The Fantasy of Individuality
On the Sociohistorical Construction of the Modern Subject
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Beschreibung
This volume is a step in fleshing out the historical reasons for gender inequality from the origins of humankind to present times in the Western world. It argues that despite much critique during the last two decades, gender identities are still ultimately understood as closed and rigid categories which unwittingly reproduce modern Western values.
It is a theoretically-informed and up-to-date overview of the history of gender inequality that takes as its starting point the mechanisms through which human beings construct their self-identity. It discusses deeply ingrained assumptions on the relationship between gender and materiality in the present that lead both the academic community and the general public alike to reproduce specific patterns of thought about sex and gender and project them into the past.
Starting from a peripheral and heterodox perspective, this book intends to appraise the complexity of gender identity in all its richness and diversity. It seeks to understand the persistence of relationality in supposedly fully individualized male selves, and the construction of new forms of individuality among women that did not follow the masculine model. It is argued here that by balancing community and self beyond the contradictions of hegemonic masculinity, modern women are struggling to build a new, more empowering form of personhood.
The author is an archaeologist, who uses her discipline not only to provide data, theory and a long-term perspective, but also in a metaphorical sense: to construct a socio-historical genealogy of current gender systems, through an examination of how personhood and self-identity have been constructed in the Western world.
The Enlightenment promised humanity a bright future of emancipation which never actuallymaterialized. Instead, our social order is still based on gender inequality, which rests upon afalse conviction: that the individual can be conceived of as separate from community; that the more individualized a person is, the less they need to establish links with their community to feel safe; and that the more they use reason to build a relationship with the world, the less they need emotions. Th is conviction, which guides the ideals of our social system, is based on a fantasy: the fantasy of individuality.
This volume is a step in fleshing out the historical reasons for gender inequality from theorigins of humankind to present times in the Western world. It is a theoretically-informedand up-to-date overview of the history of gender inequality that takes as its starting pointthe mechanisms through which human beings construct their self-identity.Starting from a peripheral, interdisciplinary and heterodox perspective, this book intends toappraise the complexity of gender identity in all its richness and diversity. It seeks to understand the persistence of relationality in supposedly fully individualized male selves, and the construction of new forms of individuality among women that did not follow the masculine model. It is argued here that by balancing community and self beyond the contradictions of hegemonic masculinity, modern women are struggling to build a new, more empowering form of personhood.
The author is an archaeologist, who uses her discipline not only to provide data, theory anda long-term perspective, but also in a metaphorical sense: to construct a socio-historicalgenealogy of current gender systems, through an examination of how personhood and self- identity have been constructed in the Western world.
Goes beyond simplistic and mechanistic gender dualisms and biological-based explanations, considering culture as the result of complex dynamics of conscious and unconscious processes Unveils the reasons behind differences between men and women identities in the 21st century, helping women to understand their 21st century conflictive personhood Explains how the Enlightenment’s values did not produce a more balanced and less unequal society Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Autor*in
Almudena Hernando
Themen in »The Fantasy of Individuality«
How gender systems emerge gradually in prehistory historical reasons for gender inequality modern identities of men and women in the West interplay between relational and individualized identity construction of selfhood and self-identity feminist anthropology