The Subject of Liberty

The Subject of Liberty
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 311
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400825363
ISBN-13 : 1400825369
Rating : 4/5 (369 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Subject of Liberty by : Nancy J. Hirschmann

Download or read book The Subject of Liberty written by Nancy J. Hirschmann and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-10 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reconsiders the dominant Western understandings of freedom through the lens of women's real-life experiences of domestic violence, welfare, and Islamic veiling. Nancy Hirschmann argues that the typical approach to freedom found in political philosophy severely reduces the concept's complexity, which is more fully revealed by taking such practical issues into account. Hirschmann begins by arguing that the dominant Western understanding of freedom does not provide a conceptual vocabulary for accurately characterizing women's experiences. Often, free choice is assumed when women are in fact coerced--as when a battered woman who stays with her abuser out of fear or economic necessity is said to make this choice because it must not be so bad--and coercion is assumed when free choices are made--such as when Westerners assume that all veiled women are oppressed, even though many Islamic women view veiling as an important symbol of cultural identity. Understanding the contexts in which choices arise and are made is central to understanding that freedom is socially constructed through systems of power such as patriarchy, capitalism, and race privilege. Social norms, practices, and language set the conditions within which choices are made, determine what options are available, and shape our individual subjectivity, desires, and self-understandings. Attending to the ways in which contexts construct us as "subjects" of liberty, Hirschmann argues, provides a firmer empirical and theoretical footing for understanding what freedom means and entails politically, intellectually, and socially.


The Subject of Liberty Related Books

The Subject of Liberty
Language: en
Pages: 311
Authors: Nancy J. Hirschmann
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-01-10 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book reconsiders the dominant Western understandings of freedom through the lens of women's real-life experiences of domestic violence, welfare, and Islami
The Narrow Corridor
Language: en
Pages: 593
Authors: Daron Acemoglu
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-09-22 - Publisher: Penguin

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics and the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail "Why is it so difficult to develop and s
Toward Liberty
Language: en
Pages: 437
Authors: Friedrich August Hayek
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 1973 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Conscience of the Constitution
Language: en
Pages: 217
Authors: Timothy Sandefur
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-11-12 - Publisher: Cato Institute

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty documents a forgotten truth: the word “democracy” is nowhere to
At the Threshold of Liberty
Language: en
Pages: 271
Authors: Tamika Y. Nunley
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-01-29 - Publisher: UNC Press Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The capital city of a nation founded on the premise of liberty, nineteenth-century Washington, D.C., was both an entrepot of urban slavery and the target of abo