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A new feminist approach to political science and politics

Women's Political Voice

How Women are Transforming the Practice and Study of Politics

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Janet A. Flammang

Since the 1960's, academic and activist women have been challenging the conventional wisdom about political life and the study of politics. Organizing her book by standard political concepts—the mobilization and participation of the mass public; the recruitment, policy preferences, and political style of public officials; agenda-setting; and coalition-building—Janet Flammang subjects these concepts to a withering feminist critique based on the insights of feminist theory and the empirical evidence of hundreds of studies of women's distinctive politics.

This book accomplishes four major tasks:

• It provides a comprehensive critical history of the changing research on politics and the changing nature of the political science discipline.

• It analyzes the course of women's political activism in the United States.

• It develops a rich case study of women's politics in Northern California's Silicon Valley, an area once nicknamed "the feminist capital of the nation."

• It examines coalitions and divisions within the women's movement with sensitivity to minority politics, as in the chapter subtitled, "The Hard Work of Sisterhood."

Women's Political Voice records the transformative politics of the women's movement and, simultaneously, urges political scientists to ask new questions and to adopt new methods.

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Excerpt

Read an excerpt from Chapter 1 (pdf).

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Contents

Preface: The Puzzle of the Feminist Capital
Acknowledgments

Part I: Women's Political Voice in the Academy and the Community
1. Women's Political Voice in Political Science: The Women's Movement Challenges Conventional Wisdom in the Academy
2. Women's Political Life in Santa Clara County: A Favorable Climate for Women's Political Activism

Part II: Women and Mass Politics
3. Political Mobilization: Women's Shift from Individual to Group Consciousness and Activity
4. Political Participation: Women's Civic Activity in Communities and the State

Part III: Women and Elite Politics
5. Political Recruitment: Women's Distinctive Path to Public Office
6. Policy Preferences and Political Style: Female Officials as Liberal Feminist Problem Solvers

Part IV: Women and Elite-Mass Interaction
7. Agenda Setting: Women Bring New Issues to Public Attention
8. Political Coalitions: The Hard Work of Sisterhood

Notes
Index

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About the Author(s)

Janet A. Flammang is Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor of Political Science at Santa Clara University. She is the author or editor of two previous texts on U.S. politics.

Subject Categories

Political Science and Public Policy
Women's Studies

In the series

Women in the Political Economy, edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg.

No longer active.

Women in the Political Economy, edited by Ronnie J. Steinberg, includes books on women and issues of work, family, social movements, politics, feminism, and empowerment. It emphasizes women's roles in society and the social construction of gender and also explores current policy issues like comparable worth, international development, job training, and parental leave.

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