Full Description
In Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory, Nancy Hirschmann demonstrates not merely that modern theories of freedom are susceptible to gender and class analysis but that they must be analyzed in terms of gender and class in order to be understood at all. Through rigorous close readings of major and minor works of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Mill, Hirschmann establishes and examines the gender and class foundations of the modern understanding of freedom. Building on a social constructivist model of freedom that she developed in her award-winning book The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom, she makes in her new book another original and important contribution to political and feminist theory. Despite the prominence of "state of nature" ideas in modern political theory, Hirschmann argues, theories of freedom actually advance a social constructivist understanding of humanity. By rereading "human nature" in light of this insight, Hirschmann uncovers theories of freedom that are both more historically accurate and more relevant to contemporary politics.
Pigeonholing canonical theorists as proponents of either "positive" or "negative" liberty is historically inaccurate, she demonstrates, because theorists deploy both conceptions of freedom simultaneously throughout their work.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION: Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory 1 Negative and Positive Liberty in the Western Canon 2 The Social Construction of Freedom 13 The Gender Politics of Freedom 21 CHAPTER ONE: Thomas Hobbes: Desire and Rationality 29 The Will to Freedom 30 Freedom and Obligation: From Choice to Contract 35 Warrior Women, Invisible Wives 44 Natural Freedom, Civil Contract 49 The Social Construction of Freedom 63 The Containment of Difference 70 Conclusion 77 CHAPTER TWO: John Locke: Freedom, Reason, and the Education of Citizen-Subjects 79 The Role of Reason 80 Nature versus Nurture: The Role of Education 87 The Gendered Property of Freedom 91 Consent, Choice, and a Two-Tiered Conception of Freedom 99 The Construction of Individuality, the Discipline of Freedom 106 Conclusion 115 CHAPTER THREE: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Force, Freedom, and Family 118 Rousseau's Three Kinds of Freedom 119 Politics and the Will 125 Education, Will, and the Social Construction of Citizens 133 Gender, Education, and Virtue 138 Julie, or The Woman as Model Citizen 152 Gender, Passion, and Politics 161 Conclusion 166 CHAPTER FOUR: Immanuel Kant: The Inner World of Freedom 168 Transcendence and Phenomena 169 Ethics and Politics 178 Class, Education, and Social Construction 188 Sexual Constructions 195 Conclusion 207 CHAPTER FIVE: John Stuart Mill: Utility, Democracy, Equality 213 The "Two Mills" 216 Internal and External Realms 223 The Will to Utility 229 Democracy, Class, and Gender 238 The Class of Education 249 Politics, Participation, and Power 260 Conclusion 266 CONCLUSION: Rethinking Freedom in the Canon 274 Freedom in Its Two Forms 274 Gender, Class, and Berlin's Typology 281 The Social Construction of Freedom 287 Notes 291 References 317 Index 331
