The Female Subject in the "Dialectic of enlightenment"

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2819048 450 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Κοινωνιολογία
Library of the Faculties of Political Science and Public Administration, Communication and Mass Media Studies, Turkish and Modern Asian Studies, Sociology
Deposit date:
2018-11-25
Year:
2018
Author:
Michalakea Athina-Christina
Supervisors info:
Γεράσιμος Κουζέλης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης& Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Αθηνά Αθανασίου, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Ανθρωπολογίας, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο
Κύρκος Δοξιάδης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης & Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Το Γυναικείο Υποκείμενο στη "Διαλεκτική του διαφωτισμού"
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
The Female Subject in the "Dialectic of enlightenment"
Summary:
In the “Excursus I – Odysseus or Myth and Enlightenment” of the “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, through the dialectic relationship between Myth and Enlightenment is analysed the way in which the rational subject/homo economicus (Odysseus) dominates over nature and “the woman” as well, in order to be formed as a subject, but also as a separate identity, as self: the contrast between culture and nature is constituted in parallel with the male / female contrast; the rational/bourgeois/male subject, in order to be constituted as an autonomous being, objects and exploits femininity (not only women, but whatever deviates from the notion of the “masculine subject”). In addition to the above-mentioned dichotomies, another contrast –concerning femininity itself- is formed. On one side is placed Circe, “the last hetaera” who emerged as “the first female character”, incarnation of nature and pleasure, and who separates the male subject from his consciousness and from himself, yet is dangerous and must be manipulated. Penelope is the antipode of Circe; symbol of the bourgeois woman, marriage and nuclear family, monogamy and heteronormativity, embodies the possessive yet at the same time exchangeable form of love in the capitalist world, according to Adorno and Horkheimer. Circe and Penelope, “harlot and wife”, are “complementary forms of female self-allienation in the patriarchal world” and of the “bourgeois chill” as well. Woman is placed between the male subject and objectified nature, while the essence of womanhood itself is divided, facilitating control over her and her body and sexuality as well. The question that raises is whether the “female subject” actually exists, since it is not recognised as self-consciouss, or is capable of acting with agency. The starting point of this essay is exactly this paradox of the formation of female subjectivity.
Main subject category:
Social, Political and Economic sciences
Keywords:
Critical Theory, Gender Studies, Gender History, Feminist Theory, Political Philosophy, Cultural Critique, Criminology
Index:
Yes
Number of index pages:
1
Contains images:
No
Number of references:
103
Number of pages:
67
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