Gender, Inter/Disciplinarity and Marginality in the Social Sciences and Humanities: A Comparison of Six Disciplines

Author(s)Rebecca Pearse; James N. Hitchcock; Helen Keane
JournalWomen’s Studies International Forum
Thematic Cluster/Special IssueSpecial Section on Gendered Innovations in the Social Sciences
AbstractWithin different social science and humanities disciplines, there has been debate about the impact of feminist knowledges and scholarship by women in general. This study systematically investigates the differential impact of feminist thought on disciplinary domains in the social sciences and humanities. Using quantitative citation data from the Web of Science, we investigate the extent to which gender-related research is produced and circulated in the ‘centres’ of six disciplines: economics, history; international relations; political science; philosophy and sociology. We then analyse the production and circulation of knowledge produced in feminist disciplinary sub-fields. The study findings show gender inequality persists, evidenced by gender representation in editorial positions and authorship. The proportion of gender-related research articles published in sociology is significantly greater than in economics, history, international relations, philosophy and political science. Interdisciplinarity appears to mediate the status of feminist knowledge within disciplines. The marginalisation of feminist discipline subfields appears to be constituted through practices of strong disciplinarity.
KeywordsGenderFeminist knowledges; Disciplinarity; Interdisciplinarity; Sociology of knowledge; Citation analysis
Date Published 2019
Volume72
Pages109-126
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2018.05.007
URLhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277539518300037?via%3Dihub
Google Scholar Linkhttps://scholar.google.ca/scholar?cluster=3962825664952551735&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
Open Access?Yes

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