Participação e Contrato na Teoria Política de Carole Pateman

Abstract

The present thesis examines two main works by Carole Pateman: “Participation and Democratic Theory” and “The Sexual Contract”. It demonstrates the relevance of her theses in order to critically analyze contemporary democracy and the continuity of patriarchal structures that allow and naturalize gender inequalities. The discussion of the first work involves the observation of the differences between modern and traditional freedom through Benjamin Constant's view and the consequences for the type of democracy to be adopted in each society. Criticizing the contemporary theorists of democracy, Pateman returned to early authors, who studied the representative government. She points out that they have emphasized the need to encourage popular participation in political decisions, in order to educate people to become full citizens. Nowadays, participatory criticism has lost space to deliberation, which has limited critical potential, for it does not question the system as a whole. The second work reviews the classical foundations of civil society and its patriarchal character. The contractualism that arose to oppose classical patriarchalism – paternal power – adopted it to preserve the domination of men over women. According to Pateman, the classical conception of property in the person, originated in the work of John Locke, is used as a justification for employment and civil subordination. The contract on ownership in the person, both in the marriage contract, as well as in the contract of employment, has the element of preservation of the submission. Pateman’s works propose to criticize the domination and civil subordination through the promotion of the self-determination of the person, both men and women, to be more capable to exercise self-government.