Gender and economic inequalities: trends in feminist economics and sociology at the centre and semi. Periphery of the global knowledge production system

Abstract

Main objective of this article is to provide an overview of the state of art in the feminist perspectives in the study of gender economic inequalities. The feminist perspectives in sociology and then economics (late 1960s and 1970s), brought radical change in the study of intersection between economic and gender inequalities (in case of economy) and gender, economic inequalities and class (in case of sociology). During this stage instigated by the rise of Second Wave Feminism, fundamental critics of capitalist societies, that generate and reproduce gender inequalities through economic sphere was developed, with simultaneous critics of key social disciplines that were omitting to see the role of gender inequalities for the reproduction of the system and existing power relations. The aim of this article is to provide overview of contemporary state of art in the feminist economics and feminist sociology in regard to gender economic inequalities. The analysis is focused on thematic and geographical scope of articles published in two international journals with high impact: "Feminist Economics" and "Gender and Society". The aim is to obtain insights in significance ascribed to economic inequalities within the broader studies of gender, economy and society. This is initial stage of broader research focused on differences in knowledge production on gender economic inequalities among the scholars from center, semi-periphery and periphery of the global system, which is more focused on substantive aspects - interpretation of causes, forms and consequences of gender economic inequalities in societies with different position in the world capitalist system and at the same time in the global system of knowledge production. The second line of the analysis includes insights in the state of art in Serbia, based on two leading sociological journals: "Sociology" and "Sociological Review", and two leading economic journals: "Economic Annals" and "Economic Ideas and Practice". The analysis is conducted on the journal volumes published during 2013-2017.