From essentialism to another way of doing politics: resuming the transformative potential of the politics of difference
This article aims at resuming and critically scrutinizing the debate on the politics of difference taken among liberal feminist political theorists. Firstly, I shall provide an overview of theoretical attempts to legitimate the politicization of collective-based subjects taking into account the prob...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Estadual de Londrina
2010-12-01
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| Series: | Mediações: Revista de Ciências Sociais |
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| Online Access: | http://www.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/mediacoes/article/view/8228 |
| Summary: | This article aims at resuming and critically scrutinizing the debate on the politics of difference taken among liberal feminist political theorists. Firstly, I shall provide an overview of theoretical attempts to legitimate the politicization of collective-based subjects taking into account the problem of essentialism. Then I will argue that an exclusive focus on the relationship between essentialism and the conceptualization of collective-based subjects tends to overshadow the relationship between the politicization of differences and a new way of doing politics. I will defend the view that the politicization of differences is transforming rather than undermining the functioning of the polity and the possibility of real social justice. I shall evaluate the works of Anne Phillips and Iris Marion Young as offering new ways of reshaping the political sphere in order to enable proper institutional action against structural inequalities. |
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| ISSN: | 2176-6665 |