Nancy Fraser: Feminism and Marxism

Feminism and Marxism

Noted scholar Nancy Fraser joined us for a wide-ranging interview covering Marx’ and Engels’ view of social reproduction, the tension between class, gender, and race, and the need for a “Feminism for the 99%”. Nancy Fraser was interviewed by Albert Scharenberg of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York.

The Significance of Rosa Luxemburg for Contemporary Social Theory

A hundred years since the first Berlin edition of The Accumulation of Capital: A Contribution to an Economic Explanation of Imperialism, no one needs a commemorative address to introduce the work. The work is still being referenced by scholars, writers and people all around the world who fight for democracy and justice; for a life of dignity, solidarity and ecological responsibility; and for socialism. Its continued prominence is a tribute to its author, her academic methodology and the topicality of the questions she posed, yet also demonstrates a corresponding weakness in the modern Left, particularly among socialists.

Rosa Luxemburg, one of the most fascinating characters in the struggle for freedom in equality, radically criticized capitalism’s social relations and capital accumulation, and fought equally radically against the resulting outcomes of human oppression and the destruction of nature. After her murder on 15 January 1919 by her political enemies, her legacy lived on, as it still does today: both her writings and the political, scholarly and cultural interest she inspires. It continues to educate, to motivate political engagement and to foment communication and collaboration.

Times of Crisis

Nancy Fraser speaks at Dartmouth College as part of GRID’s 2014 Spring Public Lecture Series: Times of Crisis. Her lecture was entitled “Behind Marx’s ‘Hidden Abode’: For a Gender-Sensitive Conception of Capitalism.”