{"title":"Exit, Voice, and Gender","authors":"Rogers Brubaker","doi":"10.1177/07352751231169955","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Albert Hirschman’s exit-voice paradigm provides a useful lens for analyzing the current neo-categorical phase of gender politics in which attention has shifted from the content of the binary gender categories to the structure of the gender category system. During this phase of categorical destabilization, exit from originally assigned categories—in bureaucratically recorded, statistically reported, and informally negotiated forms—has become culturally legitimate and institutionally supported in a broadening range of milieus. Hirschman’s paradigm brings into focus the selectivity of exit and its potentially—and paradoxically—stabilizing consequences for the traditional gender order. The increased ease and pronounced selectivity of exit can channel dissatisfaction with gender arrangements into exit rather than voice or—as exit may itself be a form of voice—into individualized, psychologically driven forms of voice. And the selective exit of gender-nonconforming individuals from originally assigned categories can reinforce the stereotypical associations of these categories with gender conformity.","PeriodicalId":48131,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sociological Theory","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/07352751231169955","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Albert Hirschman’s exit-voice paradigm provides a useful lens for analyzing the current neo-categorical phase of gender politics in which attention has shifted from the content of the binary gender categories to the structure of the gender category system. During this phase of categorical destabilization, exit from originally assigned categories—in bureaucratically recorded, statistically reported, and informally negotiated forms—has become culturally legitimate and institutionally supported in a broadening range of milieus. Hirschman’s paradigm brings into focus the selectivity of exit and its potentially—and paradoxically—stabilizing consequences for the traditional gender order. The increased ease and pronounced selectivity of exit can channel dissatisfaction with gender arrangements into exit rather than voice or—as exit may itself be a form of voice—into individualized, psychologically driven forms of voice. And the selective exit of gender-nonconforming individuals from originally assigned categories can reinforce the stereotypical associations of these categories with gender conformity.
期刊介绍:
Published for the American Sociological Association, this important journal covers the full range of sociological theory - from ethnomethodology to world systems analysis, from commentaries on the classics to the latest cutting-edge ideas, and from re-examinations of neglected theorists to metatheoretical inquiries. Its themes and contributions are interdisciplinary, its orientation pluralistic, its pages open to commentary and debate. Renowned for publishing the best international research and scholarship, Sociological Theory is essential reading for sociologists and social theorists alike.