1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790264003321

Autore

Schwarzenbach Sibyl A

Titolo

On civic friendship [[electronic resource] ] : including women in the state / / Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Columbia University Press, c2009

ISBN

1-280-59972-3

9786613629562

0-231-51948-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (361 p.)

Disciplina

320.973082

Soggetti

Women - Political activity - United States

Women's rights - United States

Feminist theory - United States

Liberalism - United States

Democracy - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: Metaphor and theory change -- The forgotten category of ethical reproduction -- The liberal production model -- The socialist turn : missing faculties -- The possibility of a modern civic friendship -- Women, democracy, and the U.S. Constitution -- The state of feminist theory -- Looking outward : beyond the national security state.

Sommario/riassunto

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.