Feminism as Revolutionary Practice: From Justice and the Politics of Recognition to Freedom

Hypatia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Borren
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Collective Empowerment ◽  
Struggle For Recognition ◽  
Common Action

In the 1980s extra‐parliamentary social movements and critical theories of race, class, and gender added a new sociocultural understanding of justice—recognition— to the much older socioeconomic one. The best‐known form of the struggle for recognition is the identity politics of disadvantaged groups. I argue that there is still another option to conceptualize their predicament, neglected in recent political philosophy, which understands exclusion not in terms of injustice, more particularly a lack of sociocultural recognition, but in terms of a lack of freedom. I draw my inspiration from Hannah Arendt's model of political action. Arendt diagnoses exclusion not solely as a mode of injustice, but as a lack of participation and public freedom. Consequently, she advocates a struggle for participation, political equality, and freedom as a strategy for emancipation or empowerment. Arendt could help feminists see that collective empowerment is made possible not by a shared identity (the target of poststructuralist critics) but by common action in the service of a particular worldly issue or common end. In other words, feminists would do well to appreciate the revolutionary quality and heritage of the feminist movement better, that is, its character as a set of practices of freedom.

(Un)troubling identity politics: A cultural materialist intervention

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Moran
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Raymond Williams ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
In Virtue Of

This article draws on the cultural materialist paradigm articulated by Raymond Williams to offer a radical historicization of the idea of identity, with a view to clarifying and resolving some of the issues animating the ‘identity politics’ debates currently dividing left academia and activism. First, it offers clarity on the concept ‘identity politics’, demonstrating that we should reserve the term to refer only to politics that mobilize specifically and meaningfully around the concept of identity. Second, and in virtue of this, it provides new insights into five central questions that have driven the identity politics debates: Do identity politics always tend towards essentialism?; Do identity politics inevitably promote a politics of recognition over redistribution?; Do identity politics inevitably create political cleavages rather than solidaristic forms of political action?; What is the relationship between ‘identity politics’ and ‘call-out culture’?; And, are the problems of identity politics resolved by reference to intersectionality?

scholarly journals Refleksi Pemikiran Multikulturalisme bagi Dakwah

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Ellyda Retpitasari ◽  
Luluk Fikri Zuhriyah
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Structural Approach ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
The City

This paper aims to discuss multiculturalism thinking from Europe and Asia, such as Bikhu Parekh, Daniel Conjanu, and Charles Taylor. Multiculturalism thinking is explored for the sake of Da'wa, or it can be called as multiculturalism preaching. This study uses literature review, and analysis of multiculturalism phenomena in the city of Surabaya. These thinkers used a number of approaches in terms of recognition politics, new identity politics, political equality with dignity, politics of difference, accommodative multiculturalism, and pragmatism. In the analysis of the Da'wa approach is divided into two, namely the structural approach and cultural approach. The structural approach refers to politics that encompasses politics of recognition, politics of new identity, politics of equality with dignity, and politics of difference. As for the cultural approach, it encompasses accommodative multiculturalism and pragmatism. Through this multicultural preaching approach it becomes an offer in overcoming the problems of preaching in multicultural societies.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold D. Morales
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Propositional Knowledge ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Struggle For Recognition

The conclusion provides a summary of key developments in the history of Latino Muslim communities and also critically explores future possibilities. While weaving a trail among the history of Islamic Spain, the Alianza Islamica, and subsequent Latino Muslim organizations, the struggle for recognition through solidarity groups emerges as a prominent theme throughout the book. However, this approach to liberation raises complex issues regarding the efficacy and logics of identity politics. Drawing on various sources, I argue that practical knowledge of how to know and how to be in relation with one another may circumvent identity politics premised on static propositional knowledge of groups like Latino Muslims.

Identity Politics and the Welfare State

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Wolfe ◽  
Jytte Klausen
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
Political Tradition ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
Deep Sense ◽  
The Welfare State

Motivated by a deep sense that injustice and inequality are wrong, liberals and reformers in the Western political tradition have focused their energies on policies and programs which seek inclusion: extending the suffrage to those without property; seeking to treat women the same as men, and blacks the same as whites; trying to ensure that as few as possible are excluded from economic opportunity due to lack of resources. Under current conditions, such demands for inclusion take two primary forms, especially in the United States. One is a commitment to using the state to equalize the life chances of individuals. The other is a call for treating groups which have experienced discrimination with full respect. The former leads to the welfare state, while the latter is produced by, and in turn produces, what is commonly called identity politics, the politics of recognition, or the politics of presence.

‘Almost the same, but not quite’: Ontological politics of recognition in modern science fiction

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingvil Hellstrand
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Human Ontology ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Fixed Boundaries

This article explores how issues of ‘not quite human-ness’ expose the conditions of possibility of being considered human; of human ontology. I refer to these dynamics for identifying sameness and difference as ontological politics of recognition. Tracing the genealogies of passing, I situate passing and Othering socio-political regulation and ideological frameworks for conceptualising ontology. I am particularly concerned with how the notion of ontology is bound up in questions of race and gender, and with the entanglements of technology and biology that can destabilise apparently fixed boundaries between the (natural/normative) human and its (constructed/abnormal) Others. I identify three trajectories of passing as human in the histories of science fiction. The first trajectory discusses ontological mimicry: the ways in which the non-human attempts to be like the human. The second trajectory addresses how passing as human relies on a Butlerian performativity: doing human-ness by complying with the regulatory frames for appearances and practices. The final trajectory discusses what is at stake in contemporary ontological politics of recognition: a renegotiation of human supremacy through an emphasis on collectivity and collaboration rather that singularity and boundedness.

Unequal values: equality and race in state of the union addresses, 1960–2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney E. Hero ◽  
Morris Levy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Civil Rights Era ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
State Of The Union ◽  
Economic Individualism ◽  
And Gender

AbstractWe analyze the prevalence and framing of references to equality and inequality in presidential state of the union addresses (SOTUs) delivered between 1960 and 2018. Despite rising income inequality and increased attention among political elites to structural inequalities of race and gender in recent years, we find very few direct or indirect references to inequality as a social problem and surprisingly few references even to the ostensibly consensual and primary values of equal opportunity and political equality. References to racial inequality have been few and far between since the height of the civil rights era. By contrast, another primary value in the American political tradition—economic individualism are a major focus in these SOTUs. We trace the scant presence of equality talk in these speeches to the ambiguous scope of egalitarian goals and principles and their close tie-in with race in America. We rely on automated text analysis and systematic hand-coding of these speeches to identify broad thematic emphases as well as on close reading to interpret the patterns that these techniques reveal.

Progress without Progressives? The Effects of Development on Women's Educational and Political Equality in Cultural Context, 1980 to 2010

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade M. Cole ◽  
Claudia Geist
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cultural Legacies ◽  
And Gender

Researchers often attribute diminishing gender inequality to economic development. When different aspects of gender inequality are examined, however, evidence points to both cross-national convergence as well as persistent (or even growing) heterogeneity in women's status. To make sense of this contradiction, we examine the extent to which culture moderates the relationship between economic development and gender inequality. We consider two dimensions of gender inequality, gender gaps in educational attainment and women's share of parliament, using data for 150 countries between 1980 and 2010. We find convergence toward greater equality in education, independently of economic development. But cross-cultural differences in female political representation persist or even grow as a function of economic development. Our results imply that economic development is not a direct pathway to greater gender equality. Rather, cultural legacies play an important role in shaping developmental trajectories.

scholarly journals THE POLITICS OF RECOGNIZABILITY: GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF IRANIANGAYMEN’S LIVES UNDER REPRESSIVE CONDITIONS OF SEXUALITY GOVERNANCE

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Martino ◽  
Jón Ingvar Kjaran
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Male Subject ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minorities ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Gender Minorities ◽  
And Gender

AbstractIn this article we examine accounts of self-identifying Iranian gay men. We draw on a range of evidentiary sources—interpretive, historical, online, and empirical—to generate critical and nuanced insights into the politics of recognition and representation that inform narrative accounts of the lived experiences of self-identifiedgayIranian men, and the constitution of same-sex desire for these men under specific conditions of Iranian modernity. In response to critiques of existinggayinternationalist and liberationist accounts of the Iraniangaymale subject as a persecuted victim of the Islamic Republic of Iran's barbarism, we address interpretive questions of sexuality governance in transnational contexts. Specifically, we attend to human rights frameworks in weighing social justice and political claims made by and on behalf of sexual and gender minorities in such Global South contexts. In this sense, our article represents a critical engagement with the relevant literature on sexuality governance and the politics of same-sex desire for Iraniangaymen that is informed by empirical analysis.

scholarly journals Revisiting Gendered States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Spike Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Stable States ◽  
New States ◽  
Politics And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Violent Conflicts

State sovereignty and autonomy in the twenty-first century are both under challenge and continually reasserted in diverse ways through gender, sexuality, and race-making. This paradox makes it pertinent to revisit the idea of states as gendered political entities. Bringing together scholars from international relations and postcolonial and development studies, this volume collectively theorizes the modern state and its intricate relationship to security, identity politics, and gender. Drawing on postcolonial and critical feminist approaches, together with empirical case studies, contributors engage with the ontological foundations of the modern state and its capacity to adapt to the global and local contestations of its identity, histories, and purpose. They examine the various ways in which gender explains the construction and interplay of states in global politics today; and how states, be they neoliberal, postcolonial, or religious (or all three together), impact the everyday lives and security of their citizens. Such a rich array of feminist analyses of multiple kinds of states provides crucial insight into gender injustices in relatively stable states, but also into the political, economic, social, and cultural inequalities that produce violent conflicts threatening the sovereignty of some states and even leading to the creation of new states.

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