Politics, Gender, and Concepts

Provides a systematically gendered approach to methodological issues in political science.

Although gender scholars have identified the analytical gaps in existing social science concepts, few have systematically mapped out a gendered approach to concepts. This volume addresses the gap by bringing together leading gender and politics experts to discuss some of the core concepts of feminist research in political science.A critique of concepts has been central to feminist scholarship since its inception. However, while gender scholars have identified the analytical gaps in existing social science concepts, few have systematically mapped out a gendered approach to issues in political analysis and theory development. This volume addresses this important gap in the literature by exploring the methodology of concept construction and critique, which is a crucial step to disciplined empirical analysis, research design, causal explanations, and testing hypotheses. Leading gender and politics scholars use a common framework to discuss methodological issues in some of the core concepts of feminist research in political science, including representation, democracy, welfare state governance, and political participation. This is an invaluable work for researchers and students in women's studies and political science.