Cultures of Servitude: Modernity, Domesticity, and Class in India
Cultures of Servitude: Modernity, Domesticity, and Class in India
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奴役文化：印度的现代性、家庭生活和阶级
DOI：
10.1177/0094306111425016ll
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Sarah Lamb
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Sarah Lamb
性别不平等仍然是一个紧迫的社会问题，也是社会科学研究的一个富有成效的领域。本书旨在从跨学科的角度审视欧洲的性别不平等和福祉的产生，这种跨学科的视角可能更像女权主义经济学而不是社会学。这些章节借鉴了历史和当代欧洲的例子，并对美国社会学期刊中常见的内容提出了一些不同的看法（理论和方法论上）。本书以“能力方法”作为各章之间的理论联系，对性别不平等和福祉的产生提出了更广泛的看法。各章再次强调社会再生产比商品生产更为复杂。各作者还呼吁并（在实证章节中）考虑社会政治和经济背景。整整一章专门介绍能力方法（第二章）。但在大量的参考文献中仍然缺乏对该理论的描述，这些参考文献引导读者在其他地方进行澄清。作者认为，幸福是一个重要的结果，幸福的产生本身需要纳入性别不平等的研究（第一章），同时也要求妇女不仅仅是另一个弱势群体（第四章）。第三章进一步挑战了关于工业化进程后“现代家庭”演变的传统观念，并认为家庭的脆弱性并不是一个新概念。这些理论章节呼吁对性别不平等进行更加多维的评估，并提醒读者福祉概念和生产的重要性。本书的两个实证部分涵盖的主题在主题、方法论和历史时期方面都非常多样化。第一个实证部分“性别关怀与工作”通过对妇女作为被动受害者和需要援助的观念的挑战而结合在一起。第五章展示了 1890 年至 1910 年间瑞典和芬兰城市寡妇的相对经济独立性，第六章展示了女性亲属在危机时期照顾大家庭成员的核心地位。第七章重申了这样一种观点，即代际支持不是单方面的，那些经常被认为因年老而需要照顾的人也是照顾和其他形式支持的提供者。各章的研究结果强调了市场体系之外非货币转移的重要性。在后面的章节中重新讨论了看护的主题，这些章节说明了比利时的家庭看护如何处于公共/市场鸿沟之间（第九章），以及将市场工作与看护结合起来的问题，特别是对于“三明治一代”的人来说（第十章）。第八章似乎与能力方法传统的研究背道而驰，它是一项更典型的时间利用研究，探讨了意大利无偿劳动中的性别不对称。研究结果并不新鲜，因为女性被发现从事更多无偿工作，尤其是在有孩子的夫妇中。本书的第二实证部分重点关注家庭内部的资源配置。本节五章中的三章主要以 19 世纪为中心，探讨西班牙的消费模式（第 11 章）、瑞士儿童教育中的性别差异（第 12 章）以及比利牛斯山脉中独身男女的待遇和机会差异（第 13 章）。这些章节说明了性别差异，但不是在
Gender inequality remains both a pressing social issue and a fruitful area of social science research. This edited volume seeks to examine gender inequality and the production of well-being in Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective that is perhaps more feminist economics than sociology. The chapters draw on historical and contemporary European examples and offer a somewhat different take (both theoretically and methodologically) on what is usually found in American sociology journals. This book takes a broader view on gender inequalities and the production of wellbeing, with the ‘‘capability approach’’ serving as the theoretical connection between the chapters. The chapters reemphasize that social reproduction is more complex than the production of goods. The various authors also call for and (in the empirical chapters) take into account the socio-political and economic context. An entire chapter is dedicated to the introduction of the capability approach (Chapter Two). But the description of the theory remains lacking amidst numerous references that point the reader towards clarification elsewhere. The authors posit that well-being is an important outcome, and that the production of well-being itself needs to be included in the study of gender inequality (Chapter One), while also demanding that women are not just another vulnerable group (Chapter Four). Chapter Three further challenges conventional notions about the evolution of the ‘‘modern family’’ in the wake of the industrialization process, and argues that the fragility of families is not a novel concept. These theoretical chapters call for a more multidimensional assessment of gender inequality, and remind readers of the importance of the concept and production of well-being. The topics covered in the two empirical parts of the book are very diverse in terms of subject, methodology, and historical time period. The first empirical section ‘‘Gender Care and Work’’ is held together by the challenge to the idea of women as passive victims and in need of assistance. Chapter Five demonstrates widows’ relative economic independence in urban Sweden and Finland from 1890 to 1910, and Chapter Six shows the centrality of female relatives in caring for extended family members in times of crisis. Chapter Seven reaffirms the idea that intergenerational support is not one-sided, and those often thought of as needing care due to older age are also givers of care and other forms of support. The findings from the chapters emphasize the importance of non-monetary transfers outside the market system. The theme of caregiving is readdressed in later chapters which illustrate how home caregiving in Belgium is situated between the public/market divide (Chapter Nine) and the problems of combining market work with caregiving, especially for those in the ‘‘sandwich generation’’ (Chapter Ten). In a seeming departure from studies in the capability approach tradition, Chapter Eight is a more typical time-use study that examines the gender asymmetry in unpaid labor in Italy. The results are not novel as women are found to do more unpaid work, especially in couples with children. The second empirical part of the book focuses on the intra-household allocation of resources. Three of the five chapters in this section center primarily on the nineteenth century, examining consumption patterns in Spain (Chapter 11), gender differences in children’s schooling in Switzerland (Chapter 12), and the differences in the treatment of and opportunities for celibate men and women in the Pyrenees (Chapter 13). These chapters illustrate gender differences, but not in