Signifying Woman
Culture and Chaos in Rousseau, Burke, and Mill

Linda M. G. Zerilli (Author)

9780801481772

Paperback / softback, published 1 March 1994

232 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.454 kg

Signifying Woman is in many respects a benchmark in feminist political theory. What Zerilli sets out to do (and successfully does) is to argue that a feminist critical practice of reading texts in political theory is insufficient if confined to efforts to 'get woman' right.

Woman has been defined in classic political theory as elusive yet dangerous, by her nature fundamentally destructive to public life. In the view of Linda M. G. Zerilli, however, gender relations shape the very grammar of citizenship. In deeply textured interpretations of Rousseau, Burke, and Mill, Zerilli recasts our understanding of woman as the agent of social chaos and makes a major advance for feminist political theory.