- Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
- Charles Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations
- Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty
- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent
- G. A. Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History—A Defence
- Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory
- Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy
- Ronald Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously
- Jon Elster, Sour Grapes
- Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
- Lon Fuller, The Morality of Law
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method
- Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic
- Jürgen Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy
- H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law
- Bonnie Honig, Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics
- Axel Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition
- Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship
- Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View
- Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: An Study in Moral Theory
- C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke
- Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man
- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
- Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct
- Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family
- Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons
- Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract
- Phillip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government
- Hanna Pitkin, The Concept of Representation
- J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment
- John Rawls, Political Liberalism
- Joseph Raz, The Morality of Freedom
- James Scott, Seeing Like a State
- Judith Shklar, Ordinary Vices
- Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought
- Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History
- Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self
- Richard Tuck, Natural Rights Theories
- Jeremy Waldron, Law and Disagreement
- Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars
- Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice
- Robert Paul Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism
- Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision
- Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
- Charles W. Mills, The Racial Contract
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter discusses Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (GT) and its legacy in political theory. It sets out five themes of GT: the claim that identity is always the result of power; the interplay between sex, gender, and desire; the critique of “identity politics,” including any feminism that posits a stable category of “women”; the concept of performativity; and the possibility of change via subversive performance. The chapter then goes on to discuss the major impact that GT has had on feminist theory, queer theory, trans theory, and intersectionality, along with the surprising lack of impact on theories of multiculturalism and identity theory more broadly. Finally the chapter discusses some main criticisms of the book.
Keywords: Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, feminism, performativity, identity politics, queer theory, intersectionality, gender, trans
Dr Clare Chambers, Jesus College, Cambridge
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- Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
- Charles Beitz, Political Theory and International Relations
- Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty
- James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent
- G. A. Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History—A Defence
- Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory
- Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy
- Ronald Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously
- Jon Elster, Sour Grapes
- Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
- Lon Fuller, The Morality of Law
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method
- Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic
- Jürgen Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy
- H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law
- Bonnie Honig, Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics
- Axel Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition
- Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship
- Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View
- Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: An Study in Moral Theory
- C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke
- Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man
- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
- Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct
- Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family
- Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons
- Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract
- Phillip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government
- Hanna Pitkin, The Concept of Representation
- J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment
- John Rawls, Political Liberalism
- Joseph Raz, The Morality of Freedom
- James Scott, Seeing Like a State
- Judith Shklar, Ordinary Vices
- Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought
- Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History
- Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self
- Richard Tuck, Natural Rights Theories
- Jeremy Waldron, Law and Disagreement
- Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars
- Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice
- Robert Paul Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism
- Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision
- Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
- Charles W. Mills, The Racial Contract