Lisa Duggan

This is from my document process:

Lisa Duggan Twighlight of Equality Reflection:
There is an interesting surface which we face in politics. Neo-libralism is the dominating mentality of contemporary political frames. Lisa Duggan gives us the most recognizable factor contending in this stagnant politics – which may possibly be the end of history as proposed by Francis Fukuyama. The major contending dichotomy of public verses private is the dominating mentality of politicians who more or less differ in opinion of ‘what is public and what is private’ based on convenience. The distortion of social liberties comes from the direct influence of this public v private mentality. What are we entitled to as private and what is going to make up the public sphere?

The lens that Lisa uses inspired me to think about liberty in the same way:

What dichotomies exist?

Liberty v. Oppression
Public v. Private
Privileged v. disadvantaged.


The interesting part of the relationships is that they build. We can think about being granted certain Public liberties (i.e. freedom of speech) and Private liberties (i.e. due process). Privileged liberties are a little more amorphous. Within Liberty that we propose, who is privileged and who is not? There are a lot of circumstances. Can you have Liberty if you Privilege some and disadvantage others? It’s necessary to a point; we must disadvantage those who mean to do harm. But at what cost? Where is a balance? That’s what I explore in my research: what is liberty; what balance is acceptable to me, what isn’t?

Duggan, Lisa. The twilight of equality : neoliberalism, cultural politics, and the attack on democracy. Boston Mass.: Beacon, 2004. Print.