The unconscious, myth, and the rule of law: Reflections on the persistence of gender inequality

Social order, to remain stable, needs the voluntary compliance of the majority of the population. Such consent requires normative justification. The rational foundation of the rule of law and the democratic state rests on the presumption of the equality of every citizen. Male domination of females nevertheless remains universal even in the most advanced democratic nation states because it is legitimized by the shared assumption that patriarchy reflects the will of God or is dictated by nature. Freud's diagnosis of patriarchy as a collective neurosis of the group mind negates every possible normative justification that can be made for gender hierarchy. Freud made extensive references to myth in developing his analysis of the neurotic foundations of social order. An analysis of the structure of myth suggests that ideological seduction rather than God, nature or biology determines male dominance.