Theoretical foundations

This chapter develops the theoretical framework of “emancipatory eutopian critique” by combining emancipatory critique’s goal of overcoming domination with eutopian critique’s focus on establishing practices of freedom and care in the present. It introduces the “self-critique of hegemony” as both a theoretical concept and a methodological approach, distinguishing between the critique of self-subordination and the critique of domination over others. The framework conceptualises gender as a hegemonic discourse within contemporary transformations from Fordism towards a globalised authoritarian finance capitalism, providing analytical tools for understanding how privileged actors might question power relations.