Gender

This chapter begins by stressing the relative novelty of discussing gender as a key concern with mainstream social theory. The broader heritage of the feminist movement is outlined and contemporary gender theory is located within it. Five key concepts within gender theory are then outlined: patriarchy, sex and gender, queer theory, care labour and feminist political economy, and intersectionality. The focus then shifts to discuss how these concepts have shaped the development of social theory more broadly over the past few decades. The discussion focuses on the increasing fluidity of identities and the rise of the terms ‘hegemonic masculinity’ and ‘emphasised femininity’ which have been deployed across various areas of the humanities and social sciences. The chapter then moves on to focus on the problems that exist with much contemporary gender theory, and in particular its principal avatar, liberal feminism. Liberal feminism is shown to produce an EDI agenda which is accused of stabilising, and merely tinkering with, patriarchal, capitalist, and neo-imperialist structures, rather than aiming for radical emancipatory change. A further criticism of contemporary gender theory is that one of its key tenets, intersectionality, has become co-opted by capitalist forces, robbing it of its critical explanatory potential. Finally, an enduring legacy of gender theory for contemporary social thought is discussed: the importance of how studies on gender should be linked to political campaigns.

Political science · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies