Central to rational choice theory is a particular conception of the indi­vidual. Specifically, the individual is perceived to be ‘utility maximizing’ and, as the terminology implies, to act rationally in their choices. Scott (2000: 126) defines rational choice theory as ‘the idea that all action is fundamentally ‘‘rational’’ in character and that people calculate the […]

How do individuals define their self-interest? How are people’s desires socially constructed? Do conventional definitions of a separate ‘self’ reflect a masculine view of the world? Some feminists of post-modern persuasion have argued that rational choice is simply an interpretive fiction. Others insist that we need a theory of individual choice that retains at least […]

Wollacott (2000) offers an historicized account of postcolonial per­spectives through her research into the reasons why large numbers of white Australian women came to live in London in the early years of the twentieth century. In 1911 there were 13,000 Australian-born women living in England and Wales. Standard accounts of colonialism tend to portray colonization […]

As with all the terms in this text, the meanings of postcolonialism are contested. The most basic contestation relates to the term ‘post’. In common with other assumptions surrounding this term, some readings suggest that postcolonialism refers chronologically to the period after colonialism. Other readings imply that postcolonialist writing is that which is opposed to […]

Psychoanalysis is concerned first and foremost with the acquisition of what is assumed to be healthy, mature, gendered subjectivity. The basic psychoanalytic presupposition that gendered subjectivity is acquired rather than inborn accounts for much of the attraction of psychoanalytic theory for feminists. (Weedon, 1999: 80) Barrett begins her account of feminist theories of sexual difference […]

Although there had been something of a demise of interest in class analysis, more recently there has been a return to a focus on class through explanations that take account of the multiple nature and dis­cursive constitution of class-based subjectivities. Because of their insistent attention to the structuring of class relations such accounts of class […]

In her assessment of the postmodern school of difference Evans remarks: ‘Postmodernism is frequently regarded as a recipe for statis, if not indeed paralysis: and I believe that’ (1995: 140). Although post­modernism is an umbrella term that covers a range of theoretical positions, it is certainly the case that postmodernism has been highly contentious within […]

One of the interesting features of the first difference that Evans identifies is that she has decided to foreground difference rather than equality as the central concept for exploration of cultural feminism. This reinforces our understanding of the inter-relationship of meaning that is drawn from the dualistic pairing of difference-equality. Thus, although we first encountered […]

Emblazoned on book covers, routinely invoked in intellectual debates, ‘difference’ functions as an unassailable value in itself, seemingly irrespective of its referent or context. Difference has become doxa, a magic word of theory and politics radiant with redemptive meanings. (Felski, 1997: 1) T he centrality of difference within social and cultural theory has led Moore […]

This chapter has explored the varied meanings of equality by illustrating the particular predominance, and relative success, of liberalist rights — based arguments. Such arguments, summarized by Brine (1999) as formal equality, have been taken up in legislation that has argued for both individual and group rights through equal opportunities, affirma­tive and positive action policies. […]