Some Things Borrowed, Some Things New: Toward a Multi-Sites of Power Approach to State Theory.

State theories have consistently focused on the relationship between the state and economic or class actors that reproduces largely capitalist class relations through the state's authority to create policy. There have been highly spirited debates among these class-based models for decades. But there...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theory in Action Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 1 - 38
Main Authors: Glasberg, Davita Silfen, Shannon, Deric
Format: Article
Published: Transformative Studies Institute Oct2015
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:State theories have consistently focused on the relationship between the state and economic or class actors that reproduces largely capitalist class relations through the state's authority to create policy. There have been highly spirited debates among these class-based models for decades. But there are many state power and policymaking concerns clustering around substantial issues, such as race, gender, and sexuality that significantly affect the organization of society. We suggest borrowing from and building on Jessop's (1990) concepts of state projects, balance of class forces, and selectivity filters to develop a framework that can also account for race, gender, sexuality and their intersections--a multi-sites of power approach to state theory.