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This book reconsiders the dominant Western understandings of freedom through the lens of women's real-life experiences of domestic violence, welfare, and Islamic veiling. Nancy Hirschmann argues that the typical approach to freedom found in political philosophy severely reduces the concept's complexity, which is more fully revealed by taking such practical issues into account. Hirschmann begins by arguing that the dominant Western understanding of freedom does not provide a conceptual vocabulary for accurately characterizing women's experiences. Often, free choice is assumed when women are in fact coerced--as when a battered woman who stays with her abuser out of fear or economic necessity is said to make this choice because it must not be so bad--and coercion is assumed when free choices are made--such as when Westerners assume that all veiled women are oppressed, even though many Islamic women view veiling as an important symbol of cultural identity. Understanding the contexts in which choices arise and are made is central to understanding that freedom is socially constructed through systems of power such as patriarchy, capitalism, and race privilege. Social norms, practices, and language set the conditions within which choices are made, determine what options are available, and shape our individual subjectivity, desires, and self-understandings. Attending to the ways in which contexts construct us as "subjects" of liberty, Hirschmann argues, provides a firmer empirical and theoretical footing for understanding what freedom means and entails politically, intellectually, and socially.

Liberty. --- Feminism. --- Emancipation of women --- Feminist movement --- Women --- Women's lib --- Women's liberation --- Women's liberation movement --- Women's movement --- Civil liberty --- Emancipation --- Freedom --- Liberation --- Personal liberty --- Social movements --- Anti-feminism --- Democracy --- Natural law --- Political science --- Equality --- Libertarianism --- Social control

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Social problems --- Sociology of the family. Sociology of sexuality --- Sociology of social care --- Sociology of social welfare --- Social policy --- Political systems --- Law --- Social security law --- Single mothers --- Government policy --- Poverty --- Social security --- Theory --- Legislation --- Care --- Book --- Democracy --- Europe --- United States of America

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Politics --- Political systems --- Sociology of social care --- Public administration --- Human rights --- Sociology of the family. Sociology of sexuality --- Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Feminism --- Gender --- Power --- Political sciences --- Privacy --- Private sphere --- Independence --- Theory --- Oppression of women --- Care --- Book --- Democracy

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In Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory, Nancy Hirschmann demonstrates not merely that modern theories of freedom are susceptible to gender and class analysis but that they must be analyzed in terms of gender and class in order to be understood at all. Through rigorous close readings of major and minor works of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Mill, Hirschmann establishes and examines the gender and class foundations of the modern understanding of freedom. Building on a social constructivist model of freedom that she developed in her award-winning book The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom, she makes in her new book another original and important contribution to political and feminist theory. Despite the prominence of "state of nature" ideas in modern political theory, Hirschmann argues, theories of freedom actually advance a social constructivist understanding of humanity. By rereading "human nature" in light of this insight, Hirschmann uncovers theories of freedom that are both more historically accurate and more relevant to contemporary politics. Pigeonholing canonical theorists as proponents of either "positive" or "negative" liberty is historically inaccurate, she demonstrates, because theorists deploy both conceptions of freedom simultaneously throughout their work.

Feminist theory. --- Social classes --- Women's rights. --- Sex role --- Constructivism (Philosophy) --- Liberty --- Feminism --- Feminist philosophy --- Feminist sociology --- Theory of feminism --- Class distinction --- Classes, Social --- Rank --- Caste --- Estates (Social orders) --- Social status --- Class consciousness --- Classism --- Social stratification --- Philosophy --- Rights of women --- Women --- Women's rights --- Human rights --- Political aspects. --- Philosophy. --- Civil rights --- Law and legislation --- Legal status, laws, etc. --- Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Sociology of the family. Sociology of sexuality --- Community organization --- Political systems --- Politics --- Educational sciences --- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques --- Mill, John Stuart --- Hobbes, Thomas --- Locke, John --- Kant, Immanuel --- Gender --- Upbringing --- Political sciences --- Social class --- Book --- Democracy --- Political philosophy --- Citizenship