The Tyranny of Structurelessness
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"The Tyranny of Structurelessness" is an influential essay by American
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
Jo Freeman that concerns power relations within radical feminist collectives. The essay, inspired by Freeman's experiences in a 1960s women's liberation group, reflected on the feminist movement's experiments in resisting leadership hierarchy and structured
division of labor The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...
. This lack of structure, Freeman writes, disguised an informal, unacknowledged, and unaccountable leadership, and in this way ensured its malefaction by denying its existence. As a solution, Freeman suggests formalizing the existing hierarchies in the group and subjecting them to democratic control. The phrase has been used to describe one problem in organizing (the other being "rigidity of structure", according to
ecofeminist Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
Starhawk). In 2008 ''Community Development Journal'' reviewed the article as a "classic text" which editors felt had influenced the practice of community development. That year a
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
course used the paper in a course on leadership.


Publication history

The essay originated as a speech given to the Southern Female Rights Union at a conference in Beulah, Mississippi in May 1970. Freeman has stated that it was transcribed in 1971 for the
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
magazine ''Notes from the Third Year'' (whose editors chose not to publish it) and submitted to several women's liberation movement publications, only one of which sought her permission to publish it. Other outlets published it without asking for permission. It was first officially published in the journal ''The Second Wave'' in 1972. ''Agitprop'' issued the essay pamphlet form in 1972. The Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists, Leeds Group,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, later distributed it as well. In 1973 the author published different versions in the ''Berkeley Journal of Sociology'' and in ''
Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...
'' magazine. It was also published in ''Radical Feminism'' by Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone. Later printings included that of the Anarchist Workers' Association (Kingston Group), and in 1984 in a pamphlet called ''Untying the Knot: Feminism, Anarchism & Organisation'' jointly published by Dark Star Press and Rebel Press (printed by
Aldgate Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1886, it is the largest anarchist publishing house in the country and the oldest of its kind in the English speaking world. It is ba ...
).


Criticism

The essay's concept, as a phrase, haunts contemporary anarchist organizing, according to Uri Gordon, especially as her solution—to formalize existing hierarchy for democratic regulation—does not align with anarchism. Anarcha-feminist Cathy Levine disagreed with Freeman's recommendation, which Levine considered patriarchal and regressive. Anarchist
Jason McQuinn ''Alternative Press Review'' (byline: "Your guide beyond the mainstream") is a libertarian American magazine established in 1993 as a sister periodical to '' Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed''. The first issue was published in Fall 1993. As of ...
wrote that organizations with formal structures fare similarly if not worse. Other anarchists have cited the essay in their preference for formal federations in lieu of distributed networks.
Howard J. Ehrlich Howard J. Ehrlich (1932–2015) was a sociologist, educator, and author. Early life and career Howard J. Ehrlich was born and raised in New York City. He later graduated from Columbus, Ohio, public schools. He studied sociology at Ohio S ...
discussed the negative impact of the article on anarchist organizing in ''Reinventing Anarchy, Again.''
Howard J. Ehrlich Howard J. Ehrlich (1932–2015) was a sociologist, educator, and author. Early life and career Howard J. Ehrlich was born and raised in New York City. He later graduated from Columbus, Ohio, public schools. He studied sociology at Ohio S ...

''Reinventing Anarchy, Again''
, AK Press, 1996, 178-179 ,


See also

*
Democratic structuring {{primarysources, date=June 2010 The principles of democratic structuring were defined by Jo Freeman in "The Tyranny of Structurelessness", first delivered as a talk in 1970, later published in the ''Berkeley Journal of Sociology'' in 1972. They we ...
*
Leaderless resistance Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a Rebellion, social resistance strategy in which small, independent groups (Clandestine cell system, covert cells), or individuals (a solo cell is called a "Lone wolf (terrorism), lone wolf"), ch ...


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from the author {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyranny of Structurelessness 1971 essays Anarchist works Feminist essays Radical feminist literature Works originally published in American magazines Works originally published in political magazines Organizational structure Organizational behavior Group processes