Rethinking Obligation: A Feminist Method for Political Theory

In Rethinking Obligation, Nancy J. Hirschmann provides an innovative analysis of liberal obligation theory that uses feminism as a theoretical method for rethinking political obligations from the bottom up. Tracing the concept of political obligation from Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau to Rawls, Pitkin, and Walzer, she concludes that simply "bringing women in" to liberal theory cannot sufficiently resolve problems posed by gender difference. Rather, the definition of obligation as voluntary must be rethought from a specifically feminist perspective. Hirschmann develops a feminist standpoint of connection and mutual recognition which is based upon the gender psychology of object relations theorists including Nancy Chodorov and moral psychologists such as Carol Gilligan. In articulating a feminist method for political theory, Hirschmann skillfully brings together theoretical categories and methods previously seen as opposed: feminist standpoint and postmodernism, gender psychology and anti-essentialism, empiricism and interpretivism. Rethinking Obligation mounts a vital challenge to central aspects of contemporary liberal theory.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction 1. The Problem of Women in Political Obligation 2. Contemporary Obligation Theory: Renewed or Recycled? 3. The Argument from Psychology 4. Implications for a Feminist Epistemology 5. Feminist Epistemology and Political Obligation 6. Feminist Obligation and Feminist Theory: A Method for Political Theory Afterword: Democracy, Difference, and Deconstruction Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Nancy J. Hirschmann is Professor and Graduate Chair of Political Science at The University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory and The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom.

Review :
"Rethinking Obligation is a highly intelligent and clearly written book, one that should be of great interest to all political theorists, as well as to all those concerned about the gendered nature of our political concepts."-American Political Science Review "Hirschmann argues that voluntarism in liberal political theory reflects a masculinist propensity to deny relations to others and to repress women. She draws on the resources of gender psychology, object relations theory, and feminist standpoint epistemology to develop this argument."-Philosophical Review "Rethinking Obligation is a valuable and stimulating contribution to debates about what feminist political theory might and should be."-Political Theory "Nancy J. Hirschmann provides a brilliant, original, and important analysis of a central notion in social contract theory. She takes a new slant on object relations theory and standpoint epistemology in order to generate a theory of obligation that is in fact capable of advancing participatory democracy. This clear and rigorous account sets a new high standard for political theory and philosophy."-Sandra Harding, author of Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? and The Science Question in Feminism "Hirschmann's view of obligation as not rooted in consent but based instead on everyday practices and experiences of women is powerful, and a compelling critique of much liberal theory. Rethinking Obligation will be the standard work applying the psychological insights of object relations theory to politics."-Ian Shapiro, author of Democracy's Place