An(other) Attempt at Getting at the Core of Modern Structures of Inequality

Abstract

Schäfgen views the interlocking of two systems of inequality-that of ‘traditional’ social inequality and that of gender inequality-as one reason why East German women have been driven out of the labour market since the introduction of a free market economy. Starting from core assumptions about the development of modern structures of inequality, Schäfgen compares the development of social structures and gender relations in the FRG and GDR. Schäfgen merely presumes the two German states to be modern states; unfortunately, she does not explain why she views them as such. This omission does not remain without consequences. Schäfgen’s empirical findings do point to the existence of ‘classical’ gender-related inequalities in the two German states. However, her comparisons do not acknowledge any diffrences in the modes of modernity in the FRG and the GDR. In order to be able to integrate the concept of ‘double inequality’ into her analysis Schäfgen uses the model of ‘double verticality.’ The core of this model depicts the inequalities produced by gender in a vertical arrangement. WhetherSchäfgen’s model is theoretically and methodologically useful remains questionable: Is the essentialist use of concepts like ‘class’ and ‘gender’ truly able to explain the processual creation and reproduction of social inequality?