Old and New Boundaries in Gender Relations (Or Gender Relations in Troubled Times)

Abstract

Introduction: The study of gender relations fits well with the theme of this conference because this field has, from its beginnings in the late 1960s, been dedicated to the breaking of boundaries of conceptual practices and distributions of power and respect that have maintained male-domination in sociology and society in general. At the present time, the dismanteling or at least weakening of old gender power relations in some countries and the often violent reinforcement of old patterns of male dominance in others are among the most dramatic and often unsettling of the many global and local changes underway. In this discussion I will first outline how feminist scholars have challenged and sometimes shattered the boundaries of old, male-dominated, gendered intellectual practices and, second, consider how the resulting new perspectives on gender and social life can illuminate contemporary economic and social changes as well as the consequences of these changes for women and men. I focus primarily on work and work organizations because these are the topics with which I am most familiar.