Capital Culture
Gender at Work in the City
Studies in Urban and Social Change
The changing nature of waged work in contemporary advanced
industrial nations is one of the most significant aspects of
political and economic debate. It is also the subject of intense
debate among observers of gender. Capital Culture explores
these changes focusing particularly on the gender relations between
the men and women who work in the financial services sector. The
multiple ways in which masculinities and femininities are
constructed is revealed through the analysis of interviews with
dealers, traders, analysts and corporate financiers.
Drawing on a range of disciplinary approaches, the various ways
in which gender segregation is established and maintained is
explored. In fascinating detail, the everyday experiences of men
and women working in a range of jobs and in different spaces, from
the dealing rooms to the boardrooms, are examined. This volume is
unique in focusing on men as well as women, showing that for men
too there are multiple ways of doing gender at work.
List of Tables.
Series Preface.
Acknowledgements.
Introduction: Money and Work..
Part I. Gender at Work.
Thinking through Work: Gender, Power and Space.
City Work/Places: The Old and New City.
Gendered Work Patterns.
Gendered Career Paths.
The Culture of Banking: Reproducing Class and Gender
Divisions..
Part II. Bodies at Work.
Engendered Cultures: The Impossibility of Being a Man.
Body Work 1: Men Behaving Badly.
Body Work 2: The Masqueraders.
Conclusions: Rethinking Work/Places.
Appendix: The Field Work.
Bibliography.
Index.
One such place, the 'City' in London, has long represented the
world of international finance both as objectification (the City
'says this') of that world and as the seat of numerous banking,
stockbroking and insurance firms. Lacking has been much attention
to the cultural practices upon which this material and symbolic
power of place is based. Through the lens provided by the gendered
character of workplace relations Linda McDowell throws light on the
ways in which the City works. No longer dominated by the stuffy
image of bowlers and brollies, the City nevertheless is still
hostile territory for those whose identities (including many women)
are marginalized by the implicit masculinity of City ways. This is
a brilliant book, showing the possibilities for
theoretically-informed fieldwork on cultural practices at a time
when some despair that fieldwork can reveal much of anything."
John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles
"In a short review of this type it is impossible to do full
justice to such a rich and thought provoking book." Rob
Atkinson, Capital and Class
"This book deserves a wide audience: students of the service
sector should find McDowell's theoretical and conceptual insights
about this topic useful; students of gender and work will encounter
a carefully drawn case study of how gender distinctions are
constructed and reproduced on the job. Finally, those interested in
cultivating links between their sociological and geographical
imaginations will find that Capital Culture can help them to
achieve this goal." Amy S. Wharton, Washington State
University.
" I cannot recommend this text highly enough. it has everything:
theory linking gender relations with power and work; analysis of
city gendered life; rich empirical material taken from fieldwork in
merchant banking; and, many thought provoking views on macsulinity
and feminity." Bob Bushaway, University of Birmingham