Women's Economic Thought in the Romantic Age: Towards a Transdisciplinary Herstory of Economic Thought

This book explores the writings of seven English women economists from 1735-1811, challenging the notion that women's perspectives were marginalized in economic thought. It develops a transdisciplinary methodology to reclaim women's intellectual contributions and highlights the originality and relevance of their insights on marriage, women's work, and moral economics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 21 January 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book delves into the writings of seven English women economists from the period spanning 1735 to 1811, offering a groundbreaking exploration that challenges prevailing narratives in the history of economic thought. It reveals a remarkable truth: eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women intellectuals were undertaking incisive and gender-sensitive analyses of the economy, challenging the traditional male-dominated discourse.

Womens Economic Thought in the Romantic Age argues that established notions of what constitutes economic enquiry, topics, and genres of writing have, for centuries, marginalized the perspectives and experiences of women and obscured the knowledge they recorded in novels, memoirs, or pamphlets. This has resulted in an underrepresentation of women in the canon of economic theory. To address this imbalance, the book employs a transdisciplinary methodology that draws insights from literary studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and feminist economics. Through in-depth readings of selected writings by prominent figures such as Sarah Chapone, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Hays, Mary Robinson, Priscilla Wakefield, Mary Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen, the book uncovers the originality and topicality of their insights on the economics of marriage, women and paid work, and moral economics.

Combining historical analysis with conceptual revision, Womens Economic Thought in the Romantic Age retrieves the overlooked intellectual contributions of women and dismantles the barriers between literature and economics. This groundbreaking work will appeal to researchers and students across a wide range of disciplines, including the history of economic thought, English literary and cultural studies, gender studies, economics, eighteenth-century and Romantic studies, social history, and the history of ideas. By expanding our understanding of womens economic thought in the Romantic Age, we can foster a more inclusive and equitable society that recognizes the valuable contributions of women to economic analysis and scholarship.

Weight: 478g
Dimension: 156 x 234 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367074272