The Deradicalisation of Feminism: Ideology and Utopia in Action

Abstract

The distinctive radical feminist movement, which appeared in the United States around 1967, provided the women's movement with much of its initial impetus as well as its theoretical framework. As the movement grew and became more widely accepted, radical ideas and demands were blocked out by the larger and more orthodox liberal feminist organizations, and ceased to play an important part in the theoretical development of the whole movement. It is argued that any modern social movement which makes transformative demands on society - as the feminist movement does - must, in forming its ideas and programmes, fulfil certain conceptual and intellectual tasks which are characteristic of utopian thought, and which can be systematically analysed. One such task is the development of a holistic alternative theory of society and social change. The suppression of feminism's radical wing had the unintended consequence of eliminating the movement's major resource for the development of such a theory, and may seriously weaken feminism as a force for change in the future.