| Abstract: |
Economic discourse—or the lack of it—about fear is gendered on at least
three fronts. First, while masculine-associated notions of reason and mind
have historically been prioritized in mainstream economics, fear—along with
other emotions and embodiment—has tended to be culturally associated with
femininity. Research on cognitive "gender schema," then, may at least partly
explain the near absence of discussions of fear within economic research.
Second, in the rare cases where fear is discussed in the contemporary
economics literature, there is a tendency to (overly-)strongly associate it
with women. Finally, historians and philosophers of science have suggested
that the failure to consider the full range of human emotions and experience
may be itself rooted in fear: a fear of the feminine. This aversion to
discussing fear—especially fear as experienced by men—may contribute to
serious problems, especially in regard to financial market instability and
ecological threats. |