From Revolution to Deconstruction

Feminist theory is no longer guiding the development of policy interventions in Australia because it is seen to be irrelevant to modern women. Many leading feminists are locked into a politics that is based on liberal or socialist principles and do not want, or know, how to move away from these, even when this type of politics is failing to change many women’s circumstances. This book confronts feminism and challenges its relationship to philosophy, which the author argues impacts on the reception of poststructural theories, like deconstruction. It provides a narrative of why the potential for deconstruction has been denied, as well as where it has been taken on. It gives an account of deconstruction that tackles some of its more difficult aspects, namely its political applications. The book also outlines the history of Women’s Studies as a discipline, that is, its institutionalization, and identifies its theoretical concerns as a social movement with a political agenda. The book maps deconstruction’s impact on feminism in Australia and more specifically its introduction to Women’s Studies programs.