Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics

Edited by Barbara Hobson, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Sweden, Jane Lewis, formerly Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics, UK and Birte Siim, Professor Emerita, Department of Politics and Society, Aalborg University, Denmark

• Contents: 1. Introduction: Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics Barbara Hobson, Jane Lewis and Birte Siim2. Citizenship Barbara Hobson and Ruth Lister3. Care: Actors, Relationships and Contexts Arnlaug Leira and Chiara Saraceno4. Social Exclusion and Gender Relations Mary Daly and Chiara Saraceno5. Contractualization Ute Gerhard, Trudie Knijn and Jane Lewis6. Commodification and De-commodification Trudie Knijn and Ilona Ostner7. Representation, Agency and Empowerment Bérengére Marques-Pereira and Birte Siim8. Social Capital – An Emerging Concept Dietland Stolle with Jane LewisIndex

'Contested Concepts in Gender and Social Politics is a significant new book. The authors take seven key concepts - care, citizenship, social exclusion, contractualism, de-commodification, representation, social capital - and explore these through a gendered lens. They examine how these concepts have developed over time and locate them within different national contexts and policy debates. This is a major contribution to the theoretical and comparative literature on welfare states, written by some of the most original and challenging feminist theorists of social policy.'