Description
While Susan Strange's four-structure framework of international political economy remains influential, her conceptualization of the knowledge structure remains undertheorized. With that in mind, this paper takes seriously Christopher May's (1996) brief suggestion that 'culture' may act as foundational to the global political economy. This offers a productive starting point for expanding Strange's framework by bringing Strange's writing on 'Structural Power' into conversation with Stuart Hall's cultural studies work on cultural-hegemony. Through a feminist analysis of Hollywood's political economy throughout the 20th century, this paper demonstrates how culture mediates social reproduction through the (re)production of gendered ideologies, labor relations, and popular discourses. By examining the interplay between studio financing, production decisions, and gender representation on screen, alongside the material conditions of women's labor in the film industry, this study reveals how Strange's four structures - production, security, finance, and knowledge - are fundamentally shaped by and reproduce patriarchal power relations. This analysis not only extends Strange's framework but also illuminates how structural power in the global cultural economy has historically constrained both the representation and economic opportunities of women in one of the world's most influential cultural industries.
