Lesson 4 Critical Perspectives in Political Theory:
Feminist and Postmodern
Feminist Perspective
How many political theorists do you come across while
reading your political science text books? Probably very less number or
sometimes no female at all, may be that is the reason some feminist claimed
that the history of political theory is the history of male theorist. Not only
political theory but most of the fields are male dominated and male managed.
The term feminism first came in use during the period of 1890s. But the origin
of modern feminism can only be traced back to late seventeenth century surely
not in its present form. She argued that women have the same potential for
rationality that men have and thus there is no reason why women should not
enjoy the same status that men enjoy. Nurture, not nature, argued
Wollstonecraft, is the cause of gender distinctions.
Schools of Feminism
Feminist movement as a whole was concerned with the women
rights and advocated for equality of sexes Vis a Vis challenged male dominance.
But did not prescribed a universalized single path, different feminist have
advocated different roots for women cause.
Liberal feminism emphasizes upon the equal worth of
all individuals whether male and female. The main focus is on achieving gender
equality through political and legal reforms within the liberal democratic
framework. Liberal feminism has a great admiration and belief for the
respective laws, the political institutions and the education. As they are
among the most relevant factors of human development, the major source of
inequality is the denial of equal legal and political rights.
Many feminists believe that liberalism is the source of the
problem and not the solution. Liberal feminists initially wanted equal right as
per men but treating men and women equally leads to two problems. This sameness
approach denies the very particularities of male female difference. First while
taking men as standard, it undermines the idea of femaleness. A female and male
are two different categories; women’s identity cannot be compromised to attain
an equality built on the male parameters. Secondly in the process of treating
female and male as equals it fails to accept that women and men are actually
different and so their problems.
Socialist feminism focuses upon the interconnection
between capitalism and patriarchy as both capitalist system of production and a
gendered biased institutionalized system of patriarchy is collectively
responsible for the women’s condition. Between 1960s and 1970s this variant of
feminism has spread widely. Socialist feminists believe that financial
dependence over males is a major cause of women’s oppression and
discrimination. In capitalist system of production unequal ownership of wealth
between women and men further give a boost to male domination. In this sense
subjugation of women to men is a result of economic dependence.
Though it did not repeat the mistake of liberal feminists
who consider both men and women equal but they too were subject to certain
criticism. Alexandra Kollontai criticized the feminists to neglect the poor working-class
women at the expense of upper-class bourgeois women who were still oppressing
the poor working women. So, feminist movement is actually a movement for the so
cold upper class women’s dominance over the poor lower-class women.
Radical feminism as its name suggests is a
perspective which advocates for radical reordering of a male dominated society.
The male dominated society is characterized by the male supremacy in all
social, economic and political sphere of life. Radical feminism advocated the
elimination of male’s supremacy and women's experiences should also be count
along with other divisions like race, class, and sexual orientation. They
proposed that the society is basically patriarchal based upon the women
oppression by men.
Three common points all feminist supporting are:
1. Entrenchment of Gender–Gender inequality is
widespread in all societies in all times. All feminist are in one voice
confirmed that the unequal bifurcation of individual roles on the bases of
gender has been a major and common issue of concern as this gendered division
lead to long term inequality in society. Assigning gender roles like private
sphere for women (the household responsibility) and the public sphere to men
(the breadwinner of household) is problematic to all feminists.
2. Existence of Patriarchy–Patriarchy literally means
‘rule of father’. Normally it signifies towards a condition where all necessary
and relevant decisions in a family are taken by the male member. Feminists have
consensus over the existence of patriarchy in society. Kate Millett who wrote
the “Sexual Politics” (1970) portrays patriarchy as a ‘social constant’ running
through all the political, social and economic structures. It according to her
is grounded in and operates from the family which works as a fertile ground for
patriarchy.
3. Need for Change–All feminists believe that there
is a deep need of change in the attitude and the manner hitherto society is
running. Different path can be adopted for the betterment of the women. It can be
through revolution the idea advocated by the revolutionary feminist or the
through strengthening laws as the liberal feminist wanted. This is more a kind
of individual change she was talking about, but a collective change in the
existing institutions, policies, values and practice is required.
Waves of Feminism
First wave This wave of feminism was emerged in the
1840s and 1850s and closely associated with the women’s suffrage movement.
Feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft Sylvia, John Stuart Mill, Emmeline,
Christabel Pankhurst and Sojourner Truth have advocated for women rights in
political and economic sphere. The major argument they presented to strengthen
their claim over women rights was equality of sexes. So one group claimed that
women were equal to men, other group argued that women were superior to the
men. The major demand in this wave was women’s interest cannot be sacrificed
and not subject to any reductionism.
Second wave came in 1960s with more radical and
sometimes revolutionary vigor. Women’s Liberation Movement. It is associated
with the resurgence of feminist activism, specifically the radical feminism, in
1960s and 1970s. Germaine Greer, Shulamith Firestone, Andrea Dworkin and Mar
Daly are some key feminist in this wave. During this wave feminism, prime
concern was male violence toward women particularly sexual violence. Major
focus was on attacking this kind of violence, rejected the feminine norms like
the sexual submissiveness and participation in beauty practices. Oppose those
practices considered as common norm is society such as gendered distinction of
work and do favor female solidarity and sisterhood.
Post Feminism
It is characterized by the resistance towards the themes of
second wave feminism by feminists like Katie Roiphe, Camille Paglia, Natasha
Walter and Pat Califia. Feminists during this wave demanded that women must not
see themselves as victims, rather consider themselves as active agents.
Sexuality should be thought as liberating and consensual sex should not be treated
as a taboo. Feminism should focus on women’s material equality rather than
symbolic aspect of gender.
Personal is Political
1. Power, a distinguishing feature of the political but
private sphere is also a sphere of power. Power exists within the family, among
the gender relations between husband and wife, sister and brother and so on.
For example domestic violence is clear reflection of the use of power within
family.
2. The domestic sphere itself is the result of the political
decisions taken in other sphere. In that sense political sphere infiltrates
private sphere. State interference in family matters and the institution of marriage
reveals this infiltration. Marriages are sanction by the state; the state is
the supreme authority to decide who can be marrying and whom you cannot marry.
Every state has their own marriage criteria such as a particular age of
marriage, guidelines about homosexual marriages and other such laws.
3. Domestic life is where most of individual’s early
socialization takes place. Private sphere creates the psychological conditions
that can govern public life. The social construction (gender division of labor)
and patriarchal surrounding (where key decisions are taken by the mal member in
family) work as an initial setup.
4. The division of
labor within majority of families raises psychological and practical barriers
against women in all other spheres. The household responsibilities cause
women’s underrepresentation in most relevant public institutions like
government, judiciary and economy.
Sex and Gender
Feminists have confirmed the fact that gender and sex are
two different things and gender distinctions are socially constructed. It means
that it is the result of political arrangements and is acquiescent to social
and political analysis. Since the seventeenth century, some feminist have
argued that the women’s nature which is characterized as natural and universal
is actually artificial and distorted, a product of constructed societal
upbringing. In the words of the Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, ‘One is
not born but rather becomes a woman’. In the later period this statement starts
formalized into the sex/gender distinction.
Sex/Gender difference became quite relevant because
constructed gender division forced women to sacrifice their careers for
parenthood, do the majority of unpaid domestic work and are made vulnerable
through the institution of marriage. These differences between men and women do
not stem from biological differences but from unequal power relations between
male and female. All feminists are united in their concern for liberating women
and adopt diverse theoretical positions for identifying these injustices. In
accordance with their findings they present different prescriptions of what
needs to be done to create a more equal society.
To be a political theory as a ‘feminist’ theory it should be
emphasizes upon the eliminating of oppression of women by men and also by women
in all forms. Feminism should not be misunderstood as against the men as it is
not against by but the male dominance over the women or for that matter any
such domination either by men or women. It is characterized by its political
stance and the attempt to advance the social role of women. They have
highlighted the problem of unequal political relationship between the sexes,
the supremacy of men in every sphere and the subjection of women in most the
societies.
Post Modernism
Post modernism is a product of modernism and modernist
values, a late 20th-century movement outlined by broad level of skepticism,
relativism and subjectivism against the prescribed and established set of
knowledge. Other features include the suspicion towards the reason and a deep
sensitivity for the role of ideology in avowing and nourishing political and
economic power. It opposes the modernist statement that there is an objective
reality. It believes that the explanatory statement of scientists and
historians can be objectively true or false.
Post modernism is not a single unified perspective or a
systematic universal philosophy. It includes a range of theoreticians like
Francois Lyotard, Mikhail Bakhtin, Paul De Man, Michel Faucault, Roland
Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, William E Connolly, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan,
Gaston Bachelard, Richard Rorty, Herbert Marcuse, Luce Irigaray and others.
Defining Postmodernism
According to Jane Bennett the term postmodernism can be understood
in three ways.
First as a sociological designation for an epochal shift in
the way collective life is organized (from centralized and hierarchal control
towards a network structure). Second as an aesthetic genre (literature that
experiments with non-linear narration, a playful architecture of mixed style,
an appreciation of popular culture that complicates the distinction between
high and low). Finally third as a set of philosophical critiques of
teleological or rationalist conceptions of nature, history, power, freedom and
subjectivity.
5.B.A Political Science Hons. History Lesson 4th Important Notes Part 2
Opposition of Modernity
The difference between modernism and postmodernism and
emergence of post modernism in modernist antipathy is evident. Modernist
political theorists like Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau,
Voltaire and others have contributed toward the idea of representative
democracy, rational stature, formal equality and other relevant concepts.
Immanuel Kant’s assertion about individual’s autonomy was further strengthened
the emancipator quest of modernity.
Postmodernists attacked all such modernist projections and
questioned existing established styles of understanding. It interrogates the
universality, certainty and objectivity linked to modernism and any such mode
of thinking. It also challenges all those system of knowledge that suggests
that society’s up gradation towards any kind of development, progress or
coherence.
Postmodernist roots are developed on the denial and
opposition of the modernist land.
1. At the very first place it challenged the modernist claim
that there is an objective natural reality. Postmodernists called this idea as
a kind of void realist ideal.
2. Unlike modernist claim reason and logic are not
universally valid like laws and domain of knowledge are the same for everyone
or let’s say apply equally. Instead for postmodernists whether it is reason or
logic they are merely conceptual constructs and only valid within the
established set of intellectual traditions in which they often used.
3. Modernist believes
that the human nature is derived from the birth itself rather than learned or
induced through social forces. Postmodernists rather insist that almost all
aspects of human psychology are wholly socially determined.
4. The explanatory and descriptive statements of historians
and scientists can be objectively true or false in the principle. But the post
modernists have denied the possibility of any such truth.
5. Modernists believe
that human beings for the better are likely to change themselves and their
societies through the use of reason and logic, and through more specialized
scientific tools. For them it is reasonable to anticipate that subsequent
societies will be more just full, more humane, more enlightened and more
prosperous, in away somewhat better than from what they are now. But
postmodernists have no such faith in science and technology as a tool of human
progress and an enlightened society.
6. It is possible for
modernist to construct general theories that can explain several aspects of the
natural and social world within a given realm of knowledge for example a
general theory of human history in form of dialectical materialism.
Postmodernists have denied any such possibility.
7. Human beings are
capable of acquiring knowledge about natural reality, and on the basis of
evidence and certain founded principles, this knowledge can be ultimately
justified. Postmodernists reject this kind of philosophical foundationalism.
Faucault and Derrida
Though Michel Foucault has declined, he is considered as one
of the important postmodernists. He defined the post modernism through two
guiding concepts: the power and the discourse. For example, the criminality discourse
reflects the people’s view in a certain society about crime and this is the
discourse through which the power works. Power as per him is knowledge; means
in whole, discourses are ultimately shaped by knowledge.
Faucault seeks to uncover and denounce the ways and the
process through which human beings are normalized. It is important to
understand that this normalization is not forceful rather the state or society
has trained people in a way that they became the willing subjects, who
themselves participate in their own oppression. This willingness takes the form
of legitimating state. In this sense modern liberal societies are still
oppressive and exploitative but the domination is not as overt as in previous
times. He severely challenged this legitimization of modern society as it
increases the surveillance which is a result of progress and development in
science and technology. This modern science and technological advancement are
the major tools of modernization.
His idea of surveillance better reflected in the concept of
panopticon that fulfils the desire of state and other institutions to monitor,
control and do the surveillance over the subjects. So Foucault challenged the
whole purpose and argument of modernism and was nearly demolished it
Derrida the other important figure in post modernism whose
writings are full of skepticism, tries to challenge the argument and
constructed character about the truth of knowledge by examining various
oppositions and called it deconstruction. He argued that in attempt to
establish a conclusion through logical means ultimately ‘deconstructs’
(logically erode) itself. As e believes that any text can be interpreted in
numerous ways, it is despairing to search for a ‘correct’ interpretation hence
objective truth is unfeasible. According to him all attempts to represent
reality produce not knowledge or truth. But are different representation, none
of which can be proven to be better/truer than any other. All social phenomenon
and forms of human experience like revolutions, wars, relation between sexes
and so on exist only through their representation.
Derrida’s idea of deconstruction signifies his approach of
challenging the foundations and hierarchies on which the western political
tradition and culture have been based. It questions the entire process of
accreditation or assigning of meaning to any phenomenon or thing.
Critique of Postmodernism
Postmodernism established itself by critiquing modernism,
further it also part to certain criticism. The drawback of the relativism and
the anti-foundationalism advocated by postmodernists is that it completely
undermines the possibility of a truth or ideas that may qualify as universal
political values. But the real problem with this is the acceptance of this
premise compels us to believe that the entire history of injustices and its
opposition by the weak and marginalized is just absurd.
Secondly postmodernism lack the coherence and a common
understanding that can be shared by all. The de-cantered understandings of all
categories that make the world meaningful to us make postmodernist discourse
appear as incomprehensive and ambiguous. Post modernism is routinely denounced
as nihilistic, immoral or politically irresponsible.
Important Questions
What is feminism? Discuss different schools of
feminism.
Discuss the idea of feminism. Explain the different
waves of feminism?
Explain ‘the personal is political’ with reference to
the understanding of Susan Molar Okin.
Differentiate between sex and gender. Define how
gender plays role in society?
Define postmodernism. How it is different from
modernism?
Discuss Faucault and Derrida’s postmodern approach.
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1.B.A Political Science 1st Lesson Important Notes
2. B.A Political Science 2nd Lesson Important Notes
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