Feminist New Materialism

This paper discusses the perspective of feminist new materialism, focusing on contemporary concepts that initiate gender inequality. It explores the theoretical framework of materialistic feminism and the role of language in shaping society. The paper also examines how materialism contributes to society from a feminist perspective.

Running head: FEMINIST NEW MATERIALISM
FEMINIST NEW MATERIALISM
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A range of contemporary perspectives in the arts, social sciences, humanities, and related
is called the new materialism. They have similarities among them in terms of theoretical and
practical ‘turn to matter’. While various new materialistic consider their work as discontinuous
with the historical materialism founded by Hegel and Marx, few recognize a connection through
the micro-political working of biopolitics, politics, and power. In material feminism, the focus is
mainly on capitalism and patriarchy, which are considered as the main reasons for women’s
oppression. In the twenty-first century, new materialism is certainly a trend that is growing
transdisciplinary. Language has been granted with an overwhelming power that has the potential
of impacting society and the social actions of social beings. In the linguistic aspect, language is
seen to have semiotic, interpretative, cultural along with materiality impact that represents
particular culture. The paper aims to discuss the perspective of feminist new materialism where
the focus is on the contemporary concepts that initiate gender inequality. The paper will discuss
the idea of materialism, the way it contributes to the humankind and the way it plays an essential
role in the perspective of feminism.
Materialism has its own way of contributing to a society that makes it vital for
considering it from the feminist perspective. In order to understand the effect of materialism can
be evaluated; however, it is important to understand the exact concepts that the theory of
materialism promoted from the philosophical perspective. In the clearest sense, according to
materialism, all that exists is physical matter. It involves negating thoughts, human will, feeling,
and faith. In a more subtle course, the worship of possession and material wealth is promoted by
materialism. Possessions are believed to be a satisfying human need, and they are characterized
as the quality of life. In a society, which will be considered godless, the philosophy of
materialism seems plausible (Hartsock 2017). According to Karl Marx and Hegel, human beings

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live in a world of appearances, and the actual reality is ideal. According to materialism or the
historical materialism, the main goal of life and their results involve the acquisition of material
goods such as envy, false comfort, lust, and idolatry. Self-interest is one of the main goals of
materialism, such as no compassion, selfishness, greed, and denial of the creator and eternal soul.
Materialism also involves possessing success that has no morals, ethics, or the sense of right and
wrong. Materialism is the opposite of theism that is atheism.
In order to get to the discussion of new materialism and feminism, the significance of the
topic that is the condition of women in the society from the feminist perspective. Women’s
position within the international law is an extremely complex. Women across the globe are
impacted and challenged in various ways. It is not only the gender that plays the entire role in
determining their condition but also several other aspects (March 2019). Along with gender in
the operation of economic system depends largely on their class, nationality, religion, disability,
language, disability and sexual preferences. Education is one of the most important determinants
of women’s capacity to operate effectively in economics terms. The enormous diversity among
women certainly makes the picture of their economic burdens more complicated. However,
several studies have provided information that the stereotypical gender division of labor is the
ultimate truth that is found in most of the professional spaces. In the working space, the priority,
without saying, goes to the male employees. In the same way, women across the globe are found
facing incredible challenges in gaining basic education. There are only very minor variations
from place to place. While in developed countries the picture is slightly different, in the
developing country the situation is acutely severe. In the developed countries although women
are found taking significant position in the workplaces, they are also found holding
responsibilities for the domestic tasks such as preparing food and managing children. The entire

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issue is also found resulting to enormous social issues such as domestic violence, global
feminization of poverty and health inequality and many more (Keck and Sikkink 2014). Looking
into the gigantic problem, when the phenomenon is observed from the sociological perspective,
it can be explained from the conflict theory presented by Karl Marx. It is to have power and
position that gender discrimination is found holding a strong place in the society. According to
Marx, there are limited resources in the society. Therefore, society is in state of constant struggle
where there is struggle for the limited resources (Omi and Winant 2014). Therefore, by
suppressing women, the society has made possible keeping a vast population away from their
resources. They tend to make a big difference foe male population is given priority and
privileges. The feminist perspective believes it is the gain of the opposite sex and their intension
that have made women oppression for centuries. However, in the present situation, the picture
stands different where the women are found braking social norms and standing as individuals.
They are found raising their voice and asking their basic fundamental rights.
According to Hartsock (2017), after the understanding of materialism, the theory of
materialistic feminism can be understood with clarity, specifically in the current era.
Materialism has its own way of contributing to society that makes it vital for considering it from
the feminism perspective. The theoretical framework that studies feminist knowledge including
division of labor, class struggle, state and government power, gender identity, racial identity,
economic power, sexual identity and national identity is materialistic feminism. The prime idea
about the materialistic feminist is to approach the issues not only systematically but also in
multiple levels (Delphy 2016). The global oppression of women in the society is seen through
materialistic or by their concrete economic and social conditions. It is mostly concentrated on
issues related to education, career and financial stability. Materialist feminism perceives that

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gender is socially constructed term. Historically women were seen only as an object of
reproduction apart from which they did not have any precise role to play. This specific role in
society depends on the circumstances and the time period. However the situation have become
different or can be stated as being changed by the feminists in order to fight for their
fundamental rights that one deserve for being a human (Bucholtz 2014.).
According to Braidotti (2016), the theory of posthumanism can have several definitions
depending on the backgrounds. In this area, the description of posthumanism can be considered
to be a situation that is created by the destruction of the human condition by the theorists who are
critical about it. According to essential theorists, feminism is not humanisms. Posthumanism is
different from classical humanism as it relates humanity to one of the several native species.
According to this perspective, there are no inherent rights of human that allows them to destroy
nature or think of them as superior. Theorists of post-structuralist have drawn the attention
towards the humanist theory flaws. The idea of ‘belonging to a common idea of the human’ has
been critiqued within the feminism. Post-humanism is designated several attempts to reconfigure
the relationship between technological developments and human embodiment. Few scholars use
the term as a metaphor for the violence of species purity and a threat of science. The latter
understanding of post-human connects with the feminist theory, where the political and ethical
questions are the primary concern. The differences among the genders are the main concern of
the feminists with posthumanism perspectives.
According to Sarangi and Slembrouck (2014), language has been granted with
overwhelming power that has the potential of impacting the society and the social actions of the
social beings. In the linguistic aspect, language is seen to have semiotic, interpretative, cultural
along with materiality impact that represents certain culture. It is through language that matter

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comes to matter. The power of language cannot be ignore and the way it has been playing an
important part in culture representation. Language is much more than simple medium of
communication. As stated by Goffman (2017), a particular language reflects messages that are
beyond its actual meaning and references. In the similar way, the criticism, critics, perspectives,
opposite, negation, interpretation and explanations are the tools that are developed by languages.
In the similar way, language has been identified as a tool that is responsible for the women’s
oppression. They have certainly put impact on the society in a way that has constructed the
society that promotes gender bias. As discussed before, language hold an important power and it
is crucial to understand the way language’s working power in order to understand the materiality.
The understanding is not only on the ways human bodily contours are considered by psychic
process but the ways it also involves the very small atoms that make up the biological body
which comes to matter and more generally the way matter that its makes feels. Considering the
feminism and linguistic theories of gender are revolving around this specific aspect. Many
feminist theories have emerged with the concept of the inter-relation of language and gender
from the political development of the movement. In the academic area, the language observed is
highly biased that portray female gender as the one that is not equal to the male gender (Barad
2003).
While the materialist feminist focused on capitalism and patriarchy as the cause of
women’s oppression the new materialist feminist look to the other components. Since the new
materialism is with the perception that it is not simply the concrete materials or the matters but
also some of the subjective concepts. There are some materialistic feminists who are keen about
knowing the way language effects society. They are not only interested to know the relation but
to understand the way language can be altered in order to bring change. These feminist works

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with the idea of trying to make social change through changes in the language that is used. As
discussed language certainly possess the power to shape reality. Through changing the way one
speaks about and in regard to female has an intensive impact on the people. Therefore, they focus
on modification of language that may bring change in their actions. The major problem with it is
that it is certainly not a simple task to bring change in the way language is used globally for one
gender. The first challenge is to make the broader population understand the way language has
been impacting the society followed by the way one can change their attitude towards the
problem (Richardson 2015).
As discussed above, a range of contemporary perspectives in the arts, social sciences,
humanities and related is called the new materialism. They have similarities among them in
terms of theoretical and practical ‘turn to matter’. It can be stated that materialism has its own
way of contributing to society that makes it vital for considering it from the feminism
perspective. In order to understand the effect of materialism can be evaluated however it is
important to understand the exact concepts that is promoted by it. There are limited resources in
the society. Therefore, society is in state of constant struggle where there is struggle for the
limited resources. After the understanding of materialism, materialistic feminism can be
understood with clarity, specifically in the current era. The theoretical framework that studies
feminist knowledge including division of labor, class struggle, state and government power,
gender identity, racial identity, economic power, sexual identity and national identity is
materialistic feminism. The prime idea about the materialistic feminist is to approach the issues
not only systematically but also in multiple levels. It is through language that matter comes to
matter. The power of language cannot be ignore and the way it has been playing an important
part in culture representation. Language is much more than simple medium of communication. A

7FEMINIST NEW MATERIALISM
particular language reflects messages that are beyond its actual meaning and references. In the
similar way, the criticism, critics, perspectives, opposite, negation, interpretation and
explanations are the tools that are developed by languages. Through changing the way one
speaks about and in regard to female has an intensive impact on the people. Therefore, they focus
on modification of language that may bring change in their actions.

8FEMINIST NEW MATERIALISM
References:
Barad, K., 2003. Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to
matter. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society, 28(3), pp.801-831.
Braidotti, R., 2016. Posthuman critical theory. In Critical posthumanism and planetary
futures (pp. 13-32). Springer, New Delhi.
Bucholtz, M., 2014. The feminist foundations of language, gender, and sexuality research. The
handbook of language, gender, and sexuality, pp.23-47.
Delphy, C., 2016. Close to home: A materialist analysis of women's oppression. Verso Books.
Goffman, E., 2017. Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates.
Routledge.
Hartsock, N.C., 2017. The feminist standpoint: Developing the ground for a specifically feminist
historical materialism. In Karl Marx (pp. 565-592). Routledge.
Hartsock, N.C., 2017. The feminist standpoint: Developing the ground for a specifically feminist
historical materialism. In Karl Marx (pp. 565-592). Routledge.
Keck, M.E. and Sikkink, K., 2014. Activists beyond borders: Advocacy networks in international
politics. Cornell University Press.
March, K.S., 2019. Women's Informal Associations in Developing Countries: catalysts for
change?. Routledge.
Omi, M. and Winant, H., 2014. Racial formation in the United States. Routledge.

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Richardson, K., 2015. An anthropology of robots and AI: Annihilation anxiety and machines.
Routledge.
Sarangi, S. and Slembrouck, S., 2014. Language, bureaucracy and social control. Routledge.