Main Analytical Perspectives and Empirical Fields to be Considered

Members of this new research committee plan to do research using a variety of analytical perspectives. As mentioned above, definitions of globalization depend not only on region, but also on analytical perspective. The major paradigms in the globalization literature include the hyperglobalists (neo-liberals who would have the global marketplace be as unencumbered as possible by governments and governmental regulations); the realists, (who would argue for the priority of nation-states and international organizations as a means of controlling the excesses of free markets); the neo-marxists, who seek to identify and lay bare the structures and dynamics of globalization processes; and a somewhat vague category which Held et al refer to as transformationalists ( those who believe that globalization processes are transforming social relationships, institutions, ideas, and other aspects of life in such a way that we can only suggest the enormity of these coming changes. ) Our research committee strives to welcome any perspective that may be shown to benefit the condition of women in the world. We seek a mix of perspectives including varieties of marxist thought, varieties of social democratic thought, varieties of liberalism, varieties of developmental perspectives, varieties of post colonial and post modern perspectives, and varieties of democratic perspectives. With regard to democratic theory, we seek perspectives that explicitly include women as equal and effective participants in political processes. We will be interested in varieties of feminist theory and especially transnational feminist theories as they grapple with the effects of globalization.

The empirical fields to be considered will focus on globalization processes and how they impact traditional gendered relationships in societies, more specifically, how they influence the institutionalized relationships between men and women in workplaces, in the home, in the marketplace, and in political life. We will study the gendered nature of migration processes, of labor force changes, of changes in political institutions, including transnational organizations. We are interested in the areas of contestation concerning gender relationships that globalization disruptions make possible. These may occur in areas where global agribusiness encroaches upon subsistence agriculture. They may occur along borders. They may occur in transnational organizations that operate in two or more different nations. They may occur in immigrant networks and immigrant communities. In these situations, we intend to study empirically the emergence of women leaders as well as the barriers that prevent women from assuming leadership roles.