The Gender of Power
- Kathy Davis - VU University, Netherlands
- Monique Leijenaar - University of Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Jantine Oldersma
The Gender of Power presents a critique of feminist theories of power as simply top-down models of the oppression of women. The authors argue that this notion presents women as passive victims and ignores the diversity and complexity of women's experiences. The ideas on power of Bourdieu, Giddens, Lukes and Foucault are also evaluated in terms of their usefulness in explaining relations between men and women, which can often be covert, consensual and intimate.
`What is the usefulness of general sociological theories of power, to social scientists conducting a feminist analysis of social structures and processes? That is the question nine women set out to answer in their various chapters. They do a good job, and I will be adopting this book... This well-edited book addresses the problem of gender in theories of power directly, incisively, and succinctly. It is joyfully free of jargon and prolixity, as it is of dogma and flag-waving. Its language and ideas should be accessible and interesting to most social scientists or women's studies students' - Canadian Journal of Sociology
'This book does serve a very useful purpose in returning power to the centre of the feminist stage.... This book makes clear the ways in which the machinations of power are more subtle, widespread and multiform than it sometimes appears. Futher, the clarity of presentation means that it is also a text that can usefully be included on student bibliographies.' - Women's Philosophy Review
`This book does serve a very useful purpose in returning power to the centre of the feminist stage.... This book makes clear the ways in which the machinations of power are more subtle, widespread and multiform than it sometimes appears. Further, the clarity of presentation means that it is also a text that can usefully be included on student bibliographies.' - Women's Philosophy Review
`The Gender of Power which announces itself in the first line of its preface as a scholarly treatment of the `battle of the sexes', is a fine contribution to this promising dialogue of understanding.' - The Journal of Men's Studies
