Nancy Fraser

Nancy Fraser is a critical theorist, currently the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science at the Graduate Faculty of New School University in New York City.

Related Topics:
New School University - New York City

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A noted feminist thinker concerned with conceptions of justice, she argues that justice is a complex concept which must be understood from the standpoint of three separate yet interrelated dimensions: distribution (of resources), recognition (of the varying contributions of different groups), and representation (linguistic). In keeping with her quest to avoid reductive conceptions of issues such as justice and democratic participation, she also argues that social theorists should synthesize elements of critical theory and post-structuralism, overcoming the "false antithesis" between the two, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the social and political issues with which both approaches are concerned. However, Fraser is not advocating for a vague confusion of the two, but rather for a neo-pragmatic approach in which each school of thought is rigorously interrogated to separate its useful elements from what is not useful, or even detrimental, to a democratic analysis of societal institutions and social movements. Thus Fraser is squarely in the tradition of liberal democratic values while modifying this tradition with the more recent insights of feminist theories, critical theory, and post-structuralism. In addition to her many publications and lectures, Fraser is also the editor of Constellations, an international journal of critical and democratic theory.

Related Topics:
Feminist - Justice - Critical theory - Post-structuralism

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