The Sexual Contract

This book is one of those singular works which takes up a kind of genealogy of the intellectual foundations of modern gender relations. Her critiques of the major Enlightenment political philosophers covers a lot of ground and does it well.Implicit is a critique not just of the conservative and liberal tradition, but of the patriarchy contained within the Left as well. As usual, feminism provides some of the most sophisticated critique of Left organizational practice, not just in relation to women, but as a whole.Obviously, one reviewer was looking for something a bit more right-wing. But her work her follows alongside her defense of ideas like a minimum income, which are not intended to 'make people work' (in a society where 'work' equals 'exploitation' and alienation, the struggle against the imposition of work is the struggle against inhuman conditions.)Especially in relation to women, however, her position makes sense, since 'housework' is work, and work for capital at that, which goes unwaged. The struggle for a social wage is the struggle for recognition and against the imposition of the endless work which is capital's goal for women.Some people may not like this book because they think that we have now found the best of all worlds, but the continued gendering of inequality, oppression and labor indicates that maybe its time for more fundamental transformations.

Hmmm. She given herself quite a hill to climb, and as usual does what she sets out to. I'm not a big fan of Pateman's, but this is surely one of her most important works. Her ideas challenge some of Western culture's core beliefs about individual freedom & our relation to the government, but Pateman plots her course & writes something worth responding to.

This book was assigned as part of a college course on Gender and Race in American Political Thought. This was the first such book I'd read that didn't rely on political cliches to make it's point. Pateman offers a sensible and attainable solution and offers a look at gender relations that isn't steeped in anger, but maintains an urgency. It's a must-read for anyone who thinks they know the answers. My hat is off to Pateman.