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The Gendered Machine: Concept Car Development at Volvo Car Corporation
Author(s) -
Styhre Alexander,
Backman Maria,
Börjesson Sofia
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00288.x
Subject(s) - corporation , vocabulary , production (economics) , position (finance) , sociology , automotive industry , public relations , business , engineering , linguistics , political science , economics , philosophy , finance , macroeconomics , aerospace engineering
This article examines the treatment in the media of the first concept car development project managed by female engineers and designers. The study is based on a critical discourse analysis methodology in which the production of social institutions and beliefs are conceived of as being based on written and spoken statements and utterances. The discursive production of statements not only has intangible effects but also implies material consequences. The study shows that although the project aimed at highlighting and using competencies among the female co‐workers and to position Volvo as a progressive company, the media coverage in many cases draws on gendered stereotypes and commonsense beliefs. As a consequence, it demonstrates that stepping outside gendered forms of expression is a complicated matter and therefore a more elaborated vocabulary remains to be developed in both the media and industry.