Social Feminism

What is the relationship of patriarchy to class oppression? We will examine how feminists and the left have attempted to answer this question, from the 19th century to the present-day. We will do so through an exploration of socialist feminist theories like dual systems theory and social reproduction theory. We will also consider socialist feminist practice, through the at-times vexed relationship between feminist and left-wing movements in the First, Second, and Third Worlds. In other words, we will read Marx and Engels, but we will also read revolutionaries and writers like Alexandra Kollontai, Ding Ling, Claudia Jones, and Domitila Chúngara. Finally, we will look at contemporary writing on labor and reproduction to conceptualize what a socialist feminist platform for the 21st century might look like.