
We need to combine certain aspects of radical feminism and mechanical
Marxism
We need to acknowledge the particular impact of capitalism
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Further directions for the socialist feminist synthesis •
Extension of the analysis of force as the foundation of both class and gender
oppression – but acknowledging that most people do not act under a direct
threat of violence.
1.
Figuring out what plays the role of force when it isn’t force. (Capitalist-
controlled mass culture?)
2.
The role that the subjugation of women plays in people’s implicit
acquiescence to capitalist social norms.
3.
Discern any fundamental interconnections between women’s struggle and
class struggle.
4.
Gloria Joseph: The Incompatible Menage A Trois: Marxism,
Feminism and Race
Joseph’s goal: show that striving for socialist feminist goals requires
addressing race questions either before or at least simultaneous with
addressing class and gender questions.
•
White women have power over black men
What about the US having a black male president but never a white
female president??
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Lecture 11
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
3:09 PM
Document Summary
If gender and race oppression just are class oppression, then emancipating non-men and people of colour is the same thing as emancipating the lower classes. If gender and race oppression are not just class oppression, then emancipating non-men and people of colour is not the same thing as emancipating the lower classes. Socialist feminism is something more than a conjunction of socialism and feminism. Radical feminism = all oppression is gender oppression. Mechanical marxism = the only important features of capitalist society are those relating to means of production or the conventional political sphere. Marxism and feminism both look at the world critically. Women"s frustrations in the world lead us to socialism and feminism. Social sciences view the world as comprised of static balances and symmetries. Terrifying and liberating realisation of how terrible the world is but we know what we need to do about it. Profits are made by paying ppl less than their job is worth.
