Looking Again at Discipline and Gender: Theoretical Concerns and Possibilities In the Study of Anti-Social Behaviour Initiatives

This paper suggests that current theoretical approaches to the contemporary governance of anti-social behaviour have certain limits which may be overcome by emphasis on its gendered dimensions. It argues that the paradoxical relationship that women have with the state may prove a fruitful starting point. Third way ideologies recognise and respond to the vulnerabilities of the ordinary citizen. The governance at a distance that they practice means that the responsibility for reassuring citizens falls disproportionately on women who have had a historical role in managing the anxieties provoked by proximity. Yet women's acknowledged vulnerability means that this is an incoherent strategy.