Consciousness raising or CR was a form of political action typically associated with the American Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) movement, and later with feminism internationally. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a radical student activist movement in the United states founded in 1959. ... Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. ...
The SDS found itself in an overwhelmingly anti-radical society, where many of its members adhered to radical politics, but did not understand them intimately. While political and ideological study groups were effective, they were seen to replicate the politics and organisational style of the Old Left. The SDS, which led the American New Left felt a strong organisational need for a new educational structure. The Old Left is a term used to describe classic 1930s-era Western Leninists, Trotskyists and Stalinists to differentiate them from the Marxists of the New Left who emerged between the 1960s and the 1970s. ... The New Left is a term used in political discourse to refer to radical left-wing movements from the 1960s onwards. ...
The answer was the use of consciousness raising groups. Within a CR group individuals discuss their own lives first, particularly in non-political ways. The group then develops a set of politics out of the immediate discussion at hand. This technique can be an incredibly powerful way to develop politics from non-political beginnings. It can, however, also be a way to destroy individual personalities, particularly ones which stand out from the crowd.
Compare with co-research as used by the Italian Autonomist marxists. Autonomism, or Autonomist Marxism is a left wing political movement and theory. ...
Consciousnessraising or CR was a form of political action typically associated with the American Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) movement, and later with feminism internationally.
The SDS, which led the American New Left felt a strong organisational need for a new educational structure.
The answer was the use of consciousnessraising groups.
Consciousness is what people are aware of, what they deliberately think about, the state of being aware.
Consciousnessraising is therefore the bringing to the surface of perceptions, feelings, or intuitions perhaps latent or unrecognized before: specifically, it is making others aware—perhaps during a consciousness-raising session (which is a cliché)—of the problems of groups you consider to be insufficiently recognized or served.
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