Author(s): Joan Wallach Scott (Contribution by)

Feminism

This landmark work from a renowned feminist historian is a foundational demonstration of the uses of gender as a conceptual tool for cultural and historical analysis. Exploring topics ranging from language and class to the politics of work and family, Joan Wallach Scott offers a trenchant critique of the compartmentalization of women's history, arguing that political and social categories are always fundamentally shaped by gender and that questions of gender are essential to considerations of difference in history. This thirtieth anniversary edition of Gender and the Politics of History shows the ongoing relevance of Scott's work. In a new preface, Scott reflects on the book's legacy and implications for contemporary politics, as well as what she has reconsidered as a result of her engagement with psychoanalytic theory. The book also includes a previously unpublished essay, "The Conundrum of Equality," which takes up the question of affirmative action.