Inclusive Political Economy Perspective

Hello Everyone,

I decided to give a short introduction to some course material so that you aren’t lost during the rest of my posts. I hope that it’s clear enough for you to understand the basic points and remember I urge you all to leave comments or questions as it will better help me understand what you are interested in knowing.

Even as a sociology student the word theory used to make me nervous but I am proud to say that this course made it a lot easier to understand, and I am proud to say that one theory that I have quite a good understanding of is the Inclusive Political Economy Perspective (IPEP). Through out the course we used this perspective to help us better understand the concepts we studied, and I have got to say that it is a perspective which is really interesting and worth understanding as it may change the way you understand and view the world. The IPEP states that a person’s social location, which is determined based on their gender, age, race, ethnicity, ability and class, affects how they are treated and perceived in society. The IPEP challenges the idea of meritocracy and argues that it is hardly ever a person’s skill, ability or hard work, which decides that person’s position in society. Rather it is the gender, race, ethnicity etc; which decides what a person may or may not do.

The IPEP also states that the family unit, which has often been though of as part as the private sphere is not so because it is highly affected by the public world. Changes in government policies, workplace laws and the economy in general effect the family unit which just proves that the larger society does have an influence on the family unit, and the family is not as private as it is thought to be. This perspective also includes some more key points but I won’t highlight them here since they are not crucial to the rest of my analysis.