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Freedom Fit for a Feminist? On the Feminist Potential of Quentin Skinner's Conception of Republican Freedom

Halldenius, Lena LU orcid (2014) In Redescriptions: Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History 17(1). p.86-103
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to make it credible that there are feminist reasons for being a republican about freedom. In focus is Quentin Skinner’s conception of republican, or “neo-Roman”, freedom. Republican theory in history has not excelled in making poverty, gender hierarchy, and racism within the republic into main sources of concern. So can there be a radical republican theory of liberty fit for a feminist, to make sense of arbitrary power in the every day life of work, households, and local communities, where power is vague and unorganized? Proceeding from three questions – What does freedom mean? Under what circumstances does the issue arise? Why should we care? – I argue that in a feminist republicanism the lived experience of the... (More)
The aim of this paper is to make it credible that there are feminist reasons for being a republican about freedom. In focus is Quentin Skinner’s conception of republican, or “neo-Roman”, freedom. Republican theory in history has not excelled in making poverty, gender hierarchy, and racism within the republic into main sources of concern. So can there be a radical republican theory of liberty fit for a feminist, to make sense of arbitrary power in the every day life of work, households, and local communities, where power is vague and unorganized? Proceeding from three questions – What does freedom mean? Under what circumstances does the issue arise? Why should we care? – I argue that in a feminist republicanism the lived experience of the unfree will have primary and not, as Skinner now suggests, secondary importance. A feminist republican will be particularly concerned not only with what unfreedom is but with what it is like. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
feminism, republicanism, freedom, institutional circumstance, lived experience, arbitrary power, citizen, Quentin Skinner
in
Redescriptions: Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History
volume
17
issue
1
pages
86 - 103
publisher
Helsinki University Press
DOI
10.7227/R.17.1.5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3559c6f7-8f6a-4c8d-b80f-223ae34e29e5 (old id 4391548)
alternative location
http://manchester.metapress.com/content/122826/
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:09:19
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:14:40
@article{3559c6f7-8f6a-4c8d-b80f-223ae34e29e5,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this paper is to make it credible that there are feminist reasons for being a republican about freedom. In focus is Quentin Skinner’s conception of republican, or “neo-Roman”, freedom. Republican theory in history has not excelled in making poverty, gender hierarchy, and racism within the republic into main sources of concern. So can there be a radical republican theory of liberty fit for a feminist, to make sense of arbitrary power in the every day life of work, households, and local communities, where power is vague and unorganized? Proceeding from three questions – What does freedom mean? Under what circumstances does the issue arise? Why should we care? – I argue that in a feminist republicanism the lived experience of the unfree will have primary and not, as Skinner now suggests, secondary importance. A feminist republican will be particularly concerned not only with what unfreedom is but with what it is like.}},
  author       = {{Halldenius, Lena}},
  keywords     = {{feminism; republicanism; freedom; institutional circumstance; lived experience; arbitrary power; citizen; Quentin Skinner}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{86--103}},
  publisher    = {{Helsinki University Press}},
  series       = {{Redescriptions: Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History}},
  title        = {{Freedom Fit for a Feminist? On the Feminist Potential of Quentin Skinner's Conception of Republican Freedom}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/R.17.1.5}},
  doi          = {{10.7227/R.17.1.5}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}