ABSTRACT
In this chapter I begin to discuss the paths that were not taken in the creation of economic knowledge about the consumer. Early twentieth-century economics displayed a wide array of approaches and techniques that equally claimed to constitute a valid scientific approach. In particular, I argue that the historical development of modern economics in the 1920s and 1930s created a space for the development of an alternative body of economic knowledge of household and consumer behavior. During this period women were trained in the discipline of economics but many were denied employment in departments of economics (Forget 1995; Albelda 1997; Folbre 1998; Madden 2002). Some female economists found jobs in other academic programs. The question this raises is: did these discriminatory hiring practices together with the maintenance of segregated academic departments mean that female economists’ research was no longer economic research?
