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Poly Economics – Bringing Political Economy (Back) into the Study of Polyamory

Wednesday 11 February 2015, 4.15PM to 17:30

Speaker(s): Chrsitain Klesse, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University

Academic research and popular writing on nonmonogamy and polyamory has so far paid insufficient attention to class divisions and questions of political economy. This is striking since research indicates the concentration of significant amounts of class and race privilege within many polyamorous communities. This structure of privilege is mirrored in the exclusivist construction of many polyamory communities which is documented in research.

This paper addresses this gap created by the silence on class by suggesting a research agenda which is attentive to class and socioeconomic inequality.

It highlights the need for an intersectional and class-focused analysis – from the point of view of political economy – of the way show polyamorous relationships and families both reproduce and contest hegemonic practices in the fields of intimacy & care; and how these practices relate to household formation, spatial organisation, social policy and the practices of institutions.

Location: W/222

Admission: Free