Feminist Thought: Desire, Power and Academic Discourse (Twentieth Century Social Theory) - Softcover

Clough, Patricia

9781557864864: Feminist Thought: Desire, Power and Academic Discourse (Twentieth Century Social Theory)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557864861 ISBN 13: 9781557864864

Publisher: Wiley–Blackwell, 1994

This book is a review of some of the main variations of feminist theorizing since 1970. It charts the ways in which feminist thought has reconfigured the relationship between desire, power and academic discourse. It shows how feminist theorists have profoundly challenged the assumptions of social science, freely crossing disciplinary boundaries and giving shape to a new social criticism concerned not only with sexual difference, but also with the differences of race, class, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality.

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Review:

"The boundaries between the social sciences and the humanities and between science, literature and politics are collapsing. In a series of close, provocative textual studies, Clough exposes the political unconscious of the human sciences. Feminist Thought is a brave book that speaks powerfully to the current debates over the meaning and future of social theory." Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany, USA

"Feminist Thought gives us an insightful and readable guide to feminist scholarship in the late twentieth century. Starting with Kate Millett′s Sexual Politics and Adrienne Rich′s Of Woman Born, Patricia Clough challenges us to rethink the texts that have shaped feminist thought from the 1970s to the present. Especially rich and often intensely moving are Clough′s readings of feminist post–colonial theory, queer theory and African American feminist theory. The author′s intelligence, critical insight and theoretical power in treating the diversity of feminist thought makes this book one that ought to get serious consideration by a broad range of readers." Barbara Sherman Heyl, Illinois State University

"Patricia Clough′s work never fails to challenge me to clarify my assumptions about feminist theory and sociological methodology and to rethink the bases of my commitments to sociology and to women′s studies." Judith Wittner, Loyola University Chicago

Synopsis:

In reviewing some of the main variations of feminist theorizing since 1970, this book charts the ways in which feminist thought has re-configured the relationship between desire, power and academic discourse. It argues that feminist theorists have challenged the assumptions of social science, freely crossing disciplinary boundaries and giving shape to a new social criticism concerned not only with sexual difference, but also with the differences of race, class, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality. Clough's account of a quarter century of feminist thought focuses on several key texts, from Kate Millett's "Sexual Politics" (1970) to Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble" (1990), but it also considers the tradition of feminist theorizing across a wide range of academic disciplines.

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