An Introduction to Feminism

Depending on whether we look at feminism through the lens of ‘theory’ or through the lens of ‘practice’, we will see different things. Disagreements and issues which are visible through one lens may not be visible through the other. The same is true of political theory and practice more generally. We know that Marxists, non-Marxist socialists, anarchists and liberals all have different analyses of the world and its workings, but that they can also unite (at least to some extent) in struggles such as the fight against higher student fees and the marketisation of education. In the context of that struggle, there might be substantial overlap between the things that all these parties say about the policies they are opposing: e.g. that these will tend to increase the inequality between rich and poor, and that they will seriously damage the quality and diversity of the education that is available. Conversely, there will be cases where people seem to agree at the level of theory, but come into conflict with one another in their efforts to put their commitments into practice. These may be disagreements about the means and ends which are permissible or impermissible, or likely to be effective, ineffective, or counterproductive. They may concern the forming of alliances – who should and should not count as an ally? They may have to do with the connections we draw (or don't draw) between the issue in question (e.g. student fees) and other issues (e.g. privatisation or capitalism).

The sorts of issues that I've suggested might be visible only in practical contexts are issues of strategy and transition, but they can also be issues of morality (what are the limits to the means we think are morally acceptable to attain some end? What are the limits to the people or groups we are prepared to co-operate with?), and of our underlying view as to how the political world works (‘Power concedes nothing without a demand’, to take the famous words of abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass as one example). Clearly, there is nothing about these issues which means that they can't appear at the level of theory: what is Marxism if it is not an analysis of how the world works and of how history develops?