In this thesis I explore the significance of the publication of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique (1963) to the emergence of the second wave Women�s Liberation Movement in the US in the late 1960s. To this end, I deploy key concepts provided through social movement theory (eg collective identity, collective action frames, social problem construction). I also incorporate Max Weber and Antonio Gramsci�s insights on the indispensable role played by leaders who demonstrate a clear and effective political will. Weber�s three part model of pure charisma is used as a general template for understanding the impact of Friedan�s text. I critique aspects of Weber�s theory of charisma, in particular his failure to appreciate that the written word can mark the initial emergence phase of charisma rather than its routinisation. I augment Weber�s insights on charismatic leadership by attending to Gramsci�s emphasis on the necessity of winning the �war of ideas� that must be waged at the level of civil society within advanced capitalist societies. I examine Gramsci�s understanding of the power available to the organic intellectual who is aligned with the interests of subaltern groups and who succeeds in revealing the hegemonic commitments of accepted �common sense�. In the latter part of this thesis, I apply these many useful concepts to my case study analysis of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique. I argue that Friedan�s accessible, middlebrow text gave birth to a new discursive politics which was critically important not only for older women, but for a younger generation of more radicalised women. I emphasise how Friedan�s text mounted a concerted attack on the discursive construction of femininity under patriarchal capitalism. I question Friedan�s diagnostic claim that the problems American women faced were adequately captured by the terminology of the trapped housewife syndrome. I conclude by arguing that social movement researchers have to date failed to appreciate the leadership potential of the charismatic author-leader who succeeds in addressing and offering a solution to a pressing social problem through the medium of a best-selling, middlebrow text.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216004 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Morgan, Joanne |
| Publisher | University of Sydney. Sociology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English, en_AU |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Morgan, Joanne;http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/copyright.html |
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