On Civic Friendship

Including Women in the State
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-231-14723-1
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 360 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 228 mm, Gewicht: 474 g

Women have performed the vast majority of often unpaid friendship labor for centuries. Embodying the freedom, equality, and ideals of the Constitution, civic friendship emerges as a necessary condition for genuine justice. Through a critical examination of social and political relationships from ancient times to today, Sibyl Schwarzenbach develops a truly innovative, feminist theory of the democratic state.

Beginning with an analysis of Aristotle's notion of political friendship, Schwarzenbach brings the philosopher's insights to bear on the social and political requirements of the modern state. She elaborates a conception of civic friendship that, with its ethical reproductive praxis, functions differently from male-centered notions of fraternity and, with its female participants, remains fundamentally separate from generalized, male-inflected claims of Marxist solidarity. Schwarzenbach also distinguishes civic friendship from feminist calls for public care, arguing that friendship, unlike care, not only is reciprocal but also seeks to establish and maintain equality.

Schwarzenbach concludes with various public institutions-economic, legal, and social-that can promote civic friendship without sacrificing crucial liberties. In fact, women's entrance into the public sphere en masse makes such ideals realistic within a competitive, individualistic society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schwarzenbach, Sibyl A.

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politikberatung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Konflikt- und Friedensforschung, Rüstungskontrolle, Abrüstung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Methodenlehre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface: A Paradox of DemocracyAcknowledgments 1. Introduction: Metaphor and Theory Change Part I The Past 2. The Forgotten Category of Ethical Reproduction 3. The Liberal Production Model4. The Socialist Turn: Missing FacultiesPart II The Present 5. The Possibility of a Modern Civic Friendship 6. Women, Democracy, and the U.S. Constitution7. The State of Feminist Theory8. Looking Outward: Beyond the National Security StateNotesIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Sibyl Ann Schwarzenbach is professor of philosophy at the City University of New York (Baruch College and the University Graduate Center). She is the author of many articles and the editor, with Patricia Smith, of Women and the United States Constitution: History, Interpretation, and Practice.