Names such as Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, or Simone Weil tend to evoke particular associations in people’s minds, even if these are somewhat vague or disparate. But we cannot say the same with any certainty for Viola Klein (1907–73). And yet, as a theorist and social researcher, she was highly attuned to the societal crises and failings of her time—especially the persistent gender inequalities and women’s experiences of oppression—and helped to address them. When comparing Klein to other thinkers, we must pay particular attention to her major work of social theory: The Feminine Character: History of an Ideology, published in 1946 by Routledge & Kegan Paul in the ‘International Library of Sociology’ series, which was founded by Karl Mannheim.
Continue reading Viola Klein: A Neglected Key Theorist of Gender StudiesAuthor: Lena Spickermann
Lena Spickermann studied sociology and social psychology at Ruhr University Bochum. Since October 2023, she has been a doctoral candidate in the international research training group ‘Resonant Self–World Relations in Ancient and Modern Socio-Religious Practices’ at the University of Graz and the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies in Erfurt. Her research focuses on gender and social theory, the sociology of knowledge, and racism studies.