Explaining the expansion of feminist ideas: cultural diffusion or political struggle?

Abstract

This article explores the expansion of feminist ideas as both a conceptual and a political issue. It focuses on two major theories of social change, world culture theory (WCT) and world system analysis (WSA), comparing and contrasting how they frame gender as a factor shaping society, how they account for the diffusion of feminist ideas and how they assess the impact of gender norms on sociocultural outcomes. Through the examination of texts and research based on these theories, this article weighs the ability of the theories to meaningfully and justly recognise the place of gender politics within the dynamics of social change. Both WCT and WSA predict isomorphism in the way gender is framed in modern society, but their explanatory accounts traverse drastically different paths. One asserts a conflict-free diffusion of values, whereas the other, decidedly based on conflict, sees gender as emerging from resistance or anti-systemic movements. The article concludes with an assessment of the contribution and missing aspects of each theoretical perspective.