Gene Sharp's Theory of Power: A Feminist Critique of Consent

Abstract

Gene Sharp's theory of consensual power is analyzed in terms of the claims it makes about power and the potential for effectively altering social oppressions by applying it to a particular set of power relations: gender relations. Gender relations constitute a deeply rooted and pervasive system of oppression - patriarchy. It is argued that power in gender relations is not based on consent in several significant ways, thus challenging the relevance of Sharp's theory of power in this set of power relations. The analysis is in three parts: (1) it draws on Pateman's argument that women are not fully constituted individuals in civil society to illustrate some limitations to the role of consent; (2) it makes a schematic link between Lipsitz & Kritzer's criticism of Sharp based on their consideration of power in terms of the aims of a ruler and two feminist perspectives: Guillaumin's discussion of the appropriation of women's bodies in patriarchy and Kelly's feminist theory of sexual violence; both theorists offer evidence that power in gender relations is not consensual; and (3) the possibility of shared political culture, upon which consent is predicated, is questioned by contrasting it with the work of Gilligan and Margolis (1989), who describe the very different worlds that are shaped by women's and men's experiences. The author concludes that Gene Sharp's theory of power has little value either in terms of adequately characterizing power in gender relations or in terms of offering a way to alter the system of social oppression known as patriarchy. Sharp's is a male-biased theory of power that fails seriously to consider women's experiences.