Second Nature: Gender in Marx’s Grundrisse

Abstract

To the Marx scholar, the exclusion of gender from the Grundrisse appears differently. This chapter is in a position to see what the Grundrisse has to offer on the question of gender, both historically and conceptually, and to relate its offerings to contemporary debates in Marxist-feminist theory and in feminist theory more broadly. It explains Marx's interest in women's history, the history of the family, and women's labour within capitalism. Marx's work on gender ultimately overcomes discourses: the querelle des femmes and political economy, to argue some very contemporary points. The chapter foreshadows the shape of texts that set the terms of debate for twentieth-century feminism. The use of the term gender in this article has been both anachronistic and deliberate. Keywords:capitalism; gender; Grundrisse; Marx; Marxist-feminist theory; twentieth-century feminism