NCJ Number
112330
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1988) Pages: 146-160
Date Published
1988
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The author responds to the Schwendingers review of his book, 'Capitalism, Patriarchy and Crime: Toward a Socialist Criminology' in this same issue of 'Social Justice,' noting their distortion of his basic ideas and failure to address the basic thesis of his book, i.e., that patriarchy exists independent of class structure and impacts crime and gender inequality in socialist as well as capitalist societies.
Abstract
After addressing 10 of the Schwendingers' distortions and misrepresentations of his book, the author discusses exploitation under patriarchal structures as distinguished from class structures as defined by Engels. Messerschmidt argues that women's labor has historically differed from men's labor, being congealed not only in the production of things (productive labor) but also in the production of people (reproductive labor). It is this essential aspect of the sexual division of labor which informs the exploitation of 'women-as-a-group' by 'men-as-a-group.' Messerschmidt notes that the Soviet Union has failed to address patriarchy within its socialist system, indicating that patriarchy can have a life of its own apart from the socioeconomic systems within which it is applied. 22 references.