Sociology, Economics, and Gender: Can Knowledge of the Past Contribute to a Better Future?
The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 1127-1154, October 2010
30 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2009 Last revised: 23 Nov 2011
Date Written: August 1, 2008
Abstract
This essay explores the profoundly gendered nature of the split between the disciplines of economics and sociology which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, emphasizing implications for the relatively new field of economic sociology. Drawing on historical documents and feminist studies of science, it investigates the gendered processes underlying the divergence of the disciplines in definition, method, and degree of engagement with social problems. Economic sociology has the potential to heal this disciplinary split, but only if the field is broadened, deepened, and made wiser and more self-reflective through the use of feminist analysis.
Keywords: economics, sociology, economic sociology, history of economic thought, gender, methodology, feminist economics
JEL Classification: A12, B00, J16, A13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation