Varieties of Feminism investigates the development of German feminism by contrasting it with women's movements that arise in countries, like the United States, committed to liberalism. With both conservative Christian and social democratic principles framing the feminist discourses and movement goals, which in turn shape public policy gains, Germany provides a tantalizing case study of gender politics done differently.
The German feminist trajectory reflects new political opportunities created first by national reunification and later, by European Union integration, as well as by historically established assumptions about social justice, family values, and state responsibility for the common good. Tracing the opportunities, constraints, and conflicts generated by using class struggle as the framework for gender mobilization—juxtaposing this with the liberal tradition where gender and race are more typically framed as similar—Ferree reveals how German feminists developed strategies and movement priorities quite different from those in the United States.
Price: $28.00
Pages: 320
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Publication Date:
07 March 2012
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780804757607
Format: Paperback
"Myra Marx Ferree's innovative study presents a critical key to understanding the structural and historical differences that have informed debates about and within German feminisms and that continue to do so. Organized into eight thorough and meticulously researched chapters, the book successfully tackles the specificity of German feminism . . . By making comprehensible and concrete the understanding of autonomy and autonomous women's projects Ferree depicts the heart of West German feminism . . . In sum, Ferree's intriguing and incisive examination will remain a unique and extremely valuable account of German feminism and gender politics. The author's analytic depth extends and differentiates previous theoretical work on German gender politics. The very strength of the book—its descriptive and investigative thrust, as well as its breadth—makes it exciting for a specialized audience of scholars, though this monograph is very clearly written and fully accessible even to nonspecialists in German societal movements. Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective is quite possibly the best existing inquiry into the significant differences between German and American feminisms."—Magda Mueller, SIGNS: Journal of Women & Culture in Society
Myra Marx Ferree is the Alice H. Cook Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her most recent books include Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights (2006) and Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (2003).
