Categories we live by : the construction of sex, gender, race, and other social categories /

We are women, we are men. We are refugees, single mothers, people with disabilities, and queers. We belong to social categories and they frame our actions, self-understanding, and opportunities. But what are social categories? How are they created and sustained? How does one come to belong to them?...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ásta (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2018]
Series:Studies in feminist philosophy.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:We are women, we are men. We are refugees, single mothers, people with disabilities, and queers. We belong to social categories and they frame our actions, self-understanding, and opportunities. But what are social categories? How are they created and sustained? How does one come to belong to them? 0Asta approaches these questions through analytic feminist metaphysics. Her theory of social categories centers on an answer to the question: what is it for a feature of an individual to be socially meaningful? In a careful, probing investigation, she reveals how social categories are created and sustained and demonstrates their tendency to oppress through examples from current events. To this end, she offers an account of just what social construction is and how it works in a range of examples that problematize the categories of sex, gender, and race in particular. The main idea is that social categories are conferred upon people. Asta introduces a 'conferralist' framework in order to articulate a theory of social meaning, social construction, and most importantly, of the construction of sex, gender, race, disability, and other social categories.
Physical Description:1 online resource (x, 140 pages)
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780190256807
019025680X
9780190256791
0190256796