Nancy J. Chodorow :: Biography

Personal BackgroundChodorow is often appointed as a leading theorist in feminist thought, especially in the cranial orbit of psychoanalysis and feminist psychological science. Her essays are included in many books concerning gender roles and construction as well as psychoanalysis. Her evaluations of the ways in which the mental dynamics of the gender system is systematically generated and subject to historical sort and development are ack directly leadged as significant contributions to feminist theory. Chodorow is now at the University of California at Berkeley, and she continues her Education and TrainingShe graduated from Radcliffe College in 1966, she earned her PhD in sociology from Brandeis University and received her psychoanalytical training at the San Francisco psychoanalytic Institute. She then received her PhD from Brandeis University in 1975.Major ContributionsChodorow begins her experiences with challenging psychoanalyst none other than Sigmund Frued. His ambition f or psychoanalysis led him to his first methods and theories. These methods and theories are as followed Oedipus complex, dream analysis and his understanding of sexuality and psychopathology. Nancy was inspired by the psychology of women contributions of the 1920s and 1930s. Frueds Oedipus pivots an entire legacy of Nancys curiosity of mother-daughter psychology, and which led Frued (1931) to redefine the psychology of feminity. As Chodorow was influenced by the influencing psychoanalysis in the 1930s, she cognize that psychological anthropology (her own subspecialty) had explored the psychology of gender culture. Chodorows first womens conference in 1969 is what propelled her and other women into awareness. universe and Doing was Chodorows first promulgated book which contained a cross-cultural examination of the socialization of Males and Females (1972). Its main focus on was that sexism is political, economic, familial institutions in terms of mens behavior toward women. Chodo row explains that Being and Doing located the mens origin of male dominance in mens dread of women and fear of their own external feminity. Surprisingly, Chodorow institute that male and female bisexual identifications were asymmetrical the mans being more threatening. (Chodorow, 2004). The book concluded that womens identity was based on being and mens masculine identity was based on doing.Being and Doing was published over 30 years ago and unwittingly anticipated many of themes that are now found in psychoanalytic rethinking of feminity. At this point in time Chodorow insists to take an intuitive and earthy mode beginning with a single, self-evident, taken-for granted but previously unnoted or unstudied feature of psychic or culture area and expand the consequences of the fact from within the clinical moment (Chodorow, 2004).