ABSTRACT
Feminist theory and feminist politics were deeply entwined from the beginning of the second wave. Since theory loomed so large —as an impetus behind the forging of group identity among women and as a context for the feminist agenda —it is not surprising that there were disagreements over priorities. At least as important as feminist theory in the development of women's political consciousness was the blossoming of what came to be called "the new scholarship on women" and its extension into the classroom as women's studies. Between 1968 and 1973 —the first five years of sustained and politically inspired new thinking about women —more than five hundred feminist publications appeared in the United States alone. Feminist theory was never a monolith. In the first edition of a popular women's studies textbook, equal weight is given to "liberal feminism," "radical feminism," "Marxist feminism," and "socialist feminism" as "alternative feminist frameworks.".
