The Gender of Power

Kathy Davis is Associate Professor of Women's Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. She is author of Reshaping the Female Body: The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery (1995) and Power Under the Microscope: Toward a Grounded Theory of Gender Relations in Medical Encounters (1988). CONTRIBUTORS Anna Aalten University of Amsterdam Rachel AD Bloul ANU Canberra Gon Buurman Amsterdam Julia Edwards University of Glamorgan Joanne Finkelstein Monash University Ineke Klinge University of Utrecht Gesa Lindeman University of Frankfurt Harriette Marshall Staffordshire University Stoke on Trent Linda McKie University of Aberdeen Monica Rudberg University of Oslo Anne Woollett University of East London, Stratford Dubravka Zarkov Nijmegen

Introduction - Jantine Oldersma and Kathy Davis RT ONE THREE DIMENSIONS OF POWER Power and Love - Joan Meyer Conflicting Conceptual Schemata Gender, Power and Feminist Theory - Aafke Komter PART TWO: POWER, STRUCTURE AND AGENCY Critical Sociology and Gender Relations - Kathy Davis Gendered Structure - Joan Wolffensperger Giddens and the Conceptualization of Gender PART THREE: SITES OF GENDERED POWER Gender, Property and Power - Annelies Moors Sovereign and Disciplinary Power - Riet Delsing Bourdieu, Power and Resistance - Carla Risseeuw

`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