Gender and the public sphere: Alternative forms of integration in nineteenth-century America
Sociological Theory 19 (3):344-370 (2001)
| Abstract | This paper intends to evaluate two competing models of multicultural integration in stratified societies: the "multiple publics" model of Nancy Fraser and the "fragmented public sphere" model of Jeffrey Alexander. Fraser and Alexander disagree on whether or not claims to a general "common good" or "common humanity" are democratically legitimate in light of systemic inequality. Fraser rejects the idea that cultural integration can be democratic in conditions of social inequality, while Alexander accepts it and tries to explain how it may be realized. In order to address this debate, I analyze the cultural foundations of the female-led, maternally themed social movements of nineteenth-century America. The language of these movements supports Alexander's position over Fraser's, though it also suggests that Alexander is mistaken in the specifics of his cultural theory of a general and democratic "common good." While Alexander's model of integration is structured uniquely by what he and Philip Smith have called "the discourse of civil society," the evidence suggests a distinctly alternative, equally democratic code at play in this case, which I have labeled a discourse of affection and compassion | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMichael Rabinder James (1999). Tribal Sovereignty and the Intercultural Public Sphere. Philosophy and Social Criticism 25 (5):57-86.
Arash Abizadeh (2002). Does Liberal Democracy Presuppose a Cultural Nation? Four Arguments. American Political Science Review 96 (3):495-509.
Agnes S. Ku (2000). Revisiting the Notion of "Public" in Habermas's Theory-Toward a Theory of Politics of Public Credibility. Sociological Theory 18 (2):216-240.
Stephen Kalberg (1987). The Origin and Expansion of Kulturpessimismus: The Relationship Between Public and Private Spheres in Early Twentieth Century Germany. Sociological Theory 5 (2):150-164.
Asaf Bar-Tura (2010). Arendt, Habermas and Facebook: Participation and Discourse in Cyber Public Spheres. Humanities and Technology Review 29:1-25.
María Pía Lara & Robert Fine (2007). Justice and the Public Sphere : The Dynamics of Nancy Fraser's Critical Theory. In Terry Lovell (ed.), (Mis)Recognition, Social Inequality and Social Justice: Nancy Fraser and Pierre Bourdieu. Routledge.
John S. Brady (2004). No Contest? Assessing the Agonistic Critiques of Jürgen Habermas’s Theory of the Public Sphere. Philosophy and Social Criticism 30 (3):331-354.
Codruţa Cuceu (2011). Milestones in the Critique of the Public Sphere: Dewey and Arendt. Journal for Communication and Culture 1 (2):99-110.
Jesús Vega Encabo & F. Javier Gil Martín (2007). Science as Public Sphere? Social Epistemology 21 (1):5 – 20.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads3 ( #201,930 of 549,093 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
