Queer Economics PDF
2019·10.9901 MB·other
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Description:
THIS READER ORIGINATED AS THE OUTPUT from a tutorial in
queer economics proposed by Adam and supervised by Joyce at Wesleyan
University during Spring 2000. Adam wrote the initial commentary and selected
the original articles. We have subsequently reworked and expanded the project
to incorporate additional readings, discussion, and web links. We originally
planned the project as a freestanding website aid for students who wanted to
take a tutorial in queer economics. Subsequent to a conversation with Rob
Langham, Routledge's Senior Editor for Economics, we realized that the project might serve in this pedagogical role better as a published reader that would
include the full text of original articles on the various topics.
This brief introduction sets out the reasons for and aims of the project. No
other book currently exists that consolidates what has been published up to
this point in the field; nor does any book try to define fully what comprises the
field of queer economics. However, this is a field poised to take off, and there
has been an increased number (though still small) of research contributions in
this area, indicating a substantial uptick of interest in the topics contained
herein. We consider this field as related both to a broader literature in economics that considers the causes and consequences of differential economic outcomes for various minority and otherwise disadvantaged groups, as well as
related to the growing literature in queer studies, most of which addresses
economics not at all or only tangentially. Thus the reader fills an empty niche
in publishing both by aiding in defining the field of queer economics and by
bringing together into one volume many of the salient early articles in the field as well as some of the important recent contributions and some lesser-known
contributions.
We (hesitantly) define queer economics as the examination of and response
to the effects of heteronormativity both on economic outcomes and on economics as a discipline. Queer economics can be thought of as having the same
relationship to the economics of sexual orientation as, say, the related area of
feminist economics has to the economics of gender. It implies a more active
critique of the field of economics rather than a simple description of a subdivision of interest within economics. Nonetheless, one cannot exist without the
other. Without first knowing something of the patterns and policies that exist in
the world, one cannot begin to question why these patterns and policies have
occurred and why they may be so resistant to change. Hence the two types of
economics are intertwined and treated at some times by some writers as
synonymous when the distinction is less important to draw. At other times
the distinction is key, particularly when the topic turns to power; that is, to the
realm of political economy.
The reader consists of nine sections, as sketched below, each of which contains a short introduction that defines the topic at hand and introduces the two
or three readings in the section. A few broad discussion questions are included
in each section's introduction that can serve to motivate discussion in class
settings, as well as indicate the themes we find to be of interest for each section. Each section's introduction also references related readings and web
sources.
Section One, "Why Queer Economics?," considers why there is a need for
examining markets and government policies for evidence of heteronormative
biases and outlines how leading scholars in the area have attempted to begin
their studies.
Section Two, "Barriers to the Study of Queer Economics," outlines the
types of problems scholars have faced in studying the questions of interest to
queer economics, and the types of solutions some have devised, as well as the
increasing availability of data for answering these questions.
Section Three, "Queer Demography," provides some background both of
the types of patterns we are beginning to understand regarding the demography
of sexual orientation and of the approaches scholars have taken to developing
our understanding of these demographics.
Section Four, "Queer Political Economy," addresses directly the effects
both on the economics discipline and on society in general of heteronormative
thinking, and considers how an alternative to heteronormativity could be structured and what effects such an alternative might have on research and on
outcomes.
Section Five, "Queer Economic History," considers how one might understand past economic history through the queer economics lens and also how the past affects the present and how past analytical techniques affect present
analytical techniques.
Section Six, "Queer Labor Economics/' outlines results in this very active
area of current research regarding differential labor market outcomes (including
employment, earnings, and occupational representation) by sexual orientation
and issues regarding the effects of being "out" in the workplace.
Section Seven, "Queer Consumer Economics," describes and discusses differential consumption patterns and differential marketing by sexual orientation,
as well as considering the issues surrounding the desirability of such differences.
Section Eight, "Queer Urban Economics," discusses location and home
ownership patterns by sexual orientation, and documents the existence and
nature of enclaves, or groupings, related to sexual orientation, as well as their
causes and consequences.
Section Nine, "Queer Public Finance," considers the interaction of the
legal system with the market and touches upon numerous public policy issues
with economic consequences, such as the expansion of laws regarding marriage
and partnership rights to same-sex couples, including inheritance, pensions,
child raising, and family benefit coverage.
We titled these sections so as to correspond to some of the traditional
areas of interest within economics so as to show how in each of these areas
queer issues and topics may be incorporated. We do not consider these nine
subdivisions as the limits of the scope of queer economic analysis, though they
give some indication of where many researchers' interests have been to date.
We see this reader as having a place not only as a reference source for
those researchers interested in seeing the early articles in this area but also as a
supplementary text for economics courses covering discrimination and genderrelated topics when instructors might want to broaden their coverage into this
area. The reader can also be used in various interdisciplinary studies courses
(e.g., American studies, queer studies, gender studies) that want to cover social
science work in the area of queer studies. While all of the articles were written
in English and many discuss US patterns, several of the articles explicitly consider patterns in other countries and this is a likely area of further research in
the years to come; thus the book has potential international appeal as well.
We thank all the authors of the included pieces for having the vision that
led them to write these works and for carrying through on that vision. We also
thank Wesleyan University for long-standing intellectual support; Rob Langham
for his encouragement and support of this project; Henry Abelove, Claire Potter, and Diana Strassman for their bibliographic suggestions; Dustin Schur for
his research assistance; Margaret Milnes for her contractual consultation; and
our families and friends for their influences on what we have accomplished in
our lives, of which bringing forth this reader is a salient part.
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