The limits of Amy Allen's analysis of gender subordination in The Politics of Our Selves

Authors

  • Yara Frateschi Departamento de Filosofia. Unicamp.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/84-6746.2018.1.27903

Keywords:

Amy Allen, Gender Subordination, Critical Theory, Habermas, Foucault

Abstract

In this article, I argue that Amy Allen’s approach of gender issues in The Politics of Our Selves is precarious and partial insofar as it is focused on an analysis of subjection aiming to explain “how subordinated individuals come to be psychically invested in and attached to their subornation” 2. Although this is an undeniable aspect of gender subordination, it does not tackle the complexity of its symbolic and material causes. My main thesis is that Allen does not offer the best model for feminist Critical Theory in light of the complexities of capitalist societies, much less to the feminist struggles in the Global South, deeply marked by poverty, social inequality, racism and all sorts of violence against women.

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Author Biography

Yara Frateschi, Departamento de Filosofia. Unicamp.

Professora de Ética e Filosofia Política no DEpartamento de Filosofia da Unicamp. Bolsista de Produtividade em Pesquisa, CNPq, nivel 2.

References

ALLEN, Amy. The politics of our selves: Power, autonomy, and gender in contemporary critical theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/alle13622

______. The end of progress: Decolonizing the normative foundations of critical theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.

______. “Emancipation without Utopia Subjection, Modernity”. In: Hypatia vol. 30, no. 3 (Summer), 2015.

BENHABIB, Seyla. Critique, norm, and utopia: A study of the foundations of critical theory. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.

______. Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics. New York: Routledge; London: Polity, 1992.

______. The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

GATENS, Moira. “Let's talk story: Gender and the narrative self”. In: Critical Horizons, 15(1), 40-51, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/1440991713Z.00000000019

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Published

2018-04-23

How to Cite

Frateschi, Y. (2018). The limits of Amy Allen’s analysis of gender subordination in The Politics of Our Selves. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 63(1), 341–354. https://doi.org/10.15448/84-6746.2018.1.27903

Issue

Vol. 63 No. 1 (2018): Dossier - Jewish Philosophy

Section

Varia

License

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