Abstract

The dissertation critiques modern communitarianism thought as represented in works by Sandel , MacIntyre ), and Bellah et al . It argues that--as illustrated by recent creation of a "communitarian movement"--communitarianism is an activist neo-liberalism, in the tradition of J. S. Mill. Communitarianism's appearance at this point in time is explained by recent changes in the roles and status of women, exposing liberalism's dependence on excluding most women from its characteristic individualist understandings. Because of this, liberal individualism continues to be an important weapon for the liberation of women in liberal societies. Kymlicka's Liberalism, Community and Culture is responded to at length, to correct its egregious misrepresentation of Marx's radicalism and its underestimation of the continuing liberatory potential of liberal self-ownership. Reinterpreted, Marx is shown to offer a vision of community and human beings superior to any available in liberalism or communitarianism. In conclusion, the communitarian position on the self is revealed as a normative prescription designed to politically advance a very traditional sort of individual, and the communitarian sense of crisis is revealed to be the result of the erosion of male-dominance