Which Materialism and What Matter? Rethinking Marxism from a Materialist-Feminist Perspective

Abstract

The rethinking of Marxist feminism requires the development of a materialist theory of patriarchy and colonialism. In the absence of this theory, biologism and idealism take the lead, as happens in unitary theory, which argues that the subordination of women is due to cultural values or ideas and not to material relations of production. This essay shows that the inclusion of intersectionality does not necessarily neutralize the dominant modern idealist ontology, which refutes the idea that identity is the semiotic dimension of politically relevant materialities. To rethink Marxist feminism also requires an epistemological shift that breaks with that monotheistic thinking that has room for just one evildoer, one universal subject, and one fundamental contradiction.

Key Words:

• Epistemology
• Idealism
• Intersectionality
• Marxism
• Materialist Feminism

Notes

1 “Geocentrism” refers to a cosmological and planetary theory in which the Earth occupies the central position of the world system. “Heliocentrism” is a cosmological model in which the Sun is assumed to lie at or near a central point while the Earth and other bodies revolve around it.

2 “Ecocentrism” is a term used by environmental philosophers and ecologists to denote a nature-centered as opposed to a human-centered (i.e., anthropocentric or homocentric) system of values.