PS 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Femininity
Document Summary
Critical theories: stand apart from the current world and ask, how did we get here? , explanatory theories accept the world order and try to explain it, feminism and constructivism. Feminism: focuses on individuals/groups not states, specifically considers gender. It is assumed that gender differences are socially constructed. Good masculine leaders are a must: masculine leaders create and maintain conflict, which creates the need for masculine leaders, examples- ticker, goldstein, etc. Constructivism: feminism is only looking at one piece of the puzzle. Identities help us know who we are and tell others who we are. Intersubjective agreement means that we all agree on the roles of certain identities: elite identities influence state operations. Some elite individual identities include, white, male, upper class, etc: states identities may include, self-interested, powerful, protector, advocate of democracy, examples-wendt, kratochwil, etc. There are some major weaknesses for these theories. The most obvious is that they can"t really be tested in any way.