Research Catalog

Title

Fighting for NOW : diversity and discord in the National Organization for Women / Kelsy Kretschmer.

Author

Kretschmer, Kelsy

Publication

• Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2019]
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 180 pages : illustrations; 22 cm

Summary

A new wave of feminist energy has swept the globe since 2016--from women's marches and the #MeToo movement to transwomen's inclusion and exclusion in feminism and participation in institutional politics. Amid all this, an organization declared dead or dying for thirty years--the National Organization for Women--has seen a membership boom. NOW presents an intriguing puzzle for scholars and activists alike. Considered one of the most stable organizations in the feminist movement, it has experienced much conflict and schism. Scholars have long argued that factionalism is the death knell of organizations, yet NOW continues to thrive despite internal conflicts. Fighting for NOW seeks to better understand how bureaucratic structures like NOW's simultaneously provide stability and longevity, while creating space for productive and healthy conflict among members. Kelsy Kretschmer explores these ideas through an examination of conflict in NOW's local chapters, its task forces and committees, and its satellite groups. NOW's history provides evidence for three basic arguments: bureaucratic groups are not insulated from factionalism; they are important sites of creativity and innovation for their movements; and schisms are not inherently bad for movement organizations. Hence, Fighting for NOW is in stark contrast to conventional scholarship, which has conceptualized factionalism as organizational failure. It also provides one of the few book-length explorations of NOW's trajectory, from its founding to the modern context. --

Subject

• National Organization for Women
• Feminism > United States > History
• Women's rights > United States > History
• Women > Political activity > History. > United States
• Feminism
• Women > Political activity
• Women's rights
• United States

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (page [155]-174) and index.

Contents

Feminist organizations: stability versus creativity? -- Bureaucracies, boundaries, and splitting -- Breaking at the roots: local schism in NOW -- Sticking at the top: national factionalism and the choice to stay -- Fracturing task forces -- Splitting satellites: non-profit status and schism in social movements -- Conclusion: schisms aren't always bad.

Call Number

JFD 19-4443

ISBN

• 9781517903169
• 1517903165
• 9781517903152
• 1517903157

LCCN

2018020499

OCLC

1035215967

Author

Kretschmer, Kelsy, author.

Title

Fighting for NOW : diversity and discord in the National Organization for Women / Kelsy Kretschmer.

Publisher

Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2019]

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page [155]-174) and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Kretschmer, Kelsy. Fighting for NOW. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2019] 9781452959146 (DLC) 2018021746

Research Call Number

JFD 19-4443