Lois McNay

"The idea of the struggle for recognition features prominently in the work of various thinkers from Charles Taylor and Jurgen Habermas to Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser who are concerned with the centrality of issues of identity in modern society. In differing ways, these thinkers use the idea of recognition to develop accounts of the individual which are opposed to the asocial individualism of liberal thought and to the abstraction of much work on the subject. The idea of recognition expresses the notion that individuality is an intersubjective phenomenon formed through pragmatic interactions with others. By highlighting the intersubjective features of individuality, the idea of recognition has both descriptive and normative content and it has important implications for a feminist account of gender identity. In this brilliant and original book, Lois McNay argues that the insights of the recognition theorists are undercut by their reliance on an inadequate account of power. The idea of recognition relies on an account of social relations as extrapolations of a primal dyad of interaction that overlooks the complex ways in which individuality is connected to abstract social structures in contemporary society."--Back cover.

"This book reassesses theories of agency and gender identity against the backdrop of changing relations between men and women in contemporary societies. McNay argues that recent thought on the formation of the modern subject offers a one-sided or negative account of agency, which underplays the creative dimension present in the responses of individuals to changing social relations. An understanding of this creative element is central to a theory of autonomous agency, and also to an explanation of the ways in which women and men negotiate changes within gender relations. In exploring the implications of this idea of agency for a theory of gender identity, McNay brings together the work of leading feminist theorists - such as Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser - with the work of key continental social theorists. In particular, she examines the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Paul Ricoeur and Cornelius Castoriadis, each of whom has explored different aspects of the idea of the creativity of action. McNay argues that their thought has interesting implications for feminist ideas of gender, but these have been relatively neglected partly because of the huge influence of the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan in this area. She argues that, despite its suggestive nature, feminist theory must move away from the ideas of Foucault and Lacan if a more substantive account of agency is to be introduced into ideas of gender identity."--Back cover.

"This book offers a systematic attempt to explore the point of convergence between feminist theory and the work of Michel Foucault. McNay argues that feminism has something to gain from a careful reading of Foucault's work, and that, in turn, the concerns of feminist analysis can shed light on some of the limitations of Foucault's approach. McNay provides a clear and concise account of the development of Foucault's work and then concentrates on his later writings, where he elaborates an original theory of the self. She shows how Foucault's work on the self can be used to counter certain tendencies in feminism, such as the tendency to treat women as passive victims of systems of oppression. However, McNay argues that there are also significant shortcomings in Foucault's writings, particularly with regard to normative and political questions. Re-examining Foucault's ambivalent relation to Enlightenment thought, she shows how this relation underlies some of the most significant ambiguities and unresolved tensions in his work."--Back cover.

Michael Foucault's intellectual journeys carried him across many different disciplines and often into uncharted lands. His astonishing discoveries and claims have been received with both unbridled enthusiasm and vehement dissent. This collection of essays is the first to bring together major criticisms of Foucault by other writers with their own visions. From the perspective of philosophy, the history of science, intellectual history, sociology, political science, and literary criticism, the distinguished contributors to this book discuss forthrightly and fairly the difficulties and dangers of Foucault's explorations. Whether they attack or defend him, his texts are closely examined and carefully interpreted.