Catherine Hakim

Catherine Hakim (born 30 May 1948)[1] is a British sociologist who specialises in

Catherine Hakim
women's employment and women's issues. Her development and publishment of the
"preference theory" and "sex-deficit theory" has groundbreaking implications on Born 30 May 1948
modern women's empowerment issues.[2] She is currently a Professorial Research Nationality United Kingdom
Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Civil Society (Civitas), and has formerly
Academic work
worked in British central government and been a senior research fellow at the
London School of Economics and the Centre for Policy Studies. She has also been a
Discipline Sociology
Visiting Professor at theSocial Science Research Center Berlin. Sub- Preference theory,
discipline erotic capital
Institutions Institute for the Study
of Civil Society, Centre
Contents for Policy Studies,
London School of
Background
Economics (1990–
Career and work
The Idea of Erotic Capital
2011), ESRC Data
Catherine Hakim's Perspective Archive, Department
Contradictions of Employment
Sex deficit
Publications
Selected books
Selected articles
References
External links

Background
Hakim grew up in theMiddle East and moved to the United Kingdom at age 16.[3][4]

Career and work

She has published extensively on labour market topics, women's employment, sex discrimination, social and family policy, as well as
social statistics and research design.[5] She has published over 100 articles in academic journals and edited collections, and over a
dozen textbooks and research monographs. She is best known for developing preference theory[6] and her criticism of many feminist
assumptions about women's employment. Her most recent books develop a theory of "erotic capital".[2][7][3] and its power in all
social interaction, in the workplace, politics and in public life generally as well as in the invisible negotiations of private
relationships.

She is a member of the editorial boards of theEuropean Sociological Reviewand International Sociology.[8]

She has been Principal Research Officer in the Department of Employment's Social Science Branch for ten years and Director of the
ESRC Data Archive from 1989 to 1990. She was a senior research fellow at the London School of Economics between 1990 and
2003, when she chose to resign from this position. However, she continued to be affiliated with the institution where she still had an
1.[8][9][10]
office, and was listed both as a visiting scholar and as a senior research fellow at the institution's website until 201
The Idea of Erotic Capital

Catherine Hakim's Perspective

Catherine Hakim states that erotic capital is an asset in many social and economic settings such as media and politics.[11] This theory
added erotic as an additional form of capital to Pierre Bourdieu's concept of society being run by four main types of capita - cultural,
social, symbolic, and economic. Hakim defined erotic capital as the concept that an individual's beauty, sexual attractiveness,
enhanced social interaction, liveliness, social presentation, sexuality, and fertility can provide opportunities to advance in life.[12]
According to Hakim, the most important and most controversial of these seven components would be sexual attractiveness, as her
studies indicated that family men tend to crave sex more than women, a phenomena she named the male sex deficit. She encouraged
young women to use this asset to earn a more respectable position in society.[11] Hakim believes that erotic capital has gone
unacknowledged for far too long and that the patriarchal society and moral constraints of conservative communities have caused the
idea of beauty and attractiveness to stress the importance of personality, not giving enough credit to physique.[13] She doesn't
encourage a society based on solely erotic capital but rather states that it plays a subconscious role in daily life decisions, such as
career offerings, enrichment opportunities, and social networking. [14] For example, she places current dating apps and social media
on the spotlight, stating that the internet has created somewhat of a digitized version of dating and that these markets will gain
traction as time goes on. She strongly believes that these sites and the decision of marriage are driven by a woman's erotic capital and
a man's economic capital.[15]

Contradictions
Many groups such as feminists have actively rejected the idea of erotic capital by stating that the sex positive movement highlights
the rights of women in only a manner that highlights advantages and ignores contradictory research that has shown that attractive
women are less likely to receive a promotion.[16][14] Many sociologists assert that Bourdieu had already stated this phenomenon is
not a capital but a mere search for recognition and a drive of socialized desire from fellow peers, family, and friends. [17] Bourdieu's
followers have also asserted that he had developed the idea of 'body capital' long ago but refused to include in his general capita
because it was too intertwined with economic capital. For example, if a woman from a high socioeconomic status could buy beauty
products and afford body shaping surgeries, she would be able to change her body capital.[18]

Sex deficit
In 2017, Hakim was accused of misogyny after publishing an article which suggested women are to blame for sexual assault.[19] The
article bases its argument on a research paper published in 2015[20] which evaluated 30 sex surveys globally and claimed that, since
the 1960s sexual revolution, women’s sexual motivation and interest has decreased, causing what Hakim calls a “male sexual
deficit”. This, it is argued, can help explain why sexual harassment, sexual violence, rape, rising demand for commercial sexual
services and other behaviours are almost exclusively male. She has argued that the sex deficit also derives from men naturally having
a higher sex drive than women.[21]

Publications

Selected books
Secondary analysis in social research, London : Allen
& Unwin, 1982, ISBN 0-04-312015-6, ISBN 0-04-
312016-4
Social Change and Innovation in the Labour Market:
Evidence from the Census SARs on Occupational
Segregation and Labour Mobility, Part-Time Work and
Student Jobs, Homework and Self-Employment
(Oxford University Press, 1998). ISBN 0-19-829381-X
Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century:
Preference Theory (Oxford University Press, 2000).
With a Preface by Anthony Giddens. ISBN 0-19-
924210-0
Research Design: Successful Designs for Social and
Economic Research (Routledge, 2000). ISBN 978-0-
415-22312-6
 Models of the Family in Modern Societies: Ideals and
Realities (Ashgate, 2003). ISBN 0-7546-4406-5
Key Issues in Women's Work(Glasshouse Press,
1996, 2004). ISBN 1-904385-16-8
Modelos de Familia en las Sociedades Modernas:
Ideales y Realidades (Centro de Investigaciones
Sociológicas, 2005). ISBN 978-84-7476-378-2
Little Britons: Financing Childcare Choice(Policy
Exchange, 2008), with Karen Bradley, Emily Price and
Louisa Mitchell. ISBN 978-1-906097-21-9
Honey money: why attractiveness is the key to
success. London: Penguin. 2012.
ISBN 9780241952214.

Selected articles
Hakim, Catherine (March 1998)."Developing a
sociology for the twenty-first century: Preference
Theory". British Journal of Sociology. Wiley. 49 (1):
137–143. doi:10.2307/591267. JSTOR 591267.
Hakim, Catherine (2004)."A new approach to
explaining fertility patterns: Preference Theory"
. Hakim, Catherine (2004)."Lifestyle preferences
Population and Development Review. 29: 349–374.
Hakim, Catherine (August 2006)."Women, careers,
and work-life preferences". British Journal of Guidance
and Counselling. Taylor and Francis. 34 (3): 279–294.
doi:10.1080/03069880600769118. Pdf.
Hakim, Catherine (September 2003)."Public morality
versus personal choice: the failure of social attitude
surveys". British Journal of Sociology. Wiley. 54 (3):
339–345. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2003.00339.x.
PMID 14514462.
Hakim, Catherine (November 2002)."Lifestyle
preferences as determinants of women's differentiated
labor market careers". Work and Occupations. Sage.
29 (4): 428–459. doi:10.1177/0730888402029004003.
Hakim, Catherine (2007)."The politics of female
diversity in the 21st century". In Browne, Jude. The
future of gender. Cambridge, UK New York:
Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–227.
ISBN 9780511619205.
Hakim, Catherine (2005)."Sex differences in work-life
balance goals". In Houston, Diane. Work-life balance
in the 21st century. Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 55–79.
ISBN 9781403920621.
versus patriarchal values: causal and non-causal
attitudes". In Zollinger Giele, Janet; Holst, Elke.
Changing life patterns in Western industrial societies.
Amsterdam Boston: Elsevier/JAI. pp. 69–91.
ISBN 9780762310203.
Hakim, Catherine (October 2010)."Erotic capital".
European Sociological Review. Oxford University
Press. 26 (5): 499–518. doi:10.1093/esr/jcq014.
Hakim, Catherine (2011)."Women's lifestyle
preferences in the 21st century: Implications for family
policy". In Beets, Gijs; Schippers, Joop; te Velde,
Egbert R. The future of motherhood in western
societies: late fertility and its consequences.
Dordrecht, Netherlands New York: Springer. pp. 177–
196. ISBN 9789048189694.

References
1. "Sociolog: Smukke kvinder undertrykkes i Skandinavien"(https://www.b.dk/nationalt/sociolog-smukke-kvinder-undert
rykkes-i-skandinavien). Berlingske Tidende. 8 October 2014.
2. Spicer, Kate (17 April 2010)."Catherine Hakim: She's counting up erotic capital"(http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/l
ife_and_style/women/article7100751.ece). The Times. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
3. Arndt, Bettina (7 February 2003). "Hakim works on fertile ground"(http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/06/104
4498913134.html). The Age. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
4. "Catherine Hakim: Erotisches Kapital (book review)"(https://www.perlentaucher.de/buch/catherine-hakim/erotisches-
kapital.html). Perlentaucher.
5. "Speakers" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110707054515/http://www .workplaceflexibilitymatters.org/conf/htdocs/spe
akers.html). Why Workplace Flexibility Matters. Archivedfrom the original (http://www.workplaceflexibilitymatters.org/
conf/htdocs/speakers.html)on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
6. Rabušic, Ladislav; Chromková Manea, Beatrice-Elena (2007)."Hakim's preference theory in the Czech context"(http
s://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/czech_demography_2008_vol_2). Czech Demography. Czech Statistical Office. 2: 46–55.
Republished in 2008, volume 2,pdf. (https://web.archive.org/web/20111116190849/http://www.czso.cz/eng/redakce.
nsf/i/ladislav_rabusic_beatrice_elena_chromkova_manea%3A_hakim%27s_preference_theory_in_the_czech_conte
xt_%28demografie_2007_2%29/%24File/Rabu%C5%A1ic-Chromkov%C3%A1.pdf)
 7. Walden, Celia (14 April 2010). "Erotic capital" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/7588813/Erotic-capital.html). The
Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
8. "Who's who" (http://www2.lse.ac.uk/sociology/whoswho/visitingscholars.aspx#generated-subheading2)
. London
School of Economics. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
9. "Profiles – Directors of the UK Data Archive"(http://ukda40.data-archive.ac.uk/about/directors.asp)
. UK Data
Archive. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
10. Grove, Jack (22 September 2011)."Honey Money not to LSE's Taste" (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.
asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=417516&c=1) . Times Higher Education. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
11. Hakim, Catherine (2010-10-01)."Erotic Capital" (https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/26/5/499/506250)
. European
Sociological Review. 26 (5): 499–518. doi:10.1093/esr/jcq014 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fesr%2Fjcq014).
ISSN 0266-7215 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0266-7215).
12. Warhurst, Chris (2012). "Review of Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital"(https://www.jstor.org/stable/4349556
2). Work, Employment & Society. 26 (6): 1036–1038.
13. DLDconference (2013-04-15),DLDwomen 2010 - Erotic Capital (Catherine Hakim, Jacob Burda)(https://www.youtu
be.com/watch?v=v5qjSsQIoRA), retrieved 2018-03-17
14. Hakim, Catherine (2011-09-03)."The Untapped Power of Erotic Capital"(https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240
53111904875404576530350876953890). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0099-
9660). Retrieved 2018-03-24.
15. Hakim, Catherine (2017-05-01)."PL-32 Sexual Markets and Erotic Capital in the 21st Century: The Impact of the
Internet" (http://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(17)30542-8/fulltext). The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 14
(5). doi:10.1016/j.jsxm.2017.04.103(https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jsxm.2017.04.103) . ISSN 1743-6095 (https://www.
worldcat.org/issn/1743-6095).
16. Catherine., Hakim,. Erotic capital : the power of attraction in the boardroom and the bedroom
(https://www.worldcat.o
rg/oclc/701015484). New York. p. 499. ISBN 9780465027477. OCLC 701015484 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/701
015484).
17. Aarseth, Helene (February 2016)."Eros in the Field? Bourdieu's Double Account of Socialized Desire"(http://journal
s.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-954X.12348#articleCitationDownloadContainer) . SAGE Journals. 64: 93–109 –
via The Sociological Review.
18. Sarpila, O. (2014-06-01)."Attitudes Towards Performing and Developing Erotic Capital in Consumer Culture"(https://
doi.org/10.1093/esr/jct037). European Sociological Review. 30 (3): 302–314. doi:10.1093/esr/jct037 (https://doi.org/1
0.1093%2Fesr%2Fjct037). ISSN 0266-7215 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0266-7215).
19. Bates, Laura (21 February 2017). "No, wives 'withholding sex' are not to blame for male violence"(https://www.thegu
ardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/21/no-wives-withholding-sex-are-not-to-blame-for-male-violence) . The Guardian.
Retrieved 22 February 2017.
20. Hakim, Catherine (May 2015)."The male sexual deficit: a social fact of the 21st century"(https://doi.org/10.1177/026
8580915569090). International Sociology. Sage. 30 (3): 314–335. doi:10.1177/0268580915569090(https://doi.org/1
0.1177%2F0268580915569090). Pdf. (http://www.catherinehakim.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2015-IntSoc-Mal
eSexualDeficit.pdf)
21. Daubney, Martin (10 August 2015). "Meet the academic who thinks prostitution should be legalised because men
need more sex" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11794182/Meet-the-academic-who-thinks-prostitutio
n-should-be-legalised-because-men-need-more-sex.html) . The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 July 2017.

External links
Official website
The Laura Perrins Interview: Dr Catherine Hakim on radical feminism, #MeT
oo and the walk-on girlsfor The
Conservative Woman February 2, 2018.

Civic offices
Preceded by Director of the ESRC Data Archive Succeeded by
Howard Newby 1989–1990 Denise Lievesley

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catherine_Hakim&oldid=846454752

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