The Problem of the Passions

Cynthia Burack

ISBN 10: 0814712525 / ISBN 13: 9780814712528

Published by New York University Press NYU Press, 1995

About this Item

pp. 152.

Seller Inventory # 264529487

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Problem of the Passions
• Publisher: New York University Press NYU Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814712525
• ISBN 13: 9780814712528
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Women, says conventional wisdom, are warm, nurturing caregivers with an intrinsically enhanced capacity for attachment and compassion. Feminists, says the popular image, are full of rage, devoid of the feelings that are natural to women. How have feminists themselves dealt with this dualism and, more specifically, with the disagreeable passions?
What has too often been missing from discussions of women's psychology in social theory is an account of women as ambivalent: both empathic and enraged, loving and hating. The Problem of the Passions fills this void. Examining the work of such feminist theorists as Carol Gilligan, Nancy Chodorow, Jessica Benjamin, and Dorothy Dinnerstein in a new light, Burack argues that feminist social theory can be repaired through attention to the pioneering psychoanalytic work of Melanie Klein. Sure to be of interest to feminists, psychoanalysts, political scientists, and social theorists, The Problem of the Passions is essential reading for anyone concerned with feminism and questions of identity in social thought.

About the Author

Cynthia Burack is Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University. She is the author of numerous books including Because We Are Human: Contesting US Support for Gender and Sexuality Human Rights Abroad and Right-Wing Populism and the Media.