Socialist Review (US)
Encyclopedia
Socialist Review is a left-wing political and cultural magazine
published in the United States
since 1970. At the end of 2002 it was renamed Radical Society: Review of Culture and Politics (ISSN 1476-0851).
Socialist Revolution, under its founding editor James Weinstein
, began with a revolutionary perspective which was, however, very critical of the existing Marxist left (including the New Communist Movement
as well as established organizations) which it saw as undemocratic both in its way of operating and in its political aspirations. In the 1970s and early 1980s SR was strongly associated with the New American Movement
, and its politics in this period developed in a similar direction towards a more Social Democratic perspective. In the course of this development the journal was renamed Socialist Review in 1978, meanwhile absorbing the short-lived Marxist Perspectives.
Because the journal had been founded in San Francisco with an editorial collective that included many UC Berkeley graduate students, it showed an openness to theory that was not universally shared by journals on the left in the 1970s. As some of the original collective graduated and got teaching jobs in the Boston area, a second editorial collective was founded there (and later a short-lived New York collective also came into existence for similar reasons). As the members of the Boston collective began to get tenure, the nature of the two main editorial collectives began to diverge, with the Boston collective attracting junior faculty while the Bay Area collective continued well into the 1980s to be composed primarily of grad students and community activists. The Boston Collective was notable for the quality of its economic analysis, while the West Coast Collective was active in producing articles out of the various identity movements of the 1980s, always with an eye toward theory. During this period, a careful reader could tell exactly which collective was responsible for which articles in the journal, but to most observers it meant that Socialist Review reflected the diversity of positions available on the left.
Socialist Review came to be strongly associated with postmodern critical theory
and evolved into an academic journal with a strong cultural element. Among the notable articles published in SR was Donna Haraway
's "A Cyborg Manifesto," the founding document of Cyborg theory
. In 1991, Verso published Unfinished Business: 20 Years of Socialist Review, containing 20 of the best-known articles from its pages.
Among the editorial collective members of Socialist Review were such prominent writers and activists as Robert Allen
, Tomas Almaguer, Barbara Baran, Michael Barrett, Fred Block, Carl Boggs, Amy Bridges, Dick Bunce, Mina Davis Caufield, Debra Chasnoff
, Bell Gale Chevigny, Nancy Chodorow
, Harry Chotiner, Bruce Dancis, Gary Delgado, Carol Duncan, Kate Ellis
, Barbara L. Epstein, Steve Epstein, Jeffrey Escoffier, Candace Falk, Lou Ferleger, Amy Flecher, Laura Frader, Richard Flacks, Melia Franklin, Michael Gelobter, Herbert Gintis
, Jackie Goldsby, Roger Gottlieb, Karen Hansen, Carol Hatch, Dorothy Healey, Amber Hollibaugh, Candace Howes, Ann Kaplan, Denise Kastan, Michael Kazin
, Alex Keyssar, Karl Klare
, Richard Kohl, Michael Lerner
, Richard Lichtman, Ann Markusen, Steve McMahon
, Robby Meeropol, Louis Menashe, Ruth Milkman
, David Noble, Michael Omni, Ilene Philipson, Mike Pincus, Howard Pinderhughes, David Plotke, Leonard Quart, Elizabeth Rapaport, Rayna Rapp, Michael Reich, Bill Resnick, Michael Rosenthal, Pam Rosenthal
, Martha Rosler
, George Ross
, Elliott Sclar, Gay Seidman, Nancy Shaw, Jim Shoch, Ron Silliman
, Carmen Sirianni, Vicki Smith, Steve Spitzer, Dana Takagi, Howard Winant
, and Eli Zaretsky.
In 2002 the journal's name was changed again, to Radical Society
: A Review of Culture and Politics. From 2002 to 2003 it was published by the academic publisher Routledge
. , an independent publisher, Radical Society Ltd., took over publishing the journal and relaunched the Radical Society website, making past issues available online.
As of the end of 2006, the Editor-in-Chief of Radical Society is Timothy Don. It has since ceased publication.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
since 1970. At the end of 2002 it was renamed Radical Society: Review of Culture and Politics (ISSN 1476-0851).
Socialist Revolution, under its founding editor James Weinstein
James Weinstein
James "Jimmy" Weinstein was an American historian and journalist best known as the founder and publisher of In These Times...
, began with a revolutionary perspective which was, however, very critical of the existing Marxist left (including the New Communist Movement
New Communist Movement
The New Communist Movement ' was a Marxist-Leninist political movement of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. The term refers to a specific trend in the U.S. New Left which sought inspiration in the experience of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Chinese Revolution, and the Cuban...
as well as established organizations) which it saw as undemocratic both in its way of operating and in its political aspirations. In the 1970s and early 1980s SR was strongly associated with the New American Movement
New American Movement
The New American Movement was founded in 1971 by a group of leaders of opposition to the Vietnam War to serve as a forum for discussing where and how to redirect their activities. The call to convene was issued by Michael Lerner...
, and its politics in this period developed in a similar direction towards a more Social Democratic perspective. In the course of this development the journal was renamed Socialist Review in 1978, meanwhile absorbing the short-lived Marxist Perspectives.
Because the journal had been founded in San Francisco with an editorial collective that included many UC Berkeley graduate students, it showed an openness to theory that was not universally shared by journals on the left in the 1970s. As some of the original collective graduated and got teaching jobs in the Boston area, a second editorial collective was founded there (and later a short-lived New York collective also came into existence for similar reasons). As the members of the Boston collective began to get tenure, the nature of the two main editorial collectives began to diverge, with the Boston collective attracting junior faculty while the Bay Area collective continued well into the 1980s to be composed primarily of grad students and community activists. The Boston Collective was notable for the quality of its economic analysis, while the West Coast Collective was active in producing articles out of the various identity movements of the 1980s, always with an eye toward theory. During this period, a careful reader could tell exactly which collective was responsible for which articles in the journal, but to most observers it meant that Socialist Review reflected the diversity of positions available on the left.
Socialist Review came to be strongly associated with postmodern critical theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
and evolved into an academic journal with a strong cultural element. Among the notable articles published in SR was Donna Haraway
Donna Haraway
Donna J. Haraway is currently a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, United States...
's "A Cyborg Manifesto," the founding document of Cyborg theory
Cyborg theory
Cyborg theory was created by Donna Haraway in order to criticize traditional notions of feminism—particularly its strong emphasis on identity, rather than affinity. She uses the metaphor of a cyborg in order to construct a feminism that moves beyond dualisms and moves beyond the limitations of...
. In 1991, Verso published Unfinished Business: 20 Years of Socialist Review, containing 20 of the best-known articles from its pages.
Among the editorial collective members of Socialist Review were such prominent writers and activists as Robert Allen
Robert Allen
Robert Allen may refer to:*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Tennessee*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Virginia*Robert Allen , American Civil War general...
, Tomas Almaguer, Barbara Baran, Michael Barrett, Fred Block, Carl Boggs, Amy Bridges, Dick Bunce, Mina Davis Caufield, Debra Chasnoff
Debra Chasnoff
Debra Chasnoff is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and activist whose films address progressive social justice issues. Her production company GroundSpark produces and distributes films, educational resources and campaigns on issues ranging from environmental concerns to affordable...
, Bell Gale Chevigny, Nancy Chodorow
Nancy Chodorow
Nancy Julia Chodorow is a feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst. She has written a number of influential books, including The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender ; Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory ; Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond ;...
, Harry Chotiner, Bruce Dancis, Gary Delgado, Carol Duncan, Kate Ellis
Kate Ellis
Katherine Margaret "Kate" Ellis, MP is an Australian politician, representing the federal division of Adelaide since 2004 and is currently the Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare and the Minister for the Status of Women in the Gillard Government.-Early life and career:Ellis was...
, Barbara L. Epstein, Steve Epstein, Jeffrey Escoffier, Candace Falk, Lou Ferleger, Amy Flecher, Laura Frader, Richard Flacks, Melia Franklin, Michael Gelobter, Herbert Gintis
Herbert Gintis
Herbert Gintis is an American behavioral scientist, educator, and author. He is notable for his foundational views on Altruism, Cooperation, Epistemic Game Theory, Gene-culture coevolution, Efficiency wages, Strong reciprocity, and Human capital theory. Gintis has also written extensively on...
, Jackie Goldsby, Roger Gottlieb, Karen Hansen, Carol Hatch, Dorothy Healey, Amber Hollibaugh, Candace Howes, Ann Kaplan, Denise Kastan, Michael Kazin
Michael Kazin
Michael Kazin is a professor of history at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of Dissent magazine. See his website: http://michaelkazin.com- Early life :...
, Alex Keyssar, Karl Klare
Karl Klare
Karl E. Klare is a Matthews Distinguished University Professor of labor and employment law and legal theory at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, and the current coordinator of the International Network on Transformative Employment and Labor Law...
, Richard Kohl, Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner (rabbi)
Michael Lerner is a political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.-Family and Education:...
, Richard Lichtman, Ann Markusen, Steve McMahon
Steve McMahon
Stephen Joseph McMahon is an English former football midfielder who most notably played for Liverpool in the late 1980s...
, Robby Meeropol, Louis Menashe, Ruth Milkman
Ruth Milkman
Ruth Milkman is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles , where she is also director of the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations.-Education and career:...
, David Noble, Michael Omni, Ilene Philipson, Mike Pincus, Howard Pinderhughes, David Plotke, Leonard Quart, Elizabeth Rapaport, Rayna Rapp, Michael Reich, Bill Resnick, Michael Rosenthal, Pam Rosenthal
Pam Rosenthal
Pam Rosenthal is a Brooklyn-born author of erotic historical romance novels. Under the pseudonym Molly Weatherfield she has also written erotic novels in the BDSM genre . She and her husband Michael Rosenthal were part owners of the Modern Times bookstore in San Francisco...
, Martha Rosler
Martha Rosler
Martha Rosler is an American artist. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, where she now lives. She graduated from Brooklyn College and the University of California, San Diego . Rosler works in video, photo-text, installation, and performance, as well as writing about art and culture...
, George Ross
George Ross
George Ross may refer to:*George Ross , signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence*George Ross , Lt...
, Elliott Sclar, Gay Seidman, Nancy Shaw, Jim Shoch, Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman
Ron Silliman is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wrote a single poem, The Alphabet...
, Carmen Sirianni, Vicki Smith, Steve Spitzer, Dana Takagi, Howard Winant
Howard Winant
Howard Winant is an American sociologist and race theorist. Professor Winant is best known for developing the theory of racial formation along with Michael Omi...
, and Eli Zaretsky.
In 2002 the journal's name was changed again, to Radical Society
Radical Society
Radical Society is a quarterly journal published by Radical Society, Ltd. It continues the journal Socialist Review . Timothy Don is the current editor of Radical Society...
: A Review of Culture and Politics. From 2002 to 2003 it was published by the academic publisher Routledge
Routledge
Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
. , an independent publisher, Radical Society Ltd., took over publishing the journal and relaunched the Radical Society website, making past issues available online.
As of the end of 2006, the Editor-in-Chief of Radical Society is Timothy Don. It has since ceased publication.