“Para além do Princípio de Gênero”: Horkheimer e Adorno sobre o Problema de Gênero e Identificação

This article investigates the role of gender in Critical Theory and demonstrates how centrally Horkheimer and Adorno refer to gender relations when dealing with the problem of subjectivation, identification and mastery of nature. Horkheimer’s interpretation of early childhood identification is based on a dialectical theory of domination that involves a thorough critique of Freud’s conceptualization of the Oedipus complex. From there I proceed to an assessment of a particular notion of femininity as a social construct that reveals the social antagonism and simultaneously serves as the foil for a negative utopia.