{"title":"Jane Flax","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"disputed-subjects-book-jane-flax-9780415907903","title":"Disputed Subjects","description":"Analyzes modernity and concepts of knowledge and power in the context of psychoanalysis, postmodernism and feminist theory. The text identifies problematic aspects of these discourses, as well as the illumination that each offers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49575038746897,"sku":"GOR002850733","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50351006581009,"sku":"CIN041590790XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/041590790X.jpg?v=1751071636"},{"product_id":"thinking-fragments-book-jane-flax-9780520073050","title":"Thinking Fragments","description":"\"Thinking Fragments\" provides a brilliant critique of psychoanalytic, feminist, and postmodern theory. Examining the writings of Freud, Winnicott, Lacan, Chodorow, Irigaray, Derrida, Rorty, and Foucault, among others, Flax conducts a \"conversation\" among psychoanalysts, feminist thinkers, and postmodern theorists, evaluating the ways in which each group of thinkers succeeds in coming to terms with crises in contemporary Western culture. As she analyzes each theory in turn, the others are used to identify and interrogate its gaps and omissions. The result is a postmodern text of intertwined ideas, devoid of clear beginnings, endings, conclusions. Flax addresses the question, \"how is it possible to theorize in the contemporary West?\" With the demise of objective notions of truth, knowledge, self and power, intellectuals have devised these new modes of thinking which both reflect and contribute to the uncertainties of the contemporary West.Each also addresses at least one aspect of what has become most problematic to modern individuals: How to come to terms with self, gender, knowledge and power without resorting to concepts that stress objectivity, universal knowledge, and a unitary self. Flax finds that neither psychoanalysis, nor feminism, nor postmodernism is adequate to the task for which it was conceived. Each can illuminate certain aspects of problems of self, gender, knowledge, and power, but none is sufficient on its own. In fact, each incorporates characteristic blindnesses rooted in part in the very difficulties it addresses.Despite their failures, Flax concludes that these modes of theorizing are our best tools thus far, compelling us to use them even while we grapple with the problems they raise. \"Thinking Fragments\" is a wide-ranging study that will elicit much discussion and debate. It is an essential text for social scientists and humanists alike, as well as anyone else who thinks about how to \"do\" theory in the contemporary West.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49660366291217,"sku":"GOR004986537","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52779441815825,"sku":"CIN0520073053G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0520073053.jpg?v=1750741532"},{"product_id":"american-dream-in-black-and-white-book-jane-flax-9780801435751","title":"The American Dream in Black and White","description":"\"This is not... the nomination of a justice of the peace to some small county in some small state. This involves the very integrity and fabric of our country.\"—Senator Orrin G. Hatch   The transcripts of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Clarence Thomas are extraordinarily rich and suggestive. Much has been written about the hearings, but until now, no one has paid close attention to the actual language of the participants. Revisiting the words of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, Jane Flax asks what we would learn about American politics if these hearings were, literally, our only text. Orrin Hatch's assertion was, indeed, perhaps more insightful than he realized. How does our legal and judicial system operate in the face of sexual issues? Can it ever transcend race and gender? Who was the real victim in these hearings—Hill, Thomas, the Senate, or the viewing public? Who in America has the power to make political meaning?    Rather than attempting to establish fact or truth, The American Dream in Black and White looks at the political narrative by which our nation makes sense of itself. The senators' own anxieties about their publicly televised role were evident throughout these hearings. Given our conviction that we are a nation built on freedom and equality, says Flax, the Senate committee had no choice but to confirm Thomas, thereby validating the cherished belief that with virtue and hard work, even a barefoot boy from Pin Point, Georgia, can transform himself into a Supreme Court Justice. To have turned him down would have called into question the very legitimacy of our politics and law.    To have sympathized with Anita Hill, seen as having brought \"filthy\" material into public view, was impossible. Demonstrating the powerful, public role of narrative, The American Dream in Black and White reveals the hearings as a dramatic challenge to the American political system—a system supposed to rise not only above gender and race, but also above any issue of sex, guilt, history, or personal identity.    Anita Hill's and Clarence Thomas's conflicting accounts, Flax argues, are a measure of the stories we tell about ourselves. Drawing on feminist, political, and psychoanalytic theory, she shows how these transcripts reveal deep and serious fissures in the psychic fabric of contemporary Americans, black and white, male and female. Identity politics and abstract individualism reflect rather than repair these fissures, and the lingering discomfort with the hearings reflects the necessity of new political theories and practices.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51126606135569,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51126607053073,"sku":"NIN9780801435751","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0801435757.jpg?v=1761387991"},{"product_id":"american-dream-in-black-and-white-book-jane-flax-9780801485619","title":"The American Dream in Black and White","description":"\"This is not... the nomination of a justice of the peace to some small county in some small state. This involves the very integrity and fabric of our country.\"—Senator Orrin G. Hatch   The transcripts of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Clarence Thomas are extraordinarily rich and suggestive. Much has been written about the hearings, but until now, no one has paid close attention to the actual language of the participants. Revisiting the words of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, Jane Flax asks what we would learn about American politics if these hearings were, literally, our only text. Orrin Hatch's assertion was, indeed, perhaps more insightful than he realized. How does our legal and judicial system operate in the face of sexual issues? Can it ever transcend race and gender? Who was the real victim in these hearings—Hill, Thomas, the Senate, or the viewing public? Who in America has the power to make political meaning?    Rather than attempting to establish fact or truth, The American Dream in Black and White looks at the political narrative by which our nation makes sense of itself. The senators' own anxieties about their publicly televised role were evident throughout these hearings. Given our conviction that we are a nation built on freedom and equality, says Flax, the Senate committee had no choice but to confirm Thomas, thereby validating the cherished belief that with virtue and hard work, even a barefoot boy from Pin Point, Georgia, can transform himself into a Supreme Court Justice. To have turned him down would have called into question the very legitimacy of our politics and law.    To have sympathized with Anita Hill, seen as having brought \"filthy\" material into public view, was impossible. Demonstrating the powerful, public role of narrative, The American Dream in Black and White reveals the hearings as a dramatic challenge to the American political system—a system supposed to rise not only above gender and race, but also above any issue of sex, guilt, history, or personal identity.    Anita Hill's and Clarence Thomas's conflicting accounts, Flax argues, are a measure of the stories we tell about ourselves. Drawing on feminist, political, and psychoanalytic theory, she shows how these transcripts reveal deep and serious fissures in the psychic fabric of contemporary Americans, black and white, male and female. Identity politics and abstract individualism reflect rather than repair these fissures, and the lingering discomfort with the hearings reflects the necessity of new political theories and practices.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51137501823249,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51137504608529,"sku":"NIN9780801485619","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0801485614.jpg?v=1761389094"},{"product_id":"thinking-fragments-book-jane-flax-9780520329393","title":"Thinking Fragments","description":"This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53497897419025,"sku":"NLS9780520329393","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780520329393.jpg?v=1777935167"},{"product_id":"thinking-fragments-book-jane-flax-9780520369009","title":"Thinking Fragments","description":"This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53497963839761,"sku":"NLS9780520369009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780520369009.jpg?v=1777936156"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-jane-flax.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}