Suspect Citizens: Women, Virtue, and Vice in Backlash Politics
by Jocelyn Boryczka
Temple University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-1-4399-0895-2 | Paper: 978-1-4399-0894-5 | Cloth: 978-1-4399-0893-8 Library of Congress Classification HQ1236.5.U6B67 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 320.082
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
What drives the cycle of backlashes against women’s ongoing struggle for equality, freedom, and inclusion in American politics? In her innovative and provocative book, Suspect Citizens, Jocelyn Boryczka presents a feminist conceptual history that shows how American politics have largely defined women in terms of their reproductive and socializing functions. This framework not only denies women full citizenship, but also devalues the active political engagement of all citizens who place each other and their government under suspicion.
Developing the gendered dynamics of virtue and vice, Boryczka exposes the paradox of how women are perceived as both virtuous moral guardians and vice-ridden suspect citizens capable of jeopardizing the entire nation’s exceptional future. She uses wide-ranging examples from the Puritans and contemporary debates over sex education to S&M lesbian feminists and the ethics of care to show how to move beyond virtue and vice to a democratic feminist ethics.
Suspect Citizens advances a politics of collective responsibility and belonging.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jocelyn M. Boryczka is Associate Professor of Politics at Fairfield University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Moral Guardians but Suspect Citizens: Women, Virtue, and Vice in the Western Political Imaginary
Defining Virtue and Vice
Virtue and Vice in Contemporary Political Theory: Displacing Women and Politics
Methodological Matters
The Plan of the Book
1 | Conceptual Locations: Where Virtue, Vice, and Citizenship Intersect
Virtue and Vice in Ancient and Medieval Western Political Thought
Modern Theoretical Groundings: Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Wollstonecraft in America
Suspect Citizenship: At the Intersection of Morality and Politics
2 | The Religious Roots of Moral Guardianship: American Women as the Daughters of Eve and Zion
The Puritan Point of Emergence: Infinite and Finite Virtue and Vce
The Infinite as a Necessary Problem: Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology and Pure Lust
Martyrs for Democracy: The Sacred, Profane, and Double Burden of Moral Responsibility
3 | “Back to Virtue” Backlash Politics: Privileging Irresponsibility
Debating Women’s Education and Moral Guardianship in the Republican Era
Debating Contemporary Sex Education: Resurrecting the Daughters of Eve and Zion
Scapegoats for Democracy: Trust, Blame, and Irresponsibility in American Citizenship
4 | Suspect Citizenship: From Lowell Mill Girls to Lesbian Feminists and Sadomasochism
Lowell Mill Girl Debates: The Trap of True Womanhood
The Rebels: Weakening the Bonds of Virtue
Lesbian Feminist S/M Debates: The Moral Bondage of Moral Guardianship
Fantasy and Imagination in Lesbian S/M and Contemporary Feminist Ethics
Suspect Citizens as Innovative Ideologists
5 | “Ozzie and Harriet” Morality: Resetting Liberal Democracy’s Moral Compass
The Separate Spheres Paradox: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
A “Curl Back” to Virtue: Neutralizing Gender in Contemporary Morality
Habitual Inattention to Democracy: The Power of Vice
6 | The Legacy of Virtue and Vice: Mary Wollstonecraft and Contemporary Feminist Care Ethics
Sex, Sexuality, and Suspicion in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Political Thought
Moral Perfectionism in Feminist Care Ethics: The Problems of Infinite Virtue, Patriarchal Moral Standards, and Omitting Vice
Parochialism: Practice and the Limits of Finite Virtues
The Vice of Omission: Sex and Sexuality in Feminist Care Ethics
Conclusion: Beyond Virtue and Vice: Toward a Democratic Feminist Ethics
The Frontiers of Collective Responsibility: Toward a Democratic Feminist Ethics of Belonging
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Suspect Citizens: Women, Virtue, and Vice in Backlash Politics
by Jocelyn Boryczka
Temple University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-1-4399-0895-2 Paper: 978-1-4399-0894-5 Cloth: 978-1-4399-0893-8
What drives the cycle of backlashes against women’s ongoing struggle for equality, freedom, and inclusion in American politics? In her innovative and provocative book, Suspect Citizens, Jocelyn Boryczka presents a feminist conceptual history that shows how American politics have largely defined women in terms of their reproductive and socializing functions. This framework not only denies women full citizenship, but also devalues the active political engagement of all citizens who place each other and their government under suspicion.
Developing the gendered dynamics of virtue and vice, Boryczka exposes the paradox of how women are perceived as both virtuous moral guardians and vice-ridden suspect citizens capable of jeopardizing the entire nation’s exceptional future. She uses wide-ranging examples from the Puritans and contemporary debates over sex education to S&M lesbian feminists and the ethics of care to show how to move beyond virtue and vice to a democratic feminist ethics.
Suspect Citizens advances a politics of collective responsibility and belonging.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jocelyn M. Boryczka is Associate Professor of Politics at Fairfield University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Moral Guardians but Suspect Citizens: Women, Virtue, and Vice in the Western Political Imaginary
Defining Virtue and Vice
Virtue and Vice in Contemporary Political Theory: Displacing Women and Politics
Methodological Matters
The Plan of the Book
1 | Conceptual Locations: Where Virtue, Vice, and Citizenship Intersect
Virtue and Vice in Ancient and Medieval Western Political Thought
Modern Theoretical Groundings: Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Wollstonecraft in America
Suspect Citizenship: At the Intersection of Morality and Politics
2 | The Religious Roots of Moral Guardianship: American Women as the Daughters of Eve and Zion
The Puritan Point of Emergence: Infinite and Finite Virtue and Vce
The Infinite as a Necessary Problem: Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology and Pure Lust
Martyrs for Democracy: The Sacred, Profane, and Double Burden of Moral Responsibility
3 | “Back to Virtue” Backlash Politics: Privileging Irresponsibility
Debating Women’s Education and Moral Guardianship in the Republican Era
Debating Contemporary Sex Education: Resurrecting the Daughters of Eve and Zion
Scapegoats for Democracy: Trust, Blame, and Irresponsibility in American Citizenship
4 | Suspect Citizenship: From Lowell Mill Girls to Lesbian Feminists and Sadomasochism
Lowell Mill Girl Debates: The Trap of True Womanhood
The Rebels: Weakening the Bonds of Virtue
Lesbian Feminist S/M Debates: The Moral Bondage of Moral Guardianship
Fantasy and Imagination in Lesbian S/M and Contemporary Feminist Ethics
Suspect Citizens as Innovative Ideologists
5 | “Ozzie and Harriet” Morality: Resetting Liberal Democracy’s Moral Compass
The Separate Spheres Paradox: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
A “Curl Back” to Virtue: Neutralizing Gender in Contemporary Morality
Habitual Inattention to Democracy: The Power of Vice
6 | The Legacy of Virtue and Vice: Mary Wollstonecraft and Contemporary Feminist Care Ethics
Sex, Sexuality, and Suspicion in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Political Thought
Moral Perfectionism in Feminist Care Ethics: The Problems of Infinite Virtue, Patriarchal Moral Standards, and Omitting Vice
Parochialism: Practice and the Limits of Finite Virtues
The Vice of Omission: Sex and Sexuality in Feminist Care Ethics
Conclusion: Beyond Virtue and Vice: Toward a Democratic Feminist Ethics
The Frontiers of Collective Responsibility: Toward a Democratic Feminist Ethics of Belonging
Notes
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE