ABSTRACT
Materialist/structuralist approaches highlight the ways in which structures impinge upon individual identities. They prioritise a range of economic structures, particularly the formation of capital, the control over, and nature of, labour and the interlinking of economic, political and ideological power. In contrast, the theoretical approaches known as postmodernism and poststructuralism shift the focus from 'difficult to change', determining societal structures, to the power of individuals to challenge such structures. From the debates surrounding postmodernism and poststructuralism several facets link with the discussions in this book; the first concerns the nature of identities and the second the nature of power. Materialist, postmodern and poststructuralist theorists have influenced feminist debates concerning the nature of difference. A materialist femninist emphasis starts from key structural categories, gender, race, class in particular, seeing them as material and ideological divisions linked with the allocation of status and resources and consequently with forms of oppression.
