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Book Tour: Virtual Sitdown with Charles Derber & Katherine Adam

Meet the authors of the latest political tome, The New Feminized Majority, and find out why they feel Barack Obama will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Who are Charles Derber and Katherine Adam?
Charlie is a professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of twelve acclaimed books on politics, morality and social justice. Katherine is a 2007 graduate of Boston College who now works on the GROW project at Drexel University in Philadelphia, a project evaluating social services to low income parents and families.

How did you decide to collaborate on The New Feminized Majority?
Charlie suggested to Katherine that her work on her undergraduate senior honors thesis had such an original and powerful argument that it should be made into a book. Katherine agreed this could be an exciting project and we agreed to work together in the summer of 2007 to make it happen.

Why was it important to write this book?
Because it clarifies the terrible distortions about moral values that pollute our politics, including the notion that the only “values voters” are Christian Evangelicals. The book shows that there is a much larger number of feminized values voters, made up of both men and women, who actually constitute the majority of the electorate. The New Feminized Majority also shows how these voters will determine the future of the nation, and how the Democrats can win and help transform America by promoting policies based on feminized values.

You say that Barak Obama is a better choice for change in the Democratic Party - and that he is a “feminized leader.” What does this mean?
Barack speaks up for a new unity based on ideals of justice, equality and non-violent, international partnerships. These are key feminized values, those which surveys show to be held predominantly by women. Obama also symbolizes these values in his personal identity, bridging divisions by across race and class. His message of change and hope speak to feminized values of moving America away from its traditional masculinized values of individualism, competition and use of force, all of which are now grotesquely embodied in John McCain and in the Bush Administration.

It seems like Hillary Clinton would be considered more of a feminized leader. How did you draw the conclusion that she isn’t?
We believe there are three Hillarys, and the Village Hillary (who wrote It Takes a Village) is deeply feminized. Village Hillary has worked for social programs to help working families and espouses feminized values of interdependency and community. The feminized Hillary also works closely with labor and supports more equality in wages and more social benefits for all workers.
But there is also a Corporate Clinton. She works closely with Wall Street and big corporate donors, and has supported subsidies to these companies while also accepting large corporate donors. Some of her most important advisers come from Wall Street
and big corporations. She has supported corporate globalization and corporate-friendly trade as well as corporate welfare. Her new campaign populist rhetoric is not backed up by her voting record.
A third Hillary is Hegemonic Hillary, often called the “Pentagon’s favorite Democrat.” She is the Clinton who voted to authorize the Iraq war, who has become increasingly hawkish on US foreign policy. She has voted on too many occasions to support the Bush Administration’s military policies, including the vote to approve designation of elite Iranian security units as “terrorist organizations.” This could lead to war with Iran – and Hegemonic Hillary is the most masculinized of the three Hillaries.
Ironically, the fact that Hillary is female makes it more difficult for her to support feminized values of non-violent approaches to foreign policy. She will be denounced by the masculinized elite minority as weak and too “womanly” to be Commander in Chief. But feminized values are not weak; they suggest a new model of strength based on collaboration and interdependency.

Do you think the book will have an impact on voters?
We hope so. This is the most important election in a long time – and we think it could shift the moral discourse toward the values of the feminized majority.

How do you think voters will embrace your tome during this hotly-contested election cycle?
The New Feminized Majority is easy to read and does not follow stereotypical gender or ideological distinctions. Many readers have already become fans, as you can see if you google the book and read some of the reviews.

What are you reading?
For Charlie, I’ve been reading a lot on the history of fascism, the moral rhetoric of Empire and the relation between environmental and social justice movements.

Who is your greatest champion?
For Charlie, it is the grass roots activists who are the real heroes, who dedicate their lives to making a difference and building powerful social movements for social justice, whether to preserve democracy, reduce the rich/poor divide or stop climate change. Among political leaders, Al Gore deserves a lot of credit for awakening people to the global warming crisis.

What’s next for you?
Too early to say. For Charlie, I’m doing a lot of work to get my two most recent books, including this one and another one called Morality Wars, out to the general public. I’m doing a lot of speaking and op-ed writing. I have some new book ideas percolating about where the world goes from here to save democracy and the planet itself.