The Fantasy Of Individuality: On The Sociohistorical Construction Of
The Modern Subject

Product Description

This volume is a step in fleshing out the historical reasons for gender inequality from the origins of humankind to present times in the Western world It argues that despite much critique during the last two decades gender identities are still ultimately understood as closed & rigid categories which unwittingly reproduce modern Western values It is a theoretically-informed & up-to-date overview of the history of gender inequality that takes as its starting point the mechanisms through which human beings construct their self-identity It discusses deeply ingrained assumptions on the relationship between gender & materiality in the present that lead both the academic community & the general public alike to reproduce specific patterns of thought about sex & gender & project them into the past Starting from a peripheral & heterodox perspective this book intends to appraise the complexity of gender identity in all its richness & diversity It seeks to understand the persistence of relationality in supposedly fully individualized male selves & the construction of new forms of individuality among women that did not follow the masculine model It is argued here that by balancing community & self beyond the contradictions of hegemonic masculinity modern women are struggling to build a new more empowering form of personhood The author is an archaeologist who uses her discipline not only to provide data theory & a long-term perspective but also in a metaphorical sense to construct a socio-historical genealogy of current gender systems through an examination of how personhood & self-identity have been constructed in the Western world