Monday, July 1, 2013

Atomized Individuals?

“Women are individuals, even when married …”

She seems to replace relational ties between individuals in families (could they perhaps be mutual instead of one-way as with coverture?) with  an atomistic individualism that leaves no barriers (no intermediate levels of authority) between the individual and the state.  That, itself, sounds like it might be a threat to liberty.  It’s good to break down hierarchy, but are we left with anything but individuals, who by themselves, could not stand up to a government if it decided to take away our liberties?   

From Wood: “the connectedness of colonial society—its capacity to bind one person to another—was exceedingly fragile and vulnerable to challenge”

-Does she take away informal means of bonding each other together (such as the family) and leave only the state (with all its powers of coercion) left to do the job of binding us together?

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