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Feminist Theory and Social Solidarity

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Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism: Critical Debates

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations ((PPCE,volume 22))

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Abstract

This paper provides a history of the concept of solidarity along with delineating four types of feminist thought: identitarian, Marxist/decolonial, intersectional, and neoliberal. I use these imperfect classifications to index feminist thought to its relationship to social solidarity more broadly. This shows how building feminist organizations can supplement or strengthen a general social solidarity or how they can detract from and harm general social solidarity. I argue that non-identitarian forms of feminist thought are more broadly compatible with building a broad base of social solidarity. This means that both identitarian and neoliberal forms of feminist thought, due to their easy association with and cooptation by capitalist forms of life are ill suited to enable us to build social solidarity.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, USA

    Nathan Rochelle DuFord

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  1. Nathan Rochelle DuFord
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Correspondence to Nathan Rochelle DuFord .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent, Brussels, Belgium

    Albena Azmanova

  2. Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA

    James Chamberlain

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DuFord, N.R. (2022). Feminist Theory and Social Solidarity. In: Azmanova, A., Chamberlain, J. (eds) Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism: Critical Debates. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08407-2_8

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