Theorizing patriarchy

Sylvia Walby provides an overview of recent theoretical debates — Marxism, radical and liberal feminism, post–structuralism and dual systems theory. She shows how each can be applied to a range of substantive topics from paid work, housework and the state, to culture, sexuality and violence, relying on the most up–to–date empirical findings. Arguing that patriarchy has been vigorously adaptable to the changes in womena s position, and that some of womena s hard–won social gains have been transformed into new traps, Walby proposes a combination of class analysis with radical feminist theory to explain gender relations in terms of both patriarchal and capitalist structure.