ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the gendered legacy of genre and asserts that ‘genre’ needs to be reconceptualised for a herstory of economic thought. Joanna Rostek brings into play research by literary and cultural scholars and transfers some of their observations regarding genre onto the history of economic thought. She explains the relationship between genre and gender and how genres of writing could perform various functions at the turn of the nineteenth century. She concludes that the history of economic thought must consider these contexts rather than apply today’s generic and disciplinary divisions to a period in which these distinctions were not yet as pronounced. To substantiate her claims, Rostek shows with the example of Jane Austen how the category of genre can become a hindrance when applied to women’s writing in connection with economic thought.
