Description:
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. First American edition (first printing) of this important feminist examination of human rights, arguing that traditional praises of the 'social contract' as discussed by Locke, Hobbes, & Rousseau, and incorporated into the American foundational documents ignore the unacknowledged patriarchy inherent in traditional contractual systems, the marriage contract most of all, but including employment, prostitution, and surrogate motherhood. The author argues that traditional contract theory cannot be turned to progressive uses, being inherently heirarchical. British-born and educated, the author was at the time of publication a Reader in Government at the University of Sydney and shortly thereafter went to UCLA, where she has remained. Hardcover in jacket, as pictured. Light wear to book; jacket shows light tanning & minor edgwear. Text clean; xi, blank, 264 pages; index, notes. . First American Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Octavo.
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From the rear cover
In this remarkably original work of political philosophy, one of today's foremost feminist theorist challenges the way contemporary society functions by questioning the standard interpretation of an idea that is deeply embedded in American and British political thought: that our rights and freedoms derive from the social contract explicated by Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau and interpreted in the United States by the Founding Fathers.
The author shows how we are told only half the story of the original contract that establishes modern patriarchy. The sexual contract is ignored and thus men's patriarchal right over women is also glossed over. No attention is paid to the problems that arise when women are excluded from the original contract but incorporated into the new contractual order.
One of the main targets of the book is those who try to turn contractarian theory to progressive use, and a major thesis of the book is that this is not possible. Thus those feminists who have looked to a more "proper" contract- one between genuinely equal partners, or one entered into without any coercion- are misleading themselves. In the author's words, "In contract theory universal freedom is always a hypothesis, a story, a political fiction. Contract always generates political right in the forms of domination and subordination." Thus the book is also aimed at mainstream political theorists, and socialist and other critics of contract theory.
The author offers a sweeping challenge to conventional understandings- of both left and right- of actual contracts in everyday life: the marriage contract, the employment contract, the prostitution contract, and the new surrogate mother contract. By bringing a feminist perspective to bear on the contradictions and paradoxes surrounding women and contract, and the relation between the sexes, she is able to shed new light on fundamental political problems of freedom and subordination.
The author shows how we are told only half the story of the original contract that establishes modern patriarchy. The sexual contract is ignored and thus men's patriarchal right over women is also glossed over. No attention is paid to the problems that arise when women are excluded from the original contract but incorporated into the new contractual order.
One of the main targets of the book is those who try to turn contractarian theory to progressive use, and a major thesis of the book is that this is not possible. Thus those feminists who have looked to a more "proper" contract- one between genuinely equal partners, or one entered into without any coercion- are misleading themselves. In the author's words, "In contract theory universal freedom is always a hypothesis, a story, a political fiction. Contract always generates political right in the forms of domination and subordination." Thus the book is also aimed at mainstream political theorists, and socialist and other critics of contract theory.
The author offers a sweeping challenge to conventional understandings- of both left and right- of actual contracts in everyday life: the marriage contract, the employment contract, the prostitution contract, and the new surrogate mother contract. By bringing a feminist perspective to bear on the contradictions and paradoxes surrounding women and contract, and the relation between the sexes, she is able to shed new light on fundamental political problems of freedom and subordination.
Details
- Title The Sexual Contract
- Author Carole Pateman
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition number 1st
- Edition 1
- Pages 276
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
- Date 1988
- ISBN 9780804714761 / 0804714762
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 87063007
- Dewey Decimal Code 305.3
About the author
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The Sexual Contract
by Pateman, Carole
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
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- First American Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804714761 / 0804714762
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Beloit, Wisconsin, United States
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![The Sexual Contract](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/f/761/714/9780804714761.OL.0.m.jpg)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Sexual Contract
by Pateman, Carole
- Used
- Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804714761 / 0804714762
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Newport Coast, California, United States
- Item Price
-
A$259.45FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
hardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Item Price
A$259.45
FREE shipping to USA