ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that Amsterdam School (AS) analyses of transnational class formation have largely failed to incorporate gender and other mechanisms of inequality such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. It focuses on two foundational concepts that are central to AS interpretations of globalization: transnational class formation and the Lockean heartland of the capitalist order. The chapter deals with suggestions on how these deficits can be overcome within an AS framework and thereby improve the scope and explanatory power of the approach. A major theoretical contribution of feminist thought is the concept of intersectionality. Kimberle Crenshaw introduced it to challenge the dominance of white, middle-class feminism. During the 1990s, feminist scholars and activists increasingly challenged fictitious boundaries between the national and international as they responded to globalization and encountered feminist activists from around the world. The AS is recognized for its critical and nuanced analyses of transnational class formation and, more recently, neoliberal globalization.