 Revisiting Durkheim on women, feminism, and equalityTara Milbrandt Chapter 15 in The Elgar Companion to Émile Durkheim, 2026, pp 255-273 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter revisits Durkheim's theoretical treatment of women and different critical feminist—and feminist-allied—responses that have appeared in primarily Anglophone sociological theory. It challenges the interpretation that Durkheim's sociology is deeply rooted in an anti-feminist and male-supremacist vision of society in which women are viewed as static creatures of nature, though it does not proceed uncritically. It argues for the importance of acknowledging Durkheim's androcentric limits while recognizing the ambiguities, inconsistencies, and contradictions that suffuse his disparate writings on women. The chapter focuses primarily on writings in which Durkheim considered the constitution of modern women, separate sexual spheres, differential impacts of the marriage institution, and the question of women's equality and growing participation within a dynamic and differentiated modern society. It makes a case for the importance of understanding Durkheim's radical conceptions of modern justice, equality, and the emerging religion of humanity as necessarily extending to all people, women included. Keywords: Durkheim; Feminism; Women; Equality; Social differentiation; Religion of humanity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22860_15 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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