The Feminine Ferment

This chapter discusses the structure of patriarchy and the relations established by it in Marx's thought. It starts from the hypothesis that while patriarchalism constitutes a form of domination and a mode of production in the pre-capitalist era, it does not die out, but is transformed into modern patriarchy, i.e., the hidden content of capitalist production and ideology. It develops along two axes that are not always separable from each other: on the one hand, the political problem of patriarchy underlying global capital; on the other hand, the scientific problem, i.e., the unresolved questions that Marx explores by calling into question common sense, especially historical-anthropological common sense, to reveal patriarchy as a battleground and not as an eternal and universal power structure.