Gender and Sexuality: Sociological Approaches / Edition 1

by Momin Rahman, Stevi Jackson

Overview

This new introduction to the sociology of gender and sexuality offers a fresh take on the importance of these concepts in modern society. It provides an insight into our rapidly changing attitudes towards sex and our understanding of masculine and feminine identities, relating the study of gender and sexuality to wider social concerns throughout the world and presenting a comprehensive yet readable summary of recent research and theory.

In an accessible and engaging style, the book demonstrates how thinking about gender and sexuality can illuminate and enliven other contemporary sociological debates about social structure, social change, and culture and identity politics. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of gendered and sexual lives in different parts of the world. The book offers detailed coverage of wide-ranging topics, from international sex-tourism to celebrity culture, from gender in the work-place to new sexual lifestyles, drawing examples from everyday life.

By demonstrating the links between gender and sexuality this book makes a clear case for thinking sociologically about these important and controversial aspects of human identity and behaviour. The book will be of great value to students in any discipline looking to understand the roles gender and sexuality play in our lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745633770
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/18/2011
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Momin Rahman is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trent University, Canada.

Stevi Jackson is Professor of Women's Studies and Director of the Women's Studies Centre at the University of York.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

What Do You Think About Same-Sex Marriage? 1

Gender, Sexuality and Sociology 3

Essentialism in Classical Sociological Thinking 5

The Structure of the Text 7

Notes and Resources for Further Study 9

Part I The Development of Sociological Thought on Gender and Sexuality 11

Introduction: The Unfortunate President 12

1 The Trouble with 'Nature' 15

1.1 'One is Not Born But Becomes a Woman': Identifying 'Essentialism' 15

1.2 Identifying Gender: First Wave Feminism 18

1.3 Consequences of Sex-Gender Beliefs: The 'Deviant' Homosexual 22

1.4 Defining Gender: The Second Wave 23

2 Sociological Challenges to Essentialism 27

2.1 The Feminine Mystique and Liberal Feminism 27

2.2 Radical Feminism and the Concept of 'Patriarchy' 29

2.3 Radical Feminist Approaches to Sexuality 30

2.4 Sexuality and Social Structure: 'Compulsory Heterosexuality' and the Politics of Lesbianism 32

2.5 Gay Liberation and the Beginnings of Sociology of Homosexuality: Challenging 'Deviance' 34

2.6 Marxist Feminism, Capitalism and Patriarchy 37

2.7 Gay Identity and Capitalism 39

2.8 Women's 'Difference' 40

2.9 Sexuality, Knowledge and Power: The Impact of Foucault 42

2.10 Significant Absences in Second Wave Feminism and Gay Liberation 44

Learning Outcomes 46

Notes and Resources for Further Study 46

Part II Inequalities and Social Structure 49

Introduction: Local and Global Structuring of Gender and Sexual Inequalities 50

3 Gender, Sexuality and Structural Inequality 52

3.1 Approaches to Social Structure 52

3.2 The Gendered and Sexual Landscape of Late Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century Western Societies 53

3.3 Structural Sociology and the Neglect of Women 55

3.4 Early Critical Approaches 58

3.5 From 'Sex Roles' to 'Sexual Divisions' 59

4 The Idea of Patriarchy 62

4.1 Women's Subordination and Sexual Exclusion in the Early 1970s 62

4.2 The Influence of Marxism: Capitalism, Patriarchy and Sexual Politics 63

4.3 Relations of Production: Theorizing Women's Paid and Unpaid Work 67

4.4 Relations of Reproduction: Marxism, Feminism and Motherhood 71

4.5 Sexuality, Sexual Exploitation and Institutionalized Heterosexuality 73

4.6 Ideology, Discourse and Culture 76

4.7 Challenging White Feminism 78

5 Rethinking Gendered and Sexual Inequalities 81

5.1 The Persistence of Material Inequalities into the Twenty-First Century 81

5.2 New Materialisms 83

5.3 The Structural Dimensions of Gender and Sexuality 86

5.4 The Idea of Intersectionality 89

5.5 Global Modernity, Global Inequality and the Ordering of Gender and Sexuality 92

Learning Outcomes 98

Notes and Resources for Further Study 98

Part III Culture, Ideology and Discourse 101

Introduction: The End of a 'Queer' Era? 102

6 Gender and Sexuality as Cultural Constructs 106

6.1 Identifying Patriarchal Culture 106

6.2 Religion, Culture and the Sexual 107

6.3 The Advent of Scientific Essentialism 110

6.4 Essentialism and Bourgeois Victorian Culture 113

6.5 From Sexology to Psychology: Freud and Psychoanalysis in the Twentieth Century 114

6.6 The Persistence of Scientific Essentialism into the Twenty-First Century 116

7 Critical Perspectives on Knowledge 119

7.1 'Biology as Ideology': The Problem with 'Natural' Science 119

7.2 Science as One of Many 'Knowledges': From Ideology to Discourse 122

7.3 The Challenge of the 'Cultural Turn' in Social Theory 124

7.4 Queer Theory: Deconstructing Identity 127

7.5 Embodied Sociology 129

7.6 Differences of Race: Intersectionality Theory and the Critique of White Feminist Knowledge 131

8 The Complexity of Contemporary Culture 135

8.1 Everyday Culture: Language and Meaning 135

8.2 Sexual Objectification in Popular Culture 136

8.3 Racialized Gender and Sexualized Race 139

8.4 Lesbian and Gay Stereotypes 143

8.5 Masculinities in Crisis? 144

8.6 Postmodern or Late Modern Culture? 147

Learning Outcomes 151

Notes and Resources for Further Study 151

Part IV Self, Identity and Agency 153

Introduction: Living with Multiple Identities 154

9 The Socialization Paradigm and Its Critics 158

9.1 Socialized Selves 158

9.2 Ethnomethodology: 'Doing' Gender and Sexuality 160

9.3 Doing, Being and the Reflexive Self 165

9.4 Sexual Selves and Sexual Scripts 168

10 Becoming Gendered and Sexual 172

10.1 From Gender Attribution to Gender Identity 172

10.2 From Gendered Selves to Sexual Selves 176

10.3 Negotiating Gendered and Sexual Identities 181

11 Sexual Selves in Global Late Modernity 187

11.1 Normative Heterosexuality and Alternative Sexualities 187

11.2 Modern Western Transformations of Self and Identity 192

11.3 Globalized Identities, Global Social Change 195

Learning Outcomes 199

Notes and Resources for Further Study 199

Part V Conclusion 201

Introduction 202

12 Power, Politics, Identities and Social Change 204

12.1 '18 Million Cracks': The Triumph of Liberal Feminism? 204

12.2 Sometimes, It's (Still) Hard to be a Woman (and Really Hard to be Non-Heterosexual and/or Non-White): Structural Inequalities, Intersecting Oppressions and Hetero-Orthodoxy 207

12.3 The Persistence of (Reflexive) Essentialism 209

Notes and Resources for Further Study 211

Bibliography 212

Index 233

Editorial Reviews

"This book provides an important and informative contribution to the field of gender and sexuality studies. The authors guide the reader through each of the book's subcomponents in a manner that enables these to work well as stand-alone segments, as well as cohesive parts of the overall book."
Times Higher Education

"To a scholar of gender and sexuality, who has had doubts about the underpinnings of work in psychology, who searches for intersecting theories, and who has criticized the positivist leanings in her field, Gender & Sexuality: Sociological Approaches has been amply rewarding. And after reading this new and engaging book, cover to cover, it seems important to say that every respectable feminist psychologist should be aware of the sociological theories that underpin much of our work as well as the new directions that should inform it."
Sex Roles

"The book offers a thorough overview both of long-standing debates around gender and sexuality and of current issues.  It nicely locates the debates within the sociological tradition, and this provides a distinctive and valuable feature.  Not the least of the merits of this book is its international focus, and it will prove invaluable for students exploring the diverse pattern of sexuality and gender in an age of globalization.  The authors are at the cutting edge of their subject, and so is the book."
Jeffrey Weeks, author of Sexuality, Third Edition and Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University

"Finally,  abook that bridges feminism and critical sex studies.  Rhamn and Jackson have written a smart, accessible overview of the dynamic relationship between gender and sexuality that will seriously engage an undergraduate audience.  This book teaches students by raising questions and providing the intellectual resources to navigate the complex terrain of contemporary sexual and gender politics.  One of the few 'must-use' classroom texts I've read in a long time."
Steven Seidman, author of The Social Construction of Sexuality, State University of New York

From the Publisher