[PEN-L:11369] Re: Male Chauvanist Mathematics

[MScoleman@xxxxxxx]

Jim Devine says:
>it's always a pleasure to get a bunch of pen-l messages from Maggie C.
Thank you.

He goes on to quote me:
(maggie) >Concerning radical economists' use of econometrics, she writes:>
Another
>facet of this argument is that econometrics respresents the male ideal of
>mathematical logic. As such, any use of econometrics is chauvanist by
>definition--because it does not admit the validity of any other type of
>logic (musical,
>intuitive, artistic, etc.).<

And then asks:
>>From the context, I am not sure whether or not this is your position,
The reason I presented my argument the way I did is that I am not sure if I
agree with this piece of the feminist argument.  My problem is that I think
that econometrics may be receiving attributed power that it may not deserve
as an inanimate object.  So, is econometrics guilty of being chauvanist by
definition as a mathematical type of logic, one which is generally considered
'male' and which is noninclusive of other types of logic?  Or, is it that
econometrics as a tool is being put to chauvanistic uses?  When mainstream
economists use econometrics, it is the economist who does so to the exclusion
of other forms of logic or to 'prove' bigotted societal values.

However, I still maintain that no mathematical model is adequate to reflect
the complexity of social relations--as you point out, power is used and
DEFINED so differently in different situations.  I would add that power, even
when defined with accuracy, does not vary in any straight line.  For example,
menopausal women in the United States become invisible to a certain extent
because they do not fit the young stereotype portrayed by almost all our
media (for 'proof' of this statement, speak to any woman over 45-50).  In
Japan, and in many other societies, menopausal women achieve a much higher
status and freedom than women of child bearing years.  50 something women in
each country may be physiologically the same, but experience very different
lifetime access to power within their respective societies.

maggie coleman mscoleman@xxxxxxx