This article explores various analytical issues involved in conceptualizing the interrelationships of gender, class, race and ethnicity and other social divisions. It compares the debate on these issues that took place in Britain in the 1980s and around the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism. It examines issues such as the relative helpfulness of additive or mutually constitutive models of intersectional social divisions; the different analytical levels at which social divisions need to be studied, their ontological base and their relations (...) to each other. The final section of the article attempts critically to assess a specific intersectional methodological approach for engaging in aid and human rights work in the South. (shrink)

Since its inception, the concept of `intersectionality' — the interaction of multiple identities and experiences of exclusion and subordination — has been heralded as one of the most important contributions to feminist scholarship. Despite its popularity, there has been considerable confusion concerning what the concept actually means and how it can or should be applied in feminist inquiry. In this article, I look at the phenomenon of intersectionality's spectacular success within contemporary feminist scholarship, as well as the uncertainties and confusion (...) which it has generated. Drawing upon insights from the sociology of science, I shall show how and why intersectionality could become a feminist success story. I shall argue that, paradoxically, it is precisely the concept's alleged weaknesses — its ambiguity and open-endedness — that were the secrets to its success and, more generally, make it a good feminist theory. (shrink)

This article contributes to the revision of the concept of system in social theory using complexity theory. The old concept of social system is widely discredited; a new concept of social system can more adequately constitute an explanatory framework. Complexity theory offers the toolkit needed for this paradigm shift in social theory. The route taken is not via Luhmann, but rather the insights of complexity theorists in the sciences are applied to the tradition of social theory inspired by Marx, Weber, (...) and Simmel. The article contributes to the theorization of intersectionality in social theory as well as to the philosophy of social science. It addresses the challenge of theorizing the intersection of multiple complex social inequalities, exploring the various alternative approaches, before rethinking the concept of social system. It investigates and applies, for the first time, the implications of complexity theory for the analysis of multiple intersecting social inequalities. Key Words: complexity theory • inequality • intersectionality • social theory. (shrink)

The employment of au pairs to provide childcare, cleaning and other domestic services has been steadily increasing in the UK. This article provides an analysis of representations of au pairs in the British press and on the websites of agencies placing au pairs. This analysis seeks to understand how such imaginings of au pairs affect their life in Britain and how au pairs themselves respond to such imaginings. It argues that the competing portrayals of au pairs as both sexual sirens (...) and committed carers works with other ambivalences in the scheme to facilitate the growth of au pair employment in Britain while simultaneously denying their place as an important source of domestic labour for British families. (shrink)

Norway has a highly developed welfare system with increasing provision of public childcare and a strong public normative emphasis on gender and social equality. Despite an 84 percent coverage in public childcare, au pair immigration has increased greatly in recent years, especially from the Philippines. This article addresses why Norwegian families choose to employ an au pair and their experiences with the arrangement. It especially focuses on the tension caused by employing domestic help in an egalitarian state. Focus is directed (...) on the context and rationale for au pair employment in Norway and the ways in which families legitimize au pair employment in a society where employing domestic help is generally unacceptable. Families do this by claiming to ‘not outsource care’, professionalizing the relationship, calling it ‘micro aid’ and emphasizing the fictive family relationship. The article concludes that au pair immigration serves to lower the threshold Norwegian families would otherwise have for employing domestic help and challenges Norwegian norms of social and gender equality. (shrink)

The overall aim of this article is to explore the analytical potential and normative value of Helga M. Hernes' concept about woman-friendly welfare states in analysis of Scandinavian countries. The first part discusses the underlying theoretical, political and normative assumptions about gender equality and social justice related to dimensions such as redistribution, recognition and representation. The second part addresses the analytical potential of the concepts for understanding gender equality developments in Scandinavia. The focus is on three themes related to the (...) desirability, feasibility, and theoretical strength of the Scandinavian welfare and gender equality model and the underlying normative, empirical and theoretical premises. The analysis deals with debates about the public—private split in relation to woman-friendly policies, focusing on parental leave, childcare, and age restrictions in marriages involving foreigners. State feminism is explored in relation to women's political participation and representation and women's ability to influence gender equality policies. Furthermore, national variations in views about state feminism are identified. Finally, the article addresses the role of woman-friendly policies in debates about responses of Western welfare states to globalization, ageing and multiculturalism. (shrink)