Hidden Gender Orders: Socio-Historical Dynamics of Power and Inequality Between the Sexes

Ernst, S.

Abstract

Research on gender relations, family and business life unfortunately is often discussed separately, ahistorical and is even organised in special research sections. A synthesis about all of these arenas therefore is overdue and useful as it helps to understand the embeddedness of gender, work and private life and its interdependencies. The social-history of the Fordist and post-Fordist working society as well as family or private life and its eparity shows a powerful basis of gender relations.These separately dealt-with arenas imply a specific inner order, a specific socio- and psychogenetic development that can be understood with a social-historical, comparative method that analyses changing patterns of behavioural codes.