Assess the significance of Judith Butler’s work

Assess the significance of Judith Butlers work The modern meaning of the word 'gender' emerged in the 1970s. Its original purpose was to draw a line between biological sex and how particular thoughts and behaviours could be defined as either 'feminine' or 'masculine' (Pilcher & Whelehan, 2004). The reason for using the word 'gender' was to raise awareness of the exaggeration of biological differences between men and women. The popularity of this meaning for the word 'gender' resulted from the efforts of second wave feminism in the 1970s. This essay examines how second wave feminism attempted to construct a 'grand narrative' of women's oppression. It then examines Judith Butler's contribution to post-modern feminist theory through her performative theory of gender and how this fits into post-modern feminist debates. A product of second wave feminism, which began around 1970, was the attempt to place women within a 'grand narrative' history of their oppression. One of the seminal writers on this narrative was Simone de Beauvoir. H er work in describing how women had become 'the other' in her book The Second Sex (de Beauvoir, 1961) laid the foundations for what was to come in the second wave of feminism (Gamble, 2002). De Beauvoir argues that the way in which men think about women is only in relation to their fantasies, that they have no substance of their own. Unfortunately, for de Beauvoir, women have come to accept men's fantasies of womanhood as constituting their own conception of themselves. For de Beauvoir, it was for women to conceive of themselves in their own terms, to take back the power themselves. A criticism of de Beauvoir's approach was that it tended to blame women for their current condition (Gamble, 2002). The second wave feminists of the 1970s, however, such as Millet (1970), pointed to patriarchy as the root cause of women's oppression. It is patriarchy, so Millet argued, that has become a political institution, and from this flows all the other forms of women's oppression. Firestone (197 0) also took a strong line against patriarchy, equating women's oppression to a caste or class system. Ideological support for patriarchy, in Firestone's view, has come from institutions such as the family, marriage along with romantic love. These ideas are referred to as constructing a 'grand narrative', a way of charting the history and development of particular ideas, in this case women's oppression (MacNay, 1997). One of the problems that much feminist thought has come up against in trying to provide a 'grand narrative' of women's oppression is that it is difficult to effectively give all women a common identity (Whelehan, 1995). If the very idea of gender flows from cultural origins, then it is only natural to conclude that gender has different meanings in different cultural contexts. How then can a common identity be posited? Other critics such as Richards (1982), examining second wave feminism from a liberal perspective, have seen it as a movement that has failed. Richards se es many of the feminist approaches as being extreme and unattractive, and not focussing, as she sees it, on rational debate. She criticises feminists for utilising 'eccentric' arguments which do not conform to the normative expectations of philosophical debate. Further, she criticises feminism for ignoring the obvious differences between men and women – such as women's ability to have children – and thereby presenting an unrealistic picture of utopian gender relations.

GDP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

GDP - Essay Example Firstly, it fails to include harmful side effects in its calculations. For instance, economic â€Å"bads† like pollution are excluded in GDP statistics. This, therefore, implies that GDP fails to take into account the social well-being of individuals as it ignores activities that affect people’s living standards. Secondly, GDP fails to take into account leisure or human costs as well as the revenue that is generated during such times. Additionally, no consideration is given to how hard individual work to produce output (Mankiw, 2012). The GDP measure also fails to take into accounts things such as love, volunteering, vibrant and supportive community and friendships even though they contribute to social well-being of individuals. Finally, GDP statistics does not take into account underground economy. These are cash transactions that occur outside of recorded marketplaces, and they can be both legal and illegal. Legal ones are undertaken to avoid taxes while illegal ones include trafficking in illegal drugs (Baumol & Blinder, 2011).   Yes, economic growth and productivity can align to Saint Leos Core Values. For instance, a country needs to put in place some policies in order to achieve high economic growth. First, the citizens need to be responsible stewards. They need to use the resources they are endowed with efficiently, effectively and economically. By putting the little resources they may be endowed with to maximum use, they will ensure that there are little or no wastages at all. Secondly, the country’s leadership should be of high integrity. This will ensure that the country excels economically and lives its goals by being consistent in economic performance. Finally, an increase in GDP indicates an economic growth that in turn results in a collective growth in well-being. Leaders should strive to create a socially responsible environment that is able to challenge every

Climate change reflection (2 pages) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Climate change reflection (2 pages) - Assignment Example The technologies available to reduce carbon emissions include the use of carbon capture technology that is well known from their use in oil recovery. Here, carbon dioxide is separated from other gases that exist in a power plant. Alternatively, it may be captured in its early stage before the energy is generated. This is also referred to as pre-combustion. Pre-combustion share technologies with solid fuels like coal and coke. In addition, the technologies use to remove impurities from syngas is the same as the technology used to remove carbon dioxide from a mixture of carbon dioxide and water. Moreover, the use of nuclear power to reduce carbon is another technology to be used. This is because it displaces electricity from coal as well as replaces electricity from natural gas (Oosterhuis, 2014). Some of the policies that can be used to regulate carbon include the use of cap-and-trade system whereby the system constraints the emissions of regulated sources by coming up with a limited of emission allowances. In addition, most prefer surrendering an allowance to cover up the emission. This is because it reflects the cost of the emission reduction. Moreover, in countries that are developing, it is the role of the policy makers to decide on the allowances to issue as well as the sources covered by the cap. Additionally, an emission-reduction-credit reduces the production of carbon by awarding tradable credits for certified reductions. The use of the clean energy standards is also vital as it establishes a technology-oriented goal that is implemented cost effectively. Lastly eliminating fossil fuel subsidies helps in getting the carbon price right to deliver incentives for efficiency (Jennings, 2007). The role of various countries in the reduction of carbon is by the use of strategic mechanisms for example, the use of clean development mechanism to