"Gender," as an idea or concept "defines the feminist critical
project." It is in the spirit of this project that Barbara Marshall
undertakes a critical examination of gender as a constitutive
category, not only in feminist social theory but also in recent
political debates.
This brief book focuses on how the idea of gender has developed
both in scholarship and in the public mind, for the notion of
gender has, as the author notes, "taken up residence in the public
consciousness, and become one of the lenses through which we seek
to understand ourselves and our everyday lives, as well as to
comprehend the public issues of the day." Gender has become a
critical social fact but a fact (like all such facts) constantly
reconstituted as those who fight the social issues through which it
travels, adopt it for their own purpose.
Feminists have defined critiques of patriarchal society
according to their understanding of gender divisions. In so doing,
they have also critiqued more traditional liberal and Marxist
theories for their blind spots with respect to gender. In turn,
Western feminists have been challenged by a new and diverse range
of voices that have entered the conversation more recently. Others
have deployed the idea of gender to undermine feminist politics,
rendering gender a pejorative term for those in dissident feminist,
anti-feminist, or conservative circles.
Marshall also sets the politicization of gender in a larger
context, examining the ways in which gender is continually
reconstructed in global processes of economic and political change.
She concludes with an attempt to reassess the status of gender as a
key concept for both feminist and sociological analysis and
suggests strategies for reconfiguring our understanding of gender
in a more contextualized and pragmatic way.
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