A construção política da identidade: um desafio feminista à distinção entre político e social

If Arendt´s habit of separating concepts allowed her to make important critiques of modernity and promoted a new questioning about the meaning of politics, it also gave space to serious critiques to the author's thought, from sexist to Hellenic nostalgic. In this sense, the most appropriate exercise an interpreter should do in order not to lose Arendt’s contributions to the contemporary political debate is to understand these distinctions avoiding a rigid comprehension of them. Authors such as Bonnie Honig and Hanna Pitikin launch interesting challenges to Arendt’s categories and make, out of them, a new and appealing reading of the conflicts of identity formation. This paper aims to show how an attitudinal and relational reading can give strength to Arendt´s distinctions, insisting on their capacity to trace the differences between social and political but, at the same time, attenuating them.