Darwinian Feminist Approach to Political Behavior
In the October 2008 issue of the journal, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,
[see
http://www.springer.com/psychology/personality+%26+social+psychology/journal/11199
], we initiate a new section of the journal called the "Feminist Forum." [We
invite submissions of theoretical reviews of feminist social science research
for this section]. We are pleased to publish work on Darwinian feminism as
our first issue. [Irene Frieze, Editor]
What does it mean to take a Darwinian feminist approach to understanding
gendered political behavior? Is such an approach useful, from a social
scientific as well as a feminist perspective? In this Feminist Forum, Rebecca
J. Hannagan speaks to these questions in her article "Gendered Political
Behavior: A Darwinian Feminist Approach." She argues "power relations between
women and men arise from conflicting reproductive strategies and social
scientists ought to reconfigure their understanding of the psychological and
behavioral repertoires of women and men based on their dynamic interactions
throughout human evolution." She concludes that this approach is not only good
from a feminist perspective, but "it is good social science."
In response to Professor Hannagan's article, Celeste Condit, Laurette
Liesen, and Griet Vandermassen present distinctly different perspectives on a
Darwinian feminist approach as well as its utility for social science. Condit
argues for a reconfiguration not only of feminist perspectives on the use of
science or evolutionary frameworks, but also a reconfiguration of biology in
light of feminist theoretical and empirical work. Liesen suggests that more
work in political science, in particular, ought to draw on the work previously
done by feminist evolutionists and calls for a more interdisciplinary approach
to sex roles and power relations. Though conceding that more work is needed to
overcome the feminist biophobia of the past, Vandermassen largely refutes
Hannagan's arguments as wishful thinking that obscures any utility in combining
evolutionary and feminist theory. Hannagan's response to the commentaries
reinforces her claim that such an approach provides theoretical footing for
understanding gendered political behavior. She concludes by suggesting
feminist social scientists make use of new tools in genetics and neuroscience
to pursue their questions of the psychological and behavioral repertoires of
men and women.
............................................
Irene Hanson Frieze, Ph.D.
Editor, Sex Roles
Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
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