Against Recognition

ISBN: 978-0-7456-2931-5

Hardcover

240 pages

March 2008, Polity

Other Available Formats: Paperback

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Brilliant and original new book by Lois McNay, a leading thinker in feminist and political theory
Examines the idea of the struggle for recognition which features prominently in the work of various thinkers – from Charles Taylor and Jurgen Habermas to Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser
Argues that the insights of the recognition theorists are undercut by their reliance on an inadequate account of power
Using Bourdieu’s relational sociology, McNay develops an alternative account of individual agency that connects identity to structure
Opens up new pathways to move beyond the oppositions between material and cultural feminisms
A forward thinking book which will shed new light on the theory of recognition and be of great interest to both academics and students working in this area