 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Lise Vogel |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Historical Materialism Book Series |
| Subject | Marxist feminism |
| Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 231 (1987 edition) 266 (2014 edition) |
| ISBN | 978-1-60846-340-4 |
Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory (1983; revised edition 2013) is a book by the sociologist Lise Vogel that is considered an important contribution to Marxist Feminism. Vogel surveys Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's comments on the causes of women's oppression, examines how socialist movements in Europe and in the United States have addressed women's oppression, and argues that women's oppression should be understood in terms of women's role in social reproduction and in particular in reproducing labor power.
Vogel writes: "This book constitutes an argument for the power of Marxism to analyze the issues that face women today in their struggle for liberation. It strongly rejects, however, the assumption made by many socialists that the classical-Marxist tradition bequeaths a more or less complete analysis of the problem of women's oppression."[1]
The book received mixed reviews at the time of publication in 1983 but is now considered a founding text of Social Reproduction Theory.[2]