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Gendered encounters in a postfeminist context: Researcher identity work in interviews with men and women leaders in the City of London

Lewis, Patricia (2021) Gendered encounters in a postfeminist context: Researcher identity work in interviews with men and women leaders in the City of London. In: Stead, Valerie and Elliott, Carole and Mavin, Sharon, eds. Handbook of Research Methods on Gender and Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 115-129. ISBN 978-1-78897-792-0. E-ISBN 978-1-78897-793-7. (doi:10.4337/9781788977937) (KAR id:107633)

Abstract

Studies of interviewing highlight asymmetrical power relationships between interviewer and interviewee in elite, cross-gender interviews. Such interviews are said to have distinctive power dynamics which position the interviewee as the dominant party. Drawing on the notion of postfeminist encounter, I argue that the research hierarchy in interviews is not static and that the power dynamics are better understood as fluid with control constantly moving between interviewer and interviewee. Concentrating on researcher subjectivity, I investigate my identity work in interviews with men and women leaders in the City of London drawing out the variability in my subject position. I depict the subjectivities of academic, wife and therapist which I was called into during interviews. Through this set of subjectivities which emerged via the calibration of the masculine enactment of academic expertise and the feminine performance of listening and empathising, I make visible the changing power dynamics which characterised these elite interviews.

Keywords: Elite Interviews, Leaders, Postfeminism, Postfeminist Encounters

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.4337/9781788977937
Projects: Postfeminism in the City
Subjects: H Social Sciences
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Department of Leadership and Management
Funders: Leverhulme Trust (https://ror.org/012mzw131)
Depositing User: Patricia Lewis
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2024 08:59 UTC
Last Modified: 30 Oct 2024 11:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/107633 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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