Feminism, Objectivit and Economics
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Econ 771.001
ECON 771: Political Economy of Race and Gender Spring 2018 Dr. Elissa Braunstein Department of Economics, Colorado State University [email protected] Office: C327 Clark Office hours: T 1:00 – 2:00 (or by appointment) Overview I define political economy as “the study of the impact of group identity and collective conflict on the organization of economic activity and its consequences.” Political economy traditions tend to focus on class as a source of identity and group conflict. In this course, we will expand that focus to incorporate other sources of group membership, giving you a broad background in economic approaches to inequality and identity based on race/ethnicity and gender. We will focus primarily on the neoclassical, Marxian political economy and feminist literatures. In addition to learning more about the relationship between group membership and economic structures, we will use the prisms of race and gender to better understand and critique various approaches to economic analysis. And while much of the literature focuses on the U.S. context, I will try to broaden the discussion as often as possible, and encourage students to do the same. I welcome students from other social science disciplines. Although we will cover some advanced material that may be difficult for those who have not completed graduate economics courses, the emphasis will be on the main points, rather than the technical detail. The syllabus includes both required readings (*starred) and supplemental readings/sections as I wanted to give you a more complete sense of the literature if you are interested in looking further into a particular topic. -
Diane Elson: Marx and Feminist Economics
Marx and Feminist Economics Notes for a presentation by Diane Elson at Conference on Studying Modern Capitalism- The Relevance of Marx Today At Institute for International Political Economy at the Berlin School of Economics and Law July 2018 Introduction Feminist economics emerged as a distinct body of work in economics in the 1990s, with the founding of the International Association for Feminist Economics (1992), the journal Feminist Economics (1995) and the publication of the Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics (Peterson and Lewis, eds, 1999). It is unified by a concern with gender equality and women’s rights and well- being, and the application of economic thought to analyse gender inequality and women’s lack of rights and inadequate well-being. Of course, a concern with these issues is not altogether new in political economy. The Introduction to the Elgar Companion identified as examples John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill, Friedrich Engels, and Torstein Veblen. The variety of approach exemplified in these examples continues in today’s feminist economics, which is eclectic in the kinds of economic theory and analytical tools that are utilised. The first issue of Feminist Economics included a critique of Becker’s theory of the family, a critique of the use that mainstream economists make of the story of Robinson Crusoe, an econometric test of the influence of social/institutional variables on behaviour within families, a debate between a neoclassical economist and an institutionalist economist on determinants of women’s labour force participation in USA, and a paper about caring labour that compares neoclassical and institutionalist perspectives. -
Ecological and Feminist Economics: an Interview with Julie A. Nelson Julie A
real-world economics review, issue no. 91 subscribe for free INTERVIEW Ecological and feminist economics: an interview with Julie A. Nelson Julie A. Nelson and Jamie Morgan [University of Massachusetts, Boston and Tufts University, MA. USA; Leeds Becket University, UK] Copyright: Julie A. Nelson and Jamie Morgan, 2020 You may post comments on this paper at https://rwer.wordpress.com/comments-on-rwer-issue-no-91/ Julie A. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Boston and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University. Over the last 30 years and more she has established herself as a highly respected voice on many aspects of economics, most notably social and environmental policy, ethics, feminism and economics. Her work often has a methodological frame of reference, though she also has a longstanding record in applied economics (initially micro) and worked for the World Bank and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics early in her career. She is the author or co- editor of such well-known books as Economics for Humans (Nelson, 2018) and Beyond Economic Man (Ferber and Nelson, 1993).1 Her published work spans the mainstream- heterodox divide (for example, American Economic Review, Ecological Economics and Cambridge Journal of Economics). Moreover, her collaborative work on various textbooks has shown a laudable commitment to pluralism and the transformation of the curriculum and pedagogy of economics (for example, Goodwin et al., 2019). She was the 2019 President of the Association for Social Economics and is the editor of the Economics and Business Ethics section of the Journal of Business Ethics. -
Breaking Boundaries: Women in Higher Education
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 418 637 HE 031 166 AUTHOR Morley, Louise, Ed.; Walsh, Val, Ed. TITLE Breaking Boundaries: Women in Higher Education. Gender and Higher Education Series. ISBN ISBN-0-7484-0520-8 PUB DATE 1996-00-00 NOTE 239p. AVAILABLE FROM Taylor & Francis, 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007-1598; phone: 800-821-8312; fax: 215-785-5515 ($24.95). PUB TYPE Books (010) Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Activism; Age Differences; Aging (Individuals); Blacks; Business Administration Education; Careers; Change Agents; College Faculty; Deafness; Disabilities; Educational Trends; Equal Opportunities (Jobs); Females; *Feminism; Foreign Countries; Graduate Study; Higher Education; Interdisciplinary Approach; Mothers; Older Adults; Sex Differences; *Sex Discrimination; Sex Fairness; Teacher Attitudes; Trend Analysis; Women Faculty; *Womens Education IDENTIFIERS United Kingdom ABSTRACT Essays from women in higher education, organized around two major themes: diversity, equity, and change, and feminism in the academy, and with an emphasis on these issues in the United Kingdom, include: "Women and Careers in Higher Education: What Is the Problem?" (Christine Heward); "In the Prime of Their Lives? Older Women in Higher Education" (Meg Maguire); "Activists as Change Agents: Achievements and Limitations" (Liz Price and Judy Priest); "Good Practices, Bad Attitudes: An Examination of the Factors Influencing Women's Academic Careers" (Jane Kettle); "Deaf Women Academics in Higher Education" (Ruth-Elaine -
The Effect of Income Distribution And
Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre Aggregate demand and inequalities: wealth, income distribution and gender Özlem Onaran University of Greenwich www.gre.ac.uk/gperc Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre Outline • Context and stylized facts • Theoretical framework – A Post-Keynesian/Kaleckian feminist macro model – with demand and supply side interaction – effects of inequalities • Empirical findings • Policy implications University of Greenwich www.gre.ac.uk/gperc Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre Wage share vs. growth US, 1960-2015 EU15, 1960-2015 70 8 74 8 72 68 6 6 70 66 4 4 68 64 66 2 2 62 64 0 0 62 60 -2 60 -2 58 -4 58 56 -4 56 -6 1960 1969 1975 1984 1993 1999 2002 2008 1963 1966 1972 1978 1981 1987 1990 1996 2005 2011 2014 1960 1966 1975 1984 1993 1999 2008 1963 1969 1972 1978 1981 1987 1990 1996 2002 2005 2011 2014 Adjusted wage share/GDP at factor cost GDP Growth (right axis) Adjusted wage share/GDP at factor cost GDP Growth (right axis) Source: AMECO University of Greenwich www.gre.ac.uk/gperc Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre Figure 9: The share of wages in GDP (adjusted, at factor cost) and wealth concentration (share of top 1% in total net wealth, λ) in the UK 0.73 0.30 0.71 0.28 0.69 0.26 0.67 0.24 0.65 0.22 0.63 0.20 0.61 0.59 0.18 0.57 0.16 0.55 0.14 1978 1994 2000 2016 1970 1972 1974 1976 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 Wage share, adjusted for self-employment (Left axis) Wealth concentration (λ, Right axis) Source: AMECO for wage share -
A View from Feminist Economics Julie A
University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Economics Faculty Publication Series Economics 10-1-2009 Rationality and Humanity: A View From Feminist Economics Julie A. Nelson University of Massachusetts Boston, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/econ_faculty_pubs Part of the Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Behavioral Economics Commons, Economic Theory Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Nelson, Julie A., "Rationality and Humanity: A View From Feminist Economics" (2009). Economics Faculty Publication Series. Paper 38. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/econ_faculty_pubs/38 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Economics at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rationality and Humanity A VIEW FROM FEMINIST ECONOMICS Julie A. Nelson INTRODUCTION DOES RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY (RCT) HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT to contribute to the humanities? Usually the arguments for answering “yes” to this question go something like the following: The application of RCT has proved to be a powerful tool in economics and the social sciences, leading to clear and rigorous insights unattainable from less precise methods. There- fore, by also harnessing this power, the disciplines in the humanities could advance toward be- coming more elegant, rational, and forceful in their explorations of human behavior. As an economist, I’d like to address this argument on its home ground. Has the use of RCT advanced economics in good and useful ways? More precisely, what are the disciplinary values adopted in economics according to which the application of RCT has been judged a “success”? Is this system of values one we want to continue to endorse even in economics, not to mention more generally? This essay argues that the advantages of RCT have been much overrated within economics. -
FEMINIST ECONOMICS Economics 343, Wellesley College Fall 2015, Mondays, 4:10-5:20 and Thursdays, 2:50-5:20 Pm
FEMINIST ECONOMICS Economics 343, Wellesley College Fall 2015, Mondays, 4:10-5:20 and Thursdays, 2:50-5:20 pm Professor Julie Matthaei Office Hours: Economics Department Mondays 5:30-6 pm PNE 423, x 2181 Thurs., 5:30-6:30pm Soo Jin So, Case Fellow & by appointment Objectivity is male subjectivity, made unquestionable. --Adrienne Rich The womanist anti-oppressionist logic is that all forms of oppression, named or unnamed, are unacceptable and derive from a common problem: the dominating impulse, which is, with effort, alchemically transmutable. --Layli Marpayan Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. •-Paulo Freire COURSE DESCRIPTION: Feminist economics critically analyzes both economic theory and economic life through the lens of gender, and advocates various forms of feminist economic transformation. In this course, we will explore this exciting and self-consciously political and transformative field. After a conceptual introduction to feminist and anti-hierarchical theory, we will look in some depth at seven different types of feminist economic transformation: questioning/envisioning, equal rights and opportunity, valuing the devalued, integrative, discernment, combining, and globalizing/localizing. Our study will include feminist economic analyses of areas understudied or ignored by traditional economists -- occupational segregation by sex, the economics of the household, and caring labor – as well as feminist economic policy prescriptions. -
A Feminist Critique of the Neoclassical Theory of the Family
Chapter 1 8 Karine S. Moe A Feminist Critique of with Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Hersch surveys the relevant laws that prohibit employment discrimination. Connecting economics and the legal context, she uses noteworthy cases to illustrate the arguments employed in the courtroom to the Neoclassical Theory of establish a legal finding of discrimination. the Family Love, commitment, work. The essays in this book illustrate how economics can lead to a better understanding of the balancing act in women's lives. The authors help Marianne A. Berber beginner readers of economics to understand how economics can be applied to realms outside of the marketplace. The essays also challenge more advanced readers to think critically about how women connect the domain of family and care to the domain of labor market work. Gary Becker's A Treatise on the family (1981) was published about 20 years ago, a culmination of much of his previous work.1 It has remained the centerpiece of neo- REFERENCES classical economic theory of the family ever since, and Becker has widely, albeit not entirely accurately, been considered "the father" of what is also widely referred to as Becker, Gary. 1981. A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2 Bergmann, Barbara R. 1995. "Becker's Theory of the Family: Preposterous Conclusions." the "new home economics." Actually, the honor of pioneering research on and Feminist Economics I: 141-50. analysis of the household as an economic unit properly belongs mainly to Margaret Hersch, Joni and Leslie S. Stratton. 1994. "Housework, Wages, and the Division of Reid (1934), who in turn gave a great deal of credit to Hazel Kyrk, her teacher and 3 Housework Time for Employed Spouses." American Economic Review 84:120-5. -
Feminism in Time
)HPLQLVPLQ7LPH 0DUJDUHW:)HUJXVRQ MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly, Volume 65, Number 1, March 2004, pp. 7-27 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\'XNH8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mlq/summary/v065/65.1ferguson.html Access provided by University of California, Davis (8 Aug 2015 00:21 GMT) Feminism in Time Margaret Ferguson ike the White Rabbit, those of us addressing you from the pages of L this special issue on “feminism in time” are late, quite late, for what remains (arguably) a very important date—with a highly enigmatic fig- ure whose continued existence is subject to debate in these and other (related) sets of pages written shortly before and shortly after the turn of the millennium. As a figure, feminism has multiple, changing, and disputed referents. The name in the dominant modern sense given by the Oxford English Dictionary —“advocacy of the rights of women (based on the theory of equality of the sexes)”—came rather belatedly into English: 1894–95, according to the OED’s entries for the substantive and adjectival forms of the word. This philological fact may surprise you (it did me), since many students of feminism, including one in this col- lection (Laura Mandell), date the birth of feminism in its modern form to the European Enlightenment. Yet more specifically, but also more partially, with reference to the coordinates of “national” language and geography as well as to those of linear time, feminism’s “birth” has been (and is here too) provisionally located in the writings of Mary Woll- stonecraft, in particular her famous Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). -
Feminist Economics and the New Development Paradigm
B+1515 Feminist economics and the new development paradigm Women around the world work longer hours, participate less in labour markets than men, receive lower incomes and are more involved in unpaid work. Feminist economics demands a new development paradigm that is not based on +1515 economic growth and whose indicator is not the average GDP which conceals the half of the economy that is non- BB monetary. The classic model ignores essential activities that take place outside markets, such as maintaining a household, voluntary work, child rearing, caring for the elderly and a large part of food production and crop maintenance. The evolutive economist Hazel Henderson says quered. To cope with this new situation, society must Elsa Duhagon that human behaviour ranges from conflict and organise itself around a family model different from competition at one end of the scale to cooperation the traditional one of “man as provider” and “woman The economic and financial crisis has shown once and exchange at the other. She points out that only as housewife”. Today many families are headed by again that we need an economic analysis that takes market economics functions at the competition end women or by men and women where both have paid gender inequalities into account and that adjusts and that all the other social sciences are interested jobs. For this reason, Grynspan proposes programs some of the basic assumptions of classical econom- in cooperation and exchange, and consequently the of reconciliation between work and family in a way ics. To the current economic conception, growth theory of games is more and more the model to be that involves reconciling men and women, with this equals economic development and the Gross Do- applied.2 She adds, “In fact, new economics and even relation now being seen as one of co-responsibility in mestic Product (GDP) is the most used indicator to the mainstream of economic theory are beginning to the family and one that transcends the private sphere measure the “wealth” generated. -
Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism
DERRIDEAN DECONSTRUCTION AND FEMINISM: Exploring Aporias in Feminist Theory and Practice Pam Papadelos Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Gender, Work and Social Inquiry Adelaide University December 2006 Contents ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................III DECLARATION .....................................................................................................IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................V INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 THESIS STRUCTURE AND OVERVIEW......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS – FEMINISM AND DECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 FEMINIST CRITIQUES OF PHILOSOPHY..................................................................... 10 Is Philosophy Inherently Masculine? ................................................................ 11 The Discipline of Philosophy Does Not Acknowledge Feminist Theories......... 13 The Concept of a Feminist Philosopher is Contradictory Given the Basic Premises of Philosophy..................................................................................... -
The Enduring Debate Over Unpaid Labour
TheInternational enduring Labour debate Review, over unpaid Vol. 138 labour (1999), No. 3 287 The enduring debate over unpaid labour Lourdes BENERÍA * onceptual and theoretical norms are at the root of statistical biases leading C to the underestimation of women’s work in labour force and national accounting statistics. Initially viewed as a way of making women’s work more visible, the effort to account for women’s work has gradually evolved to in- clude all unpaid work by whomever it is performed (men, women, children). The evolution of this effort illustrates how the questions raised by feminists have a relevance transcending feminism and challenging basic tenets in conven- tional economic thinking. Ester Boserup, in her classic 1970 book, Woman’s role in economic devel- opment, pointed out that “the subsistence activities usually omitted in the statis- tics of production and income are largely women’s work” (Boserup, 1970, p. 163). She was a pioneer in emphasizing the time-consuming character of these activities which, in rural economies, include physically demanding tasks such as fetching wood and carrying water as well as food production and the “crude processing of basic foods”. Even earlier, Margaret Reid, in her 1934 book, Economics of household production, expressed concern about the exclusion of domestic production from national income accounts and designed a method to estimate the value of home- based work. Then, from the late 1960s, the international women’s movement prepared the ground for a new look at the estimation of women’s economic activities. The issue was then seen as symbolizing society’s undervaluation of women and of their contribution to social well-being.