Deconstruction of gender and women's agency

A proposal for incorporating concepts of feminist theory into historical research, exemplified through changes in Berlin’s Poor Relief Policy, 1770-1850

Bibliographic Data

ID4367076
AuthorsDietlind Hüchtker (0000-0003-3090-2657, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume2
Issue3
Pages328-348
Publication date2001-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-7001 • E-ISSN: 1741-2773
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14647000122229550
OpenAlexW2129817131
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited35

The article discusses Berlin's Poor Relief Policy from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, posing the question: how can premises of theoretical and political feminist discussion be put into practice? In analysing the shift in poor relief, I have taken up three essential aspects: (1) power relations must be examined in a context that cannot be reduced simply to the opposition between ruler and subject or men and women; (2) when does gender become a principle of social order?; and (3) gender as a construct and women's way of action need to be linked. I show how a method that combines the different statements made by the texts as conflicts and discourse is useful, in that it facilitates working out the diversity of poor relief politics and historicizing the term 'poor women'. At the same time it can show how social change in everyday life was structured and established

Binary opposition · Epistemology · Everyday life · Political science · Politics · Ruler · Social science · Sociology · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law

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