The rise of neoliberal feminism
(Book, Online Content)
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Location | Format | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Hughes Main Library - Adult Non-Fiction | Book | 305.42 Rottenberg | On Shelf |
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Format
Book, Online Content
Physical Desc
xviii, 239 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
Language
English
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
From Hillary Clinton to Ivanka Trump and from Emma Watson all the way to Beyonce, more and more high-powered women are unabashedly identifying as feminists in the mainstream media. In the past few years feminism has indeed gained increasing visibility and even urgency. Yet, in her analysis of recent bestselling feminist manifestos, well-trafficked mommy blogs, and television series such as The Good Wife, Catherine Rottenberg reveals that a particular variant of feminism-which she calls neoliberal feminism-has come to dominate the cultural landscape, one that is not interested in a mass women's movement or struggles for social justice. Rather, this feminism has introduced the notion of a happy work-family balance into the popular imagination, while transforming balance into a feminist ideal. So-called "aspirational women" are now exhorted to focus on cultivating a felicitous equilibrium between their child-rearing responsibilities and their professional goals, and thus to abandon key goals that have historically informed feminism, including equal rights and liberation. Rottenberg maintains that because neoliberalism reduces everything to market calculations it actually needs feminism in order to "solve" thorny issues related to reproduction and care. She goes on to show how women of color and poor and immigrant women most often serve as the unacknowledged care-workers who enable professional women to strive toward balance, arguing that neoliberal feminism legitimates the exploitation of the vast majority of women while disarticulating any kind of structural critique. It is not surprising, then, that this new feminist discourse has increasingly dovetailedwith conservative forces. In Europe, gender parity has been used by Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders to further racist, anti-immigrant agendas, while in the United States, women's rights has been invoked to justify interventions in countries with majority Muslim populations. And though campaigns such as the #MeToo and #TimesUp appear to be shifting the discussion, given our frightening neoliberal reality, these movements are currently insufficient. Rottenberg therefore concludes by raising urgent questions about how we can successfully reorient and reclaim feminism as a social justice movement.
Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Rottenberg, C. (2018). The rise of neoliberal feminism . Oxford University Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Rottenberg, Catherine. 2018. The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Rottenberg, Catherine. The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Harvard Citation (style guide)Rottenberg, C. (2018). The rise of neoliberal feminism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Rottenberg, Catherine. The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism Oxford University Press, 2018.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.