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`This book makes a major contribution to an issue of central concern to feminists. It is well written, thoroughly researched and thoughtfully argued. Wide-ranging and comprehensive in scope, the book is carefully structured, using different countries to illustrate the specific ways in which affirmative action is co-opted and contained in practice' - Jeanne Gregory, Middlesex University
This timely and incisive book brings a theoretical lens to the debates around affirmative action. It presents a comparative analysis of those countries reputed to be leading the way in policies for women - the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands and Norway.
Carol Lee Bacchi draws upon current social and feminist theory to present a lucid analysis of the implementation of reform. Taking account of the particular historical context of affirmative action policies, she considers why expressed commitment to affirmative action for women has failed to translate into meaningful reform. She describes how conceptual and identity categories are given meanings and positioned in debate in ways which work to contain the effects of the reform. Bacchi concludes that proponents of affirmative action need to direct more attention to the political uses of categories than to their abstract content, and to concentrate their efforts upon exposing the effects of category politics.
List of contents
The Political Uses of Categories
Setting the Stage
The Politics of (Mis)representation
The Politics of Displacement
The Politics of Incorporation - C Bacchi and J Eveline
The Politics of Solidarity
The Politics of Transformation
The Politics of Difference
Conclusion
No Final Curtain
About the author
Carol Lee Bacchi is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide. Her publications include The Politics of Affirmative Action: ′Women′, Equality and Category Politics (Sage, 1996), and Same Difference: Feminism and Sexual Difference (Allen & Unwin, 1990)
Summary
Presenting a comparative analysis of affirmative action in different countries, this study argues that proponents of affirmative action need to direct more attention to the political uses of categories than to theorizing the content of the category "women".
