Barbara Hobson
Biographic Data
| ID | 251695 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Barbara Hobson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Barbara |
| FAMILY NAME | Hobson |
| SIGNATURE | HOBSON B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stockholm University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 460 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
In Memoriam: Júlia Szalai (1948–2022)
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 30, Number 2, Summer 2023
Migrants, markets and domestic work: Do institutional contexts matter in the personal household service sector
This article compares Spain and Sweden, dissimilar in their welfare/care, migration and employment regimes; however, both have experienced expansions of private markets for personal household services where migrants are over-represented. Using Sen’s capabilities framework as a point of departure, we explore the extent to which regime differences shaping the dynamics of personal household service markets are reflected in the capabilities and well-…
Gendered Dimensions and Capabilities: Opportunities, Dilemmas and Challenges
Looking through the lens of gender, this article engages with the opportunities, dilemmas and challenges posed by Sen's framework to sociological research. Sen's capability approach offers sociological research a dynamic framework through its concept of agency and its multidimensional approach. It also poses dilemmas, revealed in the tensions within agency and choice and the challenges in operationalizing Sen's framework: adapting it to sociologi…
Outsourcing Domestic (Care) Work: The Politics, Policies, and Political Economy
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 22, Number 2, Summer 2015
Revisioning Gender, an Introduction
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 22, Number 4, Winter 2015
A sense of entitlement? Agency and capabilities in Sweden and Hungary
Using a unique specifically designed for analysing the capabilities and agency gap, conducted in Budapest and Stockholm, chapter 3 compares two societies with a long history of the dual-earner family model, focusing on different worklife balance policies. The survey enabled to access the cognitive level of capabilities, perceptions of the scope of alternatives and a sense of entitlement to make claims. The weak capabilities and agency for WLB amo…
Worklife Balance: The Agency and Capabilities Gap
Across welfare societies policies and norms for work-life balance have emerged alongside rising expectations among working parents to be able to participate in employment and caregiving, and to have more time for family life and leisure. Yet despite this value placed upon work-life balance working parents face increasing work demands, as well as rising numbers of insecure and precarious jobs, both of which produce a deepening sense of economic un…
Convergent care regimes? Childcare arrangements in Australia, Canada, Finland and Sweden
This article is about the transnational movement of policy discourses on childcare. It considers whether the spread of neoliberal ideas with their emphasis on marketisation, on the one hand, and a social investment discourse on the other, are leading to convergence in childcare arrangements in Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) and liberal Anglo-Saxon countries (Australia and Canada). We find points of convergence around both themes at the lev…
Agency and Capabilities to Achieve a Work-Life Balance: A Comparison of Sweden and Hungary
This study develops a conceptual framework with a capabilities and agency approach for analyzing work–life balance (WLB) applied in two societies (Hungary and Sweden), which have different working time regimes, levels of precarious employment, and gender equality discourses and norms. Inspired by Amartya Sen, we present a model illustrating how agency freedom for WLB depends on multiple resources at the individual, work organizational, institutio…
The Agency Gap in Work-Life Balance: Applying Sen's Capabilities Framework Within European Contexts
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 18, Number 2, Summer 2011
Applying Sens Capabilities Framework to Work Family Balance within a European Context: Theoretical and Empirical Challenges
Competing Scenarios for European Fathers: Applying Sen's Capabilities and Agency Framework to Work—Family Balance
European policy and discourse create crosscurrents for fathers: the promotion of work-family balance (WFB) and more involved fathering versus work-focused competitiveness and productivity goals in globalized economies. Using Amartya Sen's capabilities and agency paradigm, the authors provide a theoretical framework for analyzing agency inequalities in WFB: the disjuncture between norms/values and practices and between policies and fathers' capabi…
Gender Politics in the Expanding European Union: Mobilization, Inclusion, Exclusion
In May 2004, after bringing their legislation into accordance with EU regulations, ten more countries joined the European Union. The contributors to this volume assess the impact of this historical development on gender relations in the new and old EU member states. Instead of focusing on either western or eastern Europe, this book investigates the similarities and differences in diverse parts of Europe. Although initially limited, gender equalit…
Cultural dialogues in the good society: The case of honour killings in Sweden
Value conflicts involving gender equality are interwoven into current multicultural tensions in many European societies. They are at the core of these tensions in Sweden, in which gender equality and principles of individual human rights constitute the state profile and political identity. In this article, we focus on three cases of honor killings that became flash points for public debates on `culture and cultures' among political parties, immig…
Recognition Struggles in Trans‐national Arenas: Negotiating Identities and Framing Citizenship
The purpose of this article is to incorporate trans‐national actors and institutions into citizenship theory both theoretically and empirically. We analyze three cases of recognition movements promoting gender, ethnic/minority and indigenous rights. Using one societal context, Sweden, we map the processes and mechanisms of power and agency (boundary‐making and brokering) that shape how trans‐national institutions and actors offer new forms of lev…
The Evolution of the Women-friendly State: Opportunities and Constraints in the Swedish Welfare State
Sweden is an interesting case in which to consider gender and social policy, looking through the lens of institutions, social actors and gendered discourses on equality. It has been one of the most interventionist states, mitigating the power of capital and markets to control workers and working conditions. It scores highest on the dimensions of social rights that decommodify workers, that is, policies that weaken a worker’s dependence on the mar…
Birthstrikes? Agency and Capabilities in the Reconciliation of Employment and Family
The purpose of this article is to analyze women's agency and fertility decisions in the context of policy configurations in welfare states for reconciling employment with having and caring for children and the changing aspirations and expectations forgender equality in families. Employing the concept of birthstriking, inspired by Amartaya Sen's ideas on capabilities and agency freedom, we consider which individuals and families in the 1990s are d…
The Individualised Worker, the Gender Participatory and the Gender Equity Models in Sweden
Within the European Union (EU) policy framework, individualisation is cast in terms of self-sufficiency and independence, and coupled to the market activation of all individuals and groups. How will this model be translated into European societies with different histories, policy environments and political actors? I analyse how an individualised system of benefits emerged in Sweden and was anchored in the broader social policy model and discourse…
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics
Some Reflections and Agendas for the Future
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 2003
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities, and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
The Package Deal: Marriage, Work, and Fatherhood in Men's Lives
Compulsory fatherhood: The coding of fatherhood in the Swedish welfare state
Feminist scholars have coined the term women friendly to refer to the Scandinavian welfare states. Does this mean that these states are men unfriendly? These are societies with policies that have allowed women to combine work and family responsibilities, in which the male breadwinner wage ideology is weak. They are welfare states that are enabling for women in that they provide women with opportunities to organize households without husbands and …
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
Fatherhood is on the political agenda in many countries, often cast in terms of crisis. One side of the policy debate focuses on fathers as deadbeat dads who do not provide financial support and care for their children. The other revolves around making men into active and engaged fathers. However, these policies are often at odds with the employers' reluctance to accommodate work schedules to fathers' needs. In Making Men into Fathers, prominent …
No Exit, No Voice: Women's Economic Dependency and the Welfare State
Research on the welfare state has been particularly concerned with variations in inequality between societies. These studies tend to view the family as a unit of shared interests where incomes are pooled and distributed equally This study makes a theoretical and empirical case for why it is important to look at economic dependency within the family in comparative welfare state research. Hirschman's theoretical framework of exit and voice is appli…
Competing Scenarios for European Fathers: Applying Sen's Capabilities and Agency Framework to Work—Family Balance
European policy and discourse create crosscurrents for fathers: the promotion of work-family balance (WFB) and more involved fathering versus work-focused competitiveness and productivity goals in globalized economies. Using Amartya Sen's capabilities and agency paradigm, the authors provide a theoretical framework for analyzing agency inequalities in WFB: the disjuncture between norms/values and practices and between policies and fathers' capabi…
Convergent care regimes? Childcare arrangements in Australia, Canada, Finland and Sweden
This article is about the transnational movement of policy discourses on childcare. It considers whether the spread of neoliberal ideas with their emphasis on marketisation, on the one hand, and a social investment discourse on the other, are leading to convergence in childcare arrangements in Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) and liberal Anglo-Saxon countries (Australia and Canada). We find points of convergence around both themes at the lev…
Agency and Capabilities to Achieve a Work-Life Balance: A Comparison of Sweden and Hungary
This study develops a conceptual framework with a capabilities and agency approach for analyzing work–life balance (WLB) applied in two societies (Hungary and Sweden), which have different working time regimes, levels of precarious employment, and gender equality discourses and norms. Inspired by Amartya Sen, we present a model illustrating how agency freedom for WLB depends on multiple resources at the individual, work organizational, institutio…
Collective identities, women's power resources, and the making of welfare states
The Agency Gap in Work-Life Balance: Applying Sen's Capabilities Framework Within European Contexts
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 18, Number 2, Summer 2011
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
Outsourcing Domestic (Care) Work: The Politics, Policies, and Political Economy
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 22, Number 2, Summer 2015
Cultural dialogues in the good society: The case of honour killings in Sweden
Value conflicts involving gender equality are interwoven into current multicultural tensions in many European societies. They are at the core of these tensions in Sweden, in which gender equality and principles of individual human rights constitute the state profile and political identity. In this article, we focus on three cases of honor killings that became flash points for public debates on `culture and cultures' among political parties, immig…
Birthstrikes? Agency and Capabilities in the Reconciliation of Employment and Family
The purpose of this article is to analyze women's agency and fertility decisions in the context of policy configurations in welfare states for reconciling employment with having and caring for children and the changing aspirations and expectations forgender equality in families. Employing the concept of birthstriking, inspired by Amartaya Sen's ideas on capabilities and agency freedom, we consider which individuals and families in the 1990s are d…
Gendered Dimensions and Capabilities: Opportunities, Dilemmas and Challenges
Looking through the lens of gender, this article engages with the opportunities, dilemmas and challenges posed by Sen's framework to sociological research. Sen's capability approach offers sociological research a dynamic framework through its concept of agency and its multidimensional approach. It also poses dilemmas, revealed in the tensions within agency and choice and the challenges in operationalizing Sen's framework: adapting it to sociologi…
Recognition Struggles in Trans‐national Arenas: Negotiating Identities and Framing Citizenship
The purpose of this article is to incorporate trans‐national actors and institutions into citizenship theory both theoretically and empirically. We analyze three cases of recognition movements promoting gender, ethnic/minority and indigenous rights. Using one societal context, Sweden, we map the processes and mechanisms of power and agency (boundary‐making and brokering) that shape how trans‐national institutions and actors offer new forms of lev…
Migrants, markets and domestic work: Do institutional contexts matter in the personal household service sector
This article compares Spain and Sweden, dissimilar in their welfare/care, migration and employment regimes; however, both have experienced expansions of private markets for personal household services where migrants are over-represented. Using Sen’s capabilities framework as a point of departure, we explore the extent to which regime differences shaping the dynamics of personal household service markets are reflected in the capabilities and well-…
The Individualised Worker, the Gender Participatory and the Gender Equity Models in Sweden
Within the European Union (EU) policy framework, individualisation is cast in terms of self-sufficiency and independence, and coupled to the market activation of all individuals and groups. How will this model be translated into European societies with different histories, policy environments and political actors? I analyse how an individualised system of benefits emerged in Sweden and was anchored in the broader social policy model and discourse…
Some Reflections and Agendas for the Future
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 2003
Revisioning Gender, an Introduction
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 22, Number 4, Winter 2015
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics
The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Court, 1859-1959: An Analysis and a Plan for Action
Journal Article The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Courts 1859–1959: An Analysis and a Plan for Action. By Michael Stephen Hindus, Theodore M. Hammett, and Barbara M. Hobson. (Boston: Hall, 1980. xx + 265 pp. Charts, tables, appendixes, and notes. $50.00.) Get access Gerard W. Gawalt Gerard W. Gawalt Library of Congress Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 68, Issue 2, S…
The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Court, 1859-1959: An Analysis and a Plan for Action
Journal Article The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Courts 1859–1959: An Analysis and a Plan for Action. By Michael Stephen Hindus, Theodore M. Hammett, and Barbara M. Hobson. (Boston: Hall, 1980. xx + 265 pp. Charts, tables, appendixes, and notes. $50.00.) Get access Gerard W. Gawalt Gerard W. Gawalt Library of Congress Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 68, Issue 2, S…
The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Court, 1859-1959
Journal Article The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Court, 1859–1959 Get access Hindus Michael S. Hammett Theodore M. Hobson Barbara M., The Files of the Massachusetts Superior Court, 1859–1959. Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1980. xxii, 265 pp. $50.00. Jonathan Lurie Jonathan Lurie Rutgers University, Newark Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Legal History, Volume 27, Issue 4, October 198…
Uneasy Virtue: The Politics of Prostitution and the American Reform Tradition
Uneasy Virtue: The Politics of Prostitution and the American Reform Tradition
On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 1945-1968.Cynthia Harrison
Uneasy Virtue: The Politics of Prostitution and the American Reform Movement
No Exit, No Voice: Women's Economic Dependency and the Welfare State
Research on the welfare state has been particularly concerned with variations in inequality between societies. These studies tend to view the family as a unit of shared interests where incomes are pooled and distributed equally This study makes a theoretical and empirical case for why it is important to look at economic dependency within the family in comparative welfare state research. Hirschman's theoretical framework of exit and voice is appli…
Disturbing the Nest: Family Change and Decline in Modern Societies.David Popenoe
Reply to Popenoe
European Parents in the 1990's: Contradictions and Comparisons
Collective identities, women's power resources, and the making of welfare states
Compulsory fatherhood: The coding of fatherhood in the Swedish welfare state
Feminist scholars have coined the term women friendly to refer to the Scandinavian welfare states. Does this mean that these states are men unfriendly? These are societies with policies that have allowed women to combine work and family responsibilities, in which the male breadwinner wage ideology is weak. They are welfare states that are enabling for women in that they provide women with opportunities to organize households without husbands and …
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
Fatherhood is on the political agenda in many countries, often cast in terms of crisis. One side of the policy debate focuses on fathers as deadbeat dads who do not provide financial support and care for their children. The other revolves around making men into active and engaged fathers. However, these policies are often at odds with the employers' reluctance to accommodate work schedules to fathers' needs. In Making Men into Fathers, prominent …
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
Some Reflections and Agendas for the Future
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 2003
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities, and the Social Politics of Fatherhood
The Package Deal: Marriage, Work, and Fatherhood in Men's Lives
The Individualised Worker, the Gender Participatory and the Gender Equity Models in Sweden
Within the European Union (EU) policy framework, individualisation is cast in terms of self-sufficiency and independence, and coupled to the market activation of all individuals and groups. How will this model be translated into European societies with different histories, policy environments and political actors? I analyse how an individualised system of benefits emerged in Sweden and was anchored in the broader social policy model and discourse…
Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics
The Evolution of the Women-friendly State: Opportunities and Constraints in the Swedish Welfare State
Sweden is an interesting case in which to consider gender and social policy, looking through the lens of institutions, social actors and gendered discourses on equality. It has been one of the most interventionist states, mitigating the power of capital and markets to control workers and working conditions. It scores highest on the dimensions of social rights that decommodify workers, that is, policies that weaken a worker’s dependence on the mar…
Birthstrikes? Agency and Capabilities in the Reconciliation of Employment and Family
The purpose of this article is to analyze women's agency and fertility decisions in the context of policy configurations in welfare states for reconciling employment with having and caring for children and the changing aspirations and expectations forgender equality in families. Employing the concept of birthstriking, inspired by Amartaya Sen's ideas on capabilities and agency freedom, we consider which individuals and families in the 1990s are d…
Recognition Struggles in Trans‐national Arenas: Negotiating Identities and Framing Citizenship
The purpose of this article is to incorporate trans‐national actors and institutions into citizenship theory both theoretically and empirically. We analyze three cases of recognition movements promoting gender, ethnic/minority and indigenous rights. Using one societal context, Sweden, we map the processes and mechanisms of power and agency (boundary‐making and brokering) that shape how trans‐national institutions and actors offer new forms of lev…
Gender Politics in the Expanding European Union: Mobilization, Inclusion, Exclusion
In May 2004, after bringing their legislation into accordance with EU regulations, ten more countries joined the European Union. The contributors to this volume assess the impact of this historical development on gender relations in the new and old EU member states. Instead of focusing on either western or eastern Europe, this book investigates the similarities and differences in diverse parts of Europe. Although initially limited, gender equalit…
Cultural dialogues in the good society: The case of honour killings in Sweden
Value conflicts involving gender equality are interwoven into current multicultural tensions in many European societies. They are at the core of these tensions in Sweden, in which gender equality and principles of individual human rights constitute the state profile and political identity. In this article, we focus on three cases of honor killings that became flash points for public debates on `culture and cultures' among political parties, immig…
Sociology (32 works) · Political science (29 works) · Politics (20 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (16 works) · Gender Studies (14 works) · Law (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Social science (13 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (9 works)