Gender and Convention Theory

Léonie Bisang, Marlene Schuster & Guillemette de Larquier (2025)

In Rainer Diaz-Bone & Guillemette de Larquier (eds.), Handbook of economics and sociology of conventions. Cham: Springer, Online first

Abstract. Economics and sociology of conventions (in short EC/SC), also known as convention theory, offers a theoretical framework centered on the concepts of orders of worth and justifications as introduced by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. While EC/SC has been applied across various fields and empirical phenomena, it was rarely used to analyze gender until the early 2000s. This chapter introduces EC/SC as a valuable perspective for examining gender issues and outlines three manners of discussing gender within the framework: (1) Boltanski contributed early on to the analysis of gender-sensitive topics, even if his reflections on gender and gender inequalities have been criticized by feminists; (2) in the early 2000s, French scholars of EC/SC independently developed, as a first manner, gender and family conventions. The lines of inquiry were later pursued beyond France as well; and (3) in parallel to the theoretical developments, various scholars have applied EC/SC, mainly “orders of worth,” to gender issues in the fields of education and training, labor and employment, entrepreneurship, family, sports, and public space.

Lien / Link

Guillemette de Larquier
Guillemette de Larquier

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
GdL (7 octobre 2025). Gender and Convention Theory. Économie des conventions. Consulté le 11 juin 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/14ve8