CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORIES

Feminist theory, as it has emerged in the last twenty-five years, is now a highly influential from of social thought. In its academic form, feminist thinking has both challenged the authority of male theory and produced a new body of knowledge concerned with issues of difference and diversity, identity and inequality, ethnicity, ‘race’ and class, as well as gender. Feminist theory has also shaped and been shaped by feminist activism.

Contemporary Feminist Theories is designed as a textbook introduction to ‘state of the art’ feminist theories. The volume maps the development of feminist thought from the ‘Second Wave’ to the present, and suggests future directions. It is multidisciplinary and covers the full spectrum of feminist theory from anthropology to media and from law to literature. It also covers the different political and theoretical positions feminists have taken up and introduces the key feminist thinkers in each area. Each chapter is written by an expert in her field, in this way producing a more comprehensive and incisive text than any existing single-authored work.

Reflecting the diversity of feminist theory, and its multiple practices and approaches, this book is an ideal classroom text which provides a map of feminist thinking, now and to come.

Features:

• Comprehensive coverage of a wide range of feminist theory

• An Introduction focusing on the ongoing re-definitions of feminist theory and outlining the main issues with which feminist theory engages

• Suggests future directions for feminist theory

• A list of Future Reading at the end of each chapter

Stevi Jackson is Professor of Women’s Studies and Director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of York.

Jackie Jones is Editorial Director at Edinburgh University Press.