Description
Book SynopsisContemporary theorists use the term social construction with the aim of exposing how what''s purportedly natural is often at least partly social and, more specifically, how this masking of the social is politically significant. In these previously published essays, Sally Haslanger draws on insights from feminist and critical race theory to explore and develop the idea that gender and race are positions within a structure of social relations. On this interpretation, the point of saying that gender and race are socially constructed is not to make a causal claim about the origins of our concepts of gender and race, or to take a stand in the nature/nurture debate, but to locate these categories within a realist social ontology. This is politically important, for by theorizing how gender and race fit within different structures of social relations we are better able to identify and combat forms of systematic injustice.Although the central essays of the book focus on a critical social realis
Trade ReviewHaslanger's book contains thoughtful and innovative essays in the field of social construction. * Akos Sivado, Philosophy in Review *
There is real insight to be gained from the clarity and carefulness that Haslanger brings to her analyses of these issues. * Alessandra Tanesini, Radical Philosophy *
this is an excellent collection that advances philosophical work on social construction, gender and race, and language and knowledge. ... Haslangers collection is well worth a careful exploration, particularly for those philosophers with a broad range of research interests and a commitment to combining philosophical thought with action directed toward social justice. * Sally Haslanger, Social Theory and Practice *
extremely insightful analysis of social reality ... is engaged philosophy at its best. * Asta Kristjana Sveinsdottir, TPM *
Haslangers transparent philosophical prose provokes the reader to critically engage with the unfolding arguments. * Federica Gregoratto, Journal of Social Ontology *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; I. Social Construction ; 1. "Social Construction: Myths and Reality" ; 2. "On Being Objective and Being Objectified." ; 3. "Ontology and Social Construction." ; 4. "Social Construction: The "Debunking" Project." ; 5. "Feminism and Metaphysics: Negotiating the Natural." ; 6. "Family, Ancestry and Self: What is the Moral Significance of Biological Ties?" ; 7. "Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?" ; 8. "Future Genders? Future Races?" ; 9. "You Mixed? Racial Identity without Racial Biology." ; 10. "A Social Constructionist Analysis of Race" ; 11. "Oppressions: Racial and Other" ; III. Language and Knowledge ; 12. "What Knowledge Is and What It Ought To Be: Feminist Values and Normative Epistemology" ; 13. "What Are We Talking About? The Semantics and Politics of Social Kinds" ; 14. "What Good Are Our Intuitions? Philosophical Analysis and Social Kinds" ; 15. "But Mom, Crop-Tops Are Cute!" ; 16. "Language, Politics and 'The Folk': Looking for the 'Meaning' of Race " ; 17. "Ideology, Generics, and Common Ground"
