Gender and Agency
Subtitle: Reconfiguring the Subject in Feminist and Social Theory
Publisher: Polity Press
Published: June 1, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9780745613499
Subjects: Gender Studies; Social theory; Social Science; Gender identity; Sociology; Sociology - Social Theory; Feminism & Feminist Theory; Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory; Sociology - General; Feminist theory; Man-woman relationships; Sex role
First sentence: In the last few years, a cluster of issues pertaining to the question of agency have become the renewed focus of thought in feminist and social theory.
Description: "This book reassesses theories of agency and gender identity against the backdrop of changing relations between men and women in contemporary societies. McNay argues that recent thought on the formation of the modern subject offers a one-sided or negative account of agency, which underplays the creative dimension present in the responses of individuals to changing social relations. An understanding of this creative element is central to a theory of autonomous agency, and also to an explanation of the ways in which women and men negotiate changes within gender relations. In exploring the implications of this idea of agency for a theory of gender identity, McNay brings together the work of leading feminist theorists - such as Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser - with the work of key continental social theorists. In particular, she examines the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Paul Ricoeur and Cornelius Castoriadis, each of whom has explored different aspects of the idea of the creativity of action. McNay argues that their thought has interesting implications for feminist ideas of gender, but these have been relatively neglected partly because of the huge influence of the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan in this area. She argues that, despite its suggestive nature, feminist theory must move away from the ideas of Foucault and Lacan if a more substantive account of agency is to be introduced into ideas of gender identity."--Back cover.