Gender and Dichotomy

The social conditions and consequences of the radical use of logical dichotomy are generally neglected by logicians and sociologists alike. Logicians, no doubt, can safely ignore them, but social theorists do so at their own risk. This paper examines some ways in which logical dichotomy and radical gender distinctions are associated, some consequences of conceiving of gender distinctions as formally dichotomous, and some reasons why it is in the interest of certain social groups to understand gender distinctions in that way. The point of departure will be an examination of Emile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. This book serves as a model of how one may begin to understand relations between intellectual concepts and social distinctions. It also serves as a cautionary tale, for Durkheim's uncritical use of dichotomy can be shown to create certain problems, among them