The Theoretical Construction of Gender in Mainland China: Absorbing and Lessening Joan Scott's Conceptualization of Gender

Abstract

Understandings of gender in Mainland Chinese academia are largely influenced by American scholar Joan Scott's theorizations. As research into Scott’s ideas deepens both theoretically and practically, tensions arise from particular incompatibilities between her ideas and the development of Chinese gender history scholarship. Thus, while Scott’s work serves as a foundation for Chinese gender history, the trajectory of this field within China is significantly divergent. Within Marxist empirical historiography, theorical constructions of gender seeking to address real-world issues more directly features distinctive methodological characteristics in efforts to highlight Chinese academia’s will to forge theoretical innovations aligned with indigenous perspectives.