Ironic Freedom: Personal Choice, Public Policy, and the Paradox of Reform

193 Pages·2013·0.74 MB·English

by  Judith A. Baer (auth.)

Ironic Freedom
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Ironic Freedom
Personal Choice, Public Policy,
and the Paradox of Reform
Judith A. Baer
ironic freedom
Copyright © Judith A. Baer, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United
States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of
the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan
Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above
companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44066-5 ISBN 978-1-137-03100-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137031006
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-P ublication Data
Baer, Judith A.
Ironic freedom: personal choice, public policy, and the paradox of
reform / by Judith A. Baer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1 -1 37-0 3095-5 (alk. paper)
1. Liberty. 2. Social choice. 3. Social policy. I. Title.
JC585.B22 2013
323.44—d c23 2013019039
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: October 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
IN MEMORIAM
Dorothy Smith Baer, 1921–2 009
The first woman I ever met
Theodore Stevenson Baer, 1922–1 974
The first scholar I ever met
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 An Introduction to Ironic Freedom 1
2 Right to Die, Right to Live: Assisted Suicide 19
3 Ironic Freedom and Occupational Choice:
Sex Work and Military Service 37
4 Path to Liberation or Stigma as Social Policy? Same-S ex Marriage 57
5 Whose Right? Whose Duty?: Sexual Choice and Gender Equality 75
6 Winners and Losers: Class Privilege and Economic Justice 97
7 Conclusion: Ironic Freedom and Feminist Postliberalism 109
Notes 121
Bibliography 157
Index 17
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Preface
I was raised a liberal, and I became a feminist. A second- generation
academic, I grew up in Harvard married-s tudent housing after World
War II. The neighborhood was full of families with young children.
Most of the men would not have been at Harvard without the GI Bill,
a fact that predisposed them to New Deal liberalism. Words like con-
servative, Marxist, or Communist were spoken in tones ranging from
the derisive to the contemptuous. The death in 1957 of Senator Joseph
McCarthy, the notorious Red-b aiter, provoked an impromptu adult
block party. The Supreme Court decision outlawing de jure racial seg-
regation; the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; the integration of
state universities; and other events in the civil rights movement were
greeted with enthusiasm.
Nobody found it necessary to defend freedom of expression, the sepa-
ration of state and religion, the exclusionary rule, or workers’ right to
strike, but if you asked, answers were forthcoming. Adding the words
“under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance sent a hostile message to non-
believers. Laws that prohibited birth control were as ludicrous as the
idea of any duty to obey them. Capital punishment was wrong because
someone might be convicted in error. People who disagreed with these
positions were considered too stupid to understand. Reason trumped
emotion, as far as public policy was concerned. The brain trumped the
heart, the gut, the hunch, the instinct, the inclination, and the revelation.
These principles did not fully apply to children. Families that cel-
ebrated Christmas taught their children to believe in Santa Claus—a nd
woe betide any child who enlightened younger siblings. We learned
about freedom of speech in school, where we were seldom allowed to
exercise it. I conceived of adulthood as a stage of life when these rights
would be mine, too. But liberal individualism was not all I absorbed.