1st Edition

An Analysis of Joan Wallach Scott's Gender and the Politics of History

By Pilar Zazueta, Etienne Stockland Copyright 2017
    96 Pages
    by Macat Library

    94 Pages
    by Macat Library

    Joan Scott's work has influenced several generations of historians and helped make the topic of gender central to the way in which the discipline is taught and studied today. At root a new way of conceptualizing capitalist societies, Scott's theories suggest that gender is better understood as a social construct than as a biological fact.

    Scott’s original contribution to the debate, however, stems in her use of the critical thinking skill of analysis to understand how the arguments of earlier generations of historians were built in order to fully grasp both their structure and the assumptions that underpinned them. From there, Scott was able to use problem-solving to resolve the issues that emerged from her analysis, asking productive questions focused on better ways to build a model capable of explaining the historical phenomenon of gender difference.

    Scott answered these questions by introducing models created by deconstructionist scholars – notably Jacques Derrida, who challenged the idea that any term or concept has a stable or dependable meaning rooted in material reality. She was able, in consequence, to refute that idea that gender inequality is the natural (hence justifiable) consequence of biological sexual differences, and issue a fundamental challenge to the capitalist system itself.

    Ways in to the text 

    Who is Joan Wallach Scott?  

    What does Gender and the Politics of History Say? 

    Why does Gender and the Politics of History Matter? 

    Section 1: Influences 

    Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context 

    Module 2: Academic Context 

    Module 3: The Problem 

    Module 4: The Author's Contribution 

    Section 2: Ideas 

    Module 5: Main Ideas 

    Module 6: Secondary Ideas 

    Module 7: Achievement 

    Module 8: Place in the Author's Work 

    Section 3: Impact 

    Module 9: The First Responses 

    Module 10: The Evolving Debate 

    Module 11: Impact and Influence Today 

    Module 12: Where Next? 

    Glossary of Terms 

    People Mentioned in the Text 

    Works Cited

    Biography

    Dr Pilar Zazueta holds a PhD in history from Columbia University. She is currently a lecturer at the Teresa Lozano Lond Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, where her research focuses on gender and the History of Food and Nutrition Public Policy in Twentieth-Century Mexico.

    Etienne Stockland is researching a PhD in Environmental History at Columbia University. He has taught at Columbia and at Sciences-Po.