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The Feminist Competition/Cooperation Dichotomy

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Abstract

Feminist literature sometimes posits that competition and cooperation are opposites. This dichotomy is important in that it is often invoked in order to explain why mainstream economics has focused on market activity to the exclusion of non-market activity, and why this fascination or focus is sexist. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the competition/cooperation dichotomy is false. Once the dichotomy is dissolved, those activities which are seen as competitive (masculine) and those which are seen as cooperative (feminine) are no longer mutually exclusive but are, in fact, dependent upon one another. It is shown that the outcome of competition (more and better knowledge) enhances, and in some cases makes possible, cooperation. “The function of battle is destruction; of competition, construction.” Ludwig von Mises

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO, 81301, USA

    Deborah Walker

  2. Loyola University New Orleans, 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 15, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA

    Jerry W. Dauterive, Elyssa Schultz & Walter Block

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  1. Deborah Walker
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  2. Jerry W. Dauterive
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  3. Elyssa Schultz
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  4. Walter Block
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Correspondence to Walter Block.

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Walker, D., Dauterive, J.W., Schultz, E. et al. The Feminist Competition/Cooperation Dichotomy. J Bus Ethics 55, 243–254 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-1548-z

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