The development and transformation of feminist identities under changing historical conditions

Abstract

This study examines intra-cultural differences in political identity, and the ways in which identity can be transformed. I compare women who came of age and began to be politically active in quite different historical eras—those involved in the League of Women Voters during the 1950s and 1960s, and those active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) during the 1970s and early 1980s. These findings illustrate that the identities of these two distinct “political generations” reflect the cultural and historical context in which they came of political age. However, existing notions of political generations in the social movement literature do not address the conditions under which someone of a particular generation transforms and takes on a world view different from that of her contemporaries. This study finds that identity transformation has the potential to occur at later points in the life course, when turning points in individual lives intersect with a rapidly changing social and cultural context.