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).CONTRIBUTORSAnna Aalten University of AmsterdamRachel AD Bloul ANU CanberraGon Buurman AmsterdamJulia Edwards University of GlamorganJoanne Finkelstein Monash UniversityIneke Klinge University of UtrechtGesa Lindeman University of Frankfurt Harriette Marshall Staffordshire University Stoke on TrentLinda McKie University of AberdeenMonica Rudberg University of OsloAnne Woollett University of East London, StratfordDubravka Zarkov Nijmegen

`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

• Introduction - Jantine Oldersma and Kathy DavisRT ONETHREE DIMENSIONS OF POWERPower and Love - Joan MeyerConflicting Conceptual SchemataGender, Power and Feminist Theory - Aafke KomterPART TWO: POWER, STRUCTURE AND AGENCYCritical Sociology and Gender Relations - Kathy DavisGendered Structure - Joan WolffenspergerGiddens and the Conceptualization of GenderPART THREE: SITES OF GENDERED POWERGender, Property and Power - Annelies MoorsSovereign and Disciplinary Power - Riet DelsingBourdieu, Power and Resistance - Carla Risseeuw