Life Without Father: Reconsidering Socialist-Feminist Theory

Matt Z.
Marx and Marxist Theory-Final Paper December 19, 2003

Rowbotham, Hartmann*, and Ehrenreich each draw on Marx to construct a new socialist-feminist approach to social analysis and political change. What aspect or aspects of Marx’s thought does each find to be most useful? Show how their choices about what to take from Marx shape the political implications of their theories. Whose use of Marx makes the most sense for contemporary feminism(or, if you wish, another contemporary social movement)?
[*will not be discussing her in my paper]

“So where do we go from here?(Gottlieb, 345).” This question marks the beginning of Barbara Ehrenreich’s conclusion to her article, Life without Father: Reconsidering Socialist-Feminist Theory.
However, in her writings, it is unclear to find such fundamental ideas as individual and group consciousness coupled with collective action as professed by Marx and Rowbotham. Rather, Ehrenreich sought to question, and reform, socialist-feminist theory as of 1984. By the time she wrote her article, Life Without Father: Reconsidering Socialist-Feminist Theory, there were many different branches of the socialist- feminist movement, thus creating an atmosphere of disjunction and incongruity amongst socialist-feminists (Lecture, 12/8). Ehrenreich was quite troubled as to why disunity was plaguing socialist-feminists, and in response, discussed that previous generalizations on socialist-feminist theory being based on the “capitalism-plus-patriarchy” explanation of male dominance in society, caused such alienation and distance of many from the true socialist-feminist movement. Alienation: A theme heavily discussed and emphasized by Marx in his 1844 Manuscripts, as he stated in the section entitled Estranged Labour: The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an even
In addition, fundamental feminism was to be employed, for this, unlike the explanations of “capitalism-plus-patriarchy,” would include women acting as women, women being women, and the strength and individuality of women within society. They would not be depersonalized, nor would they lose all potential autonomy and human subjectivity as it was within the realm of previous theories and explanations of the socialist-feminist