Bringing together eighteen thought-provoking articles--most of them written especially for this volume--Women and Social Protest addresses a long-neglected area in social history and politics, showing how in recent years feminist social scientists have begun to reexamine women's involvement in social protest, the innovative forms this protest takes, and the impact of activism on women's lives. This timely and comprehensive anthology provides a much-needed forum for discussion of these topics, and shows how the sociological and political literature has long ignored, masked, or distorted the political activities of women, thus creating the stereotype of the "apolitical woman."Drawing on the work of sociologists, political scientists, historians, and experts in women's studies, Women and Social Protest explores four types of social protest--economic; racial, ethnic, and nationalistic; social nurturing and humanistic; and women's rights--considering a wealth of data from different eras and case studies from around the world. An introductory chapter provides a theoretical framework for the essays and helpful introductions to each section identify and elaborate general themes. In addition, a comprehensive bibliography offers the most extensive, up-to-date list of readings available. One of the first books to examine this important topic in detail, Women and Social Protest is a valuable contribution to the expanding field of social political theory.

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"Blewett challenges historians to incorporate gender analysis and a tradition of working women's protest into the history of the American labor movement." -- Georgia Historical Quarterly " Blewett's] detailed reconstruction of feminist perspectives in shoeworker protest and the divisions created by the competing loyalties to sisterhood and to working-class families is among the best available. . . . With works like this, it should be impossible to write about the American working class without including women." -- Historical Journal of Massachusetts "A highly stimulating and rewarding book." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"A must-read for scholars across a broad sweep of disciplines. Laurel Weldon weaves together skillfully the theoretical strands of gender equality policy, intersectionality, social movements, and representation in a multimethod/level comparative study that unequivocally places women's movements at the center of our understanding of democracy and social change." ---Amy G. Mazur, Washington State University "Laurel Weldon's When Protest Makes Policy expands and enriches our understanding of representation by stressing social movements as a primary avenue for the representation of marginalized groups. With powerful theory backed by persuasive analysis, it is a must-read for anyone interested in democracy and the representation of marginalized groups." ---Pamela Paxton, University of Texas at Austin "This is a bold and exciting book. There are many fine scholars who look at women's movements, political theorists who make claims about democracy, and policy analysts who do longitudinal treatments or cross-sectional evaluations of various policies. I know of no one, aside from Weldon, who is comfortable with all three of these roles." ---David Meyer, University of California, Irvine What role do social movements play in a democracy? Political theorist S. Laurel Weldon demonstrates that social movements provide a hitherto unrecognized form of democratic representation, and thus offer a significant potential for deepening democracy and overcoming social conflict. Through a series of case studies of movements conducted by women, women of color, and workers in the United States and other member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Weldon examines processes of representation at the local, state, and national levels. She concludes that, for systematically disadvantaged groups, social movements can be as important---sometimes more important---for the effective articulation of a group perspective as political parties, interest groups, or the physical presence of group members in legislatures. When Protest Makes Policy contributes to the emerging scholarship on civil society as well as the traditional scholarship on representation. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with advancing social cohesion and deepening democracy and inclusion as well as those concerned with advancing equality for women, ethnic and racial minorities, the working class, and poor people. S. Laurel Weldon is Professor of Political Science at Purdue University.

This volume analyses and historicises the memory of 1968 (understood as a marker of an emerging will for social change around the turn of that decade, rather than as a particular calendar year), focusing on cultural memory of the powerful signifier '68' and women’s experience of revolutionary agency. After an opening interrogation of the historical and contemporary significance of "1968" – why does it still matter? how and why is it remembered in the contexts of gender and geopolitics? and what implications does it have for broader feminist understandings of women and revolutionary agency? – the contributors explore women’s historical involvement in "1968" in different parts of the world and the different ways in which women’s experience as victims and perpetrators of violence are remembered and understood. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of protest and violence in the fields of history, politics and international relations, sociology, cultural studies, and women’s studies.

What is feminism? In this short, accessible primer, bell hooks explores the nature of feminism and its positive promise to eliminate sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. With her characteristic clarity and directness, hooks encourages readers to see how feminism can touch and change their lives—to see that feminism is for everybody.

For centuries women and other "gendered minorities" had to protest to gain equality. Their demands were often matched by counter-protest from conservative forces within historical societies that intended to return to "old orders" or "good old times." The present volume will take a closer look at the interrelationship between gender and protest and analyze in detail how gender-related perspectives stimulated protests and initiated historical changes. Through historical case studies that range from antiquity until modern times, specialists from different countries and disciplines discuss reasons for protest, gender as a factor that stimulated social conflicts, and the power of gendered protests of the past with regards to their impact and long-term impact until today.