Gender and History : The Limits of Social Theory in the Age of the Family

Examines the dynamics between the public and private spheres and argues that these dynamics shaped the major political theories of liberalism and Marxism in Western society. It also claims that feminism is a manifestation of the changing dynamic between the private and public spheres in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One. Feminist Practice: The Personal Is Political Chapter One. The Contemporary Women’s Movement Chapter Two. From Suffrage to Sexuality Part Two. Feminist Theory Chapter Three. Toward a Method for Understanding Gender Chapter Four. Gender and Modernity: Reinterpreting the Family, the State, and the Economy Part Three. Political Theory Chapter Five. John Locke: The Theoretical Separation of the Family and the State Chapter Six. Karl Marx: The Theoretical Separation of the Domestic and the Economic Chapter Seven. Conclusion Notes Index