Democracy and Difference
Anne Phillips(Author)
Polity Press
Published on 5. August 1993
Book
Hardback
220 pages
978-0-7456-1096-2 (ISBN)
Description
A new emphasis on diversity and difference is displacing older myths of nation or community. A new attention to gender, race, ethnicity, language or religion is disrupting earlier preoccupations with class. But the welcome extended to heterogeneity can bring with it a disturbing fragmentation and closure. Can we develop a vision of democracy through difference: a politics that neither denies group identities nor capitulates to them? In this volume, Anne Phillips develops the feminist challenge to exclusionary versions of democracy, citizenship and equality. Relating this to the crisis in socialist theory, the growing unease with the pretensions of Enlightenment rationality, and the recent recuperation of liberal democracy as the only viable politics, she builds on debates within feminism to address general questions of difference. When democracies try to wish away group difference and inequality, they fail to meet their egalitarian promise. When yearnings towards an undifferentiated unity becomes the basis for radical politics and change, too many groups drop out of the picture.
Through her critical discussion of recent feminist and socialist theory, Anne Phillips rejects this democracy of denial. She also warns, however, of the dangers on the other side. The simpler celebrations of diversity risk freezing group differences as they are, encouraging a patchwork of local identities from which people can speak only to themselves. Her arguments then combine in a powerful restatement of the case for a more active and participatory democracy. It is only through enhanced communication and discussion that people can respect and learn from their differences.
Through her critical discussion of recent feminist and socialist theory, Anne Phillips rejects this democracy of denial. She also warns, however, of the dangers on the other side. The simpler celebrations of diversity risk freezing group differences as they are, encouraging a patchwork of local identities from which people can speak only to themselves. Her arguments then combine in a powerful restatement of the case for a more active and participatory democracy. It is only through enhanced communication and discussion that people can respect and learn from their differences.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
index
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7456-1096-2 (9780745610962)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions



Anne Phillips
Democracy and Difference
Book
08/1993
1st Edition
Polity Press
€42.27
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Content
Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Fraternity 2. So What's Wrong With the Individual? 3. Universal Pretension in Political Thought 4. Citizenship and Feminist Theory 5. Democracy and Difference 6. Must Feminists Give Up On Liberal Democracy? 7. The Promise of Democracy 8. Pluralism, Solidarity and Change Index.