Woman must be studied existentially within her total economic and social situation

Evidence

For us woman is defined as a human being in search of values within a world of values, a world where it is indispensable to understand the economic and social structure; we will study her from an existential point of view, taking into account her total situation. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 131

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Beauvoir’s ‘situation’ concept: existence understood through total economic and social structure, the lens for the entire book.
• ADDENDUM: The insistence on economic and social structure as indispensable to understanding woman’s situation parallels the infrastructural determinism celebrated in ‘Grafting & Growth.’
• XREF: connects to: Existentialist subject-Other opposition provided the framework for feminist analysis — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 13; Woman’s status as privileged Other depends on specific social and political conditions — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 320; Human life must be understood under both individual and social attributes at once — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 213 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir grounded existential freedom within gendered historical situations #expands (0.90) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 684
• Existentialist subject-Other opposition provided the framework for feminist analysis #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 13
• Woman is a historical situation, not an immutable essence #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675
• Woman’s status as privileged Other depends on specific social and political conditions #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 320
• Human life must be understood under both individual and social attributes at once #corroborates (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 213
• Social norms constitute the subject rather than merely constraining her #corroborates (0.75)
• Woman’s apparent naturalness is itself a product of history #expands (0.75)