Can We Talk? Feminist Economists in Dialogue with Social Theorists
Author(s)
Nelson, Julie A.
Abstract
This essay disputes the idea that such outcomes as overzealous marketization, corporate irresponsibility, abuses of economic power, and dogmatic neoliberalism are inexorable and intrinsic to capitalism. The purpose of this article is to present a brief genealogy of the metaphor of the economy as machine as it has developed within the social sciences, in the hope that this will help scholars understand one another across disciplinary divides. I then argue that this image of the economy as a machine is neither factually supported nor helpful. Further, I point to developments in feminist theory that I believe can help lead the way to better understandings of such economic basics as the employer-employee relationship and the roles of money and profit and that might help to unite feminist economists and other social scientists in a common endeavor.
