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Pragmatist Feminist Utopias: Gilman, Mead, and the Problem of Choice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2022

Aleksandra Hernandez
Aleksandra Hernandez*
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Miami, 1252 Memorial Drive, Ashe Bldg # 709, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
*
Corresponding author. aleksandra.hernandez@miami.edu
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Abstract

This article focuses on the pragmatist feminist theories of social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman and cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead. It begins by delineating Gilman's understanding of how the material-cultural environment affects the lives of women. Believing the American way of life to be too individualistic, Gilman developed a theory of social change aimed at generating more collectivist ways of living and promoting the economic independence of women. To achieve these ends, Gilman advocated for the reconstruction of the Victorian nursery, which she believed would afford women the choice to pursue a professional career outside of the home, and promote the health of the community. Gilman's social theory is contrasted with that of Margaret Mead, who believed that plans for social reform are best left to readers. Rather than advocate for the adoption of an entirely new cultural practice, Mead sought to acquaint her culturally diverse American readership with the Samoan way of life, so that they might collectively decide how to best address the problem of choice facing young women in the 1920s.

Type
Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , Winter 2022 , pp. 76 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hypatia, a Nonprofit Corporation

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