The book examines the traditional Western understanding of freedom in the context of contemporary issues such as domestic violence, welfare reform, and Islamic veiling.
[5] In this new role, Hirschmann accepted a research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support her work A Political Theory of Disability and Illness.
[6] She then published two books; an edited volume of Feminist Interpretations of John Locke and Gender, Class, and Freedom in Modern Political Theory.
In 2007, Hirschmann was promoted to the rank of R. Jean Brownlee Endowed Term Professor as a faculty member committed to women's studies at Penn.
[16] Three years later, she received a new appointment as the Geraldine R. Segal Professors in American Social Thought alongside Anthea Butler of Religious Studies.