Liberating Economics: Feminist Perspectives on Families, Work, and Globalization (Advances In Heterodox Economics) - Softcover

Barker, Drucilla; Feiner, Susan F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472068431 ISBN 13: 9780472068432

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2004

Synopsis

Liberating Economics draws on central concepts from women's studies scholarship to construct a feminist understanding of the economic roles of families, caring labor, motherhood, paid and unpaid labor, poverty, the feminization of labor, and the consequences of globalization. Barker and Feiner consistently recognize the importance of social location -- gender, race, class, sexual identity, and nationality -- in economic processes shaping the home, paid employment, market relations, and the global economy. Throughout they connect women's economic status in the industrialized nations to the economic circumstances surrounding women in the global South.

Rooted in the two disciplines, this book draws on the rich tradition of interdisciplinary work in feminist social science scholarship to construct a parallel between the notions that the "personal is political" and "the personal is economic."

Drucilla K. Barker is Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, Hollins University.

Susan F. Feiner is Associate Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, University of Southern Maine.

About this title

From the Publisher

Liberating Economics is the first book to connect the key concepts and concerns of contemporary women's studies to the central problems analyzed by feminist economics. From the outset the book presents a global, comparative perspective on issues relating to the social, economic, and political status of women, while emphasizing the heterogeneity of gendered experiences. Liberating Economics is accessible, presuming no specialized knowledge of either feminist theory or economics. Topics covered include the changing roles of families, the relationship between household organization and commodity production, the private costs and social benefits of caring labor, the status of women in labor markets, national policies to enhance gender equity, the impact of globalization on social reproduction, and a feminist policy framework for evaluating economic performance. Of special interest to scholars in all disciplines is its demonstration of the connection between the ideology of the family-especially in it's male breadwinner/female caretaker form-and the hegemony of economic elites.

From the Inside Flap

"This imaginatively written volume is essential reading for all who want to learn about the feminist revolution in economic thought. Accessible to nonspecialists and students from all fields, this book shows how gender, race, nation, and class interact in economic systems to influence human well-being." --- Diana Strassman

"Feminism teaches us to think of the person in context: family, social and global. The atomism beloved of economics from the man's perspective melts away when you do that -- and it's about time, too. " --- James Galbraith, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

"This book is a must-read for every future economist, undergraduate and graduate, and for every women's studies student. It is a great read for the rest of us. It should be required reading for every policy-maker at the WB, IMF, and WTO." --- Sandra Harding, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies UCLA

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0472068431
• ISBN 13: 9780472068432
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208