From State-Managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis

Fraser, N. of Feminism. From State-managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis. London: Verso, 2013, 248 p.The book presents the evolution of from two perspectives: a historical perspective that outlines the feminist movements and feminist activism, and a theoretical perspective on feminist thinking that takes us on a journey from theories concentrated around the New Left to the dangers of neoliberalism. The book is structured around three as the author herself likes to call them, each of them representing a stage in the evolution of the feminist movement and thinking. It is interesting to point out that the book also offers an insight into the evolution of Nancy Fraser's thinking regarding feminist theory, making its way from the early feminist engagements, to the ideas and the legacy of the Frankfurt School, and to the implication of some major poststructuralist thinkers, such as Judith Butler and Michel Foucault.Nancy Fraser is an American critical theorist, professor of philosophy and political science at the New School for Social Research in New York and a thinker that developed her concepts of justice from traditional feminists like Martha Fineman. She considers justice a complex concept that must be understood along three different dimensions: distribution (economic justice), recognition (social/cultural justice) and representation (political justice). Starting with the winter of 2014, Nancy Fraser will become an associate professor of gender studies at Cambridge University.The term has multiple uses and its meanings are most often challenged. Some authors might use the term to refer to a political movement, while others use this term to highlight injustice that women face, or theoretical constructs in social and/or cultural studies. Even though the term is associated to women activism from the 19th century until present, a distinction has to be made between the feminist ideas and beliefs and the feminist political movement, even if it is only because individuals already theorized the notions of justice for women before the actual political activism.The book Fortunes of Feminism. From State-managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis identifies the first steps that feminist thinking made from it's birth to present, taking into consideration both aspects of feminism: both the historical aspect (represented by the feminist activism), as well as the theoretical aspect (represented by the evolution that feminist thinking made from theories concentrated around the New Left to the post-Westphalic position of today).I will present briefly the structure and contents of Nancy Fraser's Fortunes of Feminism. From State-managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis, from both historical and theoretical perspectives, and then a few words on my own point of view regarding the goals that the author is trying to achieve.Fortunes of Feminism. From State-managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis, at first it creates the impression of being a collection of essays that hold Nancy Fraser's critical theory, but the volume is more than that. The most interesting feature of the construction of this volume is following the evolution of Nancy Fraser's thinking, because the book holds essays written from the '80 until present. Therefore, a transition can be observed from the concepts of the Frankfurt School to incorporating in her work the thoughts of Michael Foucault and Judith Butler.The spotlight stands on the wave of that started its existence in the New Left and critical theories derived from Marxism, phycho-analsys, semiotics and other elements, its primary focus being the removal of androcentrism and sexism, which have been inherited from many social and political practices derived from the intellectual elements listed above. Nancy Fraser's point of view regarding the second wave of feminism compares its whole history to a drama in three acts, each of the parts corresponding to one of the three acts, but more on this later. …