Women and the Politics of Class

By Johanna Brenner

Book Overview

"Johanna Brenner writes with a clarity of purpose that arises out of a lifetime of participation in the struggles of working-class women. A major voice on the American left."
--Mike Davis, May 2000
Is there a future for feminism? The debate over the direction and politics of the women's movement has been joined recently by post-feminists and anti-feminists, in addition to competing feminist perspectives. In Women and the Politics of Class, Johanna Brenner offers a distinctive view, arguing for a strategic turn in feminist politics toward coalitions centered on the interests of working-class women.
Women and the Politics of Class engages many crucial contemporary feminist issues-abortion, reproductive technology, comparable worth, the impoverishment of women, the crisis in care-giving, and the shredding of the social safety net through welfare reform and budget cuts. These problems, Brenner argues, must be set in the political and economic context of a state and society dominated by the imperatives of capital accumulation.
Drawing on historical explorations of the labor movement and working-class politics, Brenner provides a fresh materialist approach to one of the most important issues of feminist theory today: the intersection of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583670106
• ISBN13: 9781583670101
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A scholarly, insightful, and superbly argued contribution

In Women And The Politics Of Class, Johanna Brenner (coordinator of Women's Studies at Portland State University presents an engaging and informative survey of crucial contemporary feminist issues including abortion, reproductive technology, comparable worth, the impoverishment of women, the crisis in care-giving, and the shredding of the social safety net. Brenner argues persuasively that all these issues of policy must be set within the political and economic context of a state and society dominated by the imperative of capital accumulation. Brenner draws upon historical explorations of the labor movement and working-class politics while providing a fresh materialist approach to the intersection of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class. Women And The Politics Of Class is an impressive, scholarly, insightful, and superbly argued contribution to personal and academic women's studies reading lists.