The Study On Judith Butler’s Marxist Feminism

Judith Butler is a professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. She is also one of the most famous postmodern ideologists.Her Gender Performativity Theory and Queer Theory made great contributions to the academicfields of critique of feminism, gender study, contemporary political philosophy and ethics. Thethesis points out her feminist standpoints follows Marxist with philosophical observation. Hergender theory, which based on Historical Materialism, and thinking model, which closelycombined female, politic and social movement, affording us an approach of development towardsgender and other social problems. Her works made a major contribution to women.The thesis is divided into four chapters, and makes an all-round and systematic analysis onButler’s Marxist feminism thoughts.The first chapter is introduction. It mainly introduces the development of three wave offeminism, the cause of formation of Butler phenomenon, and the meaning of Marxist feminism.The author thinks that studying Butler’s Marxist feminism is benefit for deeply understandingMarx and the Marxist feminist, and is essential to learn the newest trend of contemporaryfeminism and progress, as well as to shed light on promoting contemporary feminist theory andthe reality construct of the world. Domestic and foreign scholars generally agree that Butler was aadventurous and influential thinker. Her critical gender thoughts infused fresh blood to thedevelopment of women. At the meantime, the scholars also pointed out her works is sophisticatedand loose, her deconstruction of the subject disorientated feminism.The second chapter is the context analysis of the emerge of Butler’s Marxist feminismthoughts. Butler’s thoughts is not formed at once. Classical German philosophy,“Phenomenology-Existentialism”, psychoanalytic school, linguistic philosophy andpost-structuralism exercised a great influence on her. When talking about Butler’s theoreticalorigin, the author focuses on master-slave relation from Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Mind，Althusser’s interpellation, Foucault’s power discourse theory, Austin’s speech act theory andDerrida’s repeated reference theory. The theories from these philosophers made great influence onButler’s thoughts.The third chapter is the main content of Butler’s Marxist feminism.The author systematicallyanalyzes Butler’s Gender Performativity and Queer Theory, illustrating how women aredeconstructed in the performativity. Butler indicated that the subject is the product of powerdiscourse. With the different kind of social practice, power discourse manipulated individuals.Thus, Butler solved the problem of power discourse and focused on the identity. Under thecompulsion and oppression，the accepted identity is repeated and generates phantasmatic. Butler indicate that the physiological gender is always the social gender. Gender is made in theexercises of repetition. From then on, Butler began to fight for the gender discourse and conductthe revolution of gender.The fourth chapter is the evaluation for Butler’s Marxist feminism. From the influence thather thoughts made on the academic fields, her theories opened a new angle of view for feminismdevelopment, fostered more diversified and dynamic gender concepts deeply rooted in the heartsof people. However, there are limitations that cannot be ignored. Butler ignored that women’sliberation is the common cause of mankind. Only society freedom can lead to real liberation ofwomen. She ignored the third world women’s suffering, blindly insisted the spirit of freedom,which attended to trifles to the neglect of essentials, and led the theory to the desolate.ThoughButler’s thoughts is not perfect, it inherited Marxist. We may keep the valuable ones and reject theworthless, envisage the limitation, and find out its significance to women’s liberation movement.