DK THE SOCIOLOGY BOOK

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 299

See also: Judith Butler 56–61 ■ R.W. Connell 88–89 ■ Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Ann Oakley 318–19 ■
Jeffrey Weeks 324–25

expressed gender and sexuality another, leads Mead to argue that Gender roles are cultural creations,
restricted possibilities for both temperamental attitudes can no according to Mead. There is no
men and women. Mead claims longer be regarded as sex-linked. evidence that women are naturally
that men and women are punished better than men at doing the
and rewarded to encourage gender Her theory that gender roles housework or caring for children.
conformity, and what is viewed as are not natural but are created by
masculine is also seen as superior. society established gender as a therefore challenge, the ways in
critical concept; it allows us to see which social structures such as the
Comparing cultures the historical and cross-cultural law, marriage, and the media
Mead takes a comparative ways in which masculinity, encourage stereotyped ways of
approach to gender in her studies femininity, and sexuality are conducting our intimate lives.
of three tribes in New Guinea. Her ideologically constructed.
findings challenge conventional In comparison to the early 20th
Western ideas about how human Change can happen century, gender roles for both men
behavior is determined. Arapesh Mead’s work laid the foundations and women in the 21st century
men and women were “gentle, for the women’s liberation have become far less restrictive,
responsive, and cooperative” and movement and informed the with women participating more
both undertook childcare—traits so-called “sexual revolution” of the in the public sphere. ■
the West would see as “feminine.” 1960s onward. Her ideas posed a
fundamental challenge to society’s
Similarly, it was the norm for rigid understandings of gender
Mundugumor women to behave roles and sexuality.
in a “masculine” way by being
as violent and aggressive as the Following on from Mead,
men. And in a further reversal of feminists such as US cultural
traditional Western roles, women in anthropologist Gayle Rubin
Tchambuli society were dominant, argued that if gender, unlike
while men were seen as dependent. sex, is a social construction, there
is no reason why women should
The fact that behaviors coded continue to be treated unequally.
as masculine in one society Viewing gender as culturally
may be regarded as feminine in determined allows us to see, and

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead was born in became a popular figure,
Philadelphia in 1901. Her father lecturing widely on key social
was a professor of finance; her issues such as women’s rights,
mother was a sociologist; she sexual behavior, and the family.
herself became curator emeritus Mead was the author of more
of the American Museum of than 20 books, many of which
Natural History, New York. were part of her mission to
make anthropology more
Mead received her PhD from accessible to the public. She
Columbia University in 1929, and died in New York in 1978.
went on to become a leading
cultural anthropologist, best Key works
known for her studies of the
people of Oceania. Her early work 1928 Coming of Age in Samoa
on gender and sexuality was 1935 Sex and Temperament
labeled as scandalous and she in Three Primitive Societies
was denounced as a “dirty old 1949 Male and Female
woman.” She nevertheless

300

FAMILIES ARE
FACTORIES THAT
PRODUCE HUMAN
PERSONALITIES

TALCOTT PARSONS (1902–1979)

IN CONTEXT Adults in the
nuclear family perform
FOCUS gender-appropriate
Socialization of children
and stabilization of adults roles that ensure a
stable society.
KEY DATES
1893 In The Division of Labor Children learn their Families are
in Society, sociologist Émile gender roles from factories that
Durkheim suggests that their parents. produce human
divisions in work are essential personalities.
for maintaining economic,
moral, and social order. M any of the writings have roles that support one another
of the sociologist and enable the stable functioning
1938 US sociologist Louis Talcott Parsons of society as a whole.
Wirth claims industrialization focused on American society
is destroying extended in the 1940s and 1950s. Parsons From Parsons’ perspective, the
families and communities. (influenced by the work of Émile modern nuclear family—in which
Durkheim and Max Weber) a husband, wife, and their children
1975 British sociologist claimed that the US economic order live relatively isolated from their
David Morgan, influenced required a smaller family unit. The extended family and community—
by feminist theory, argues in family, Parsons believed, is one of is the prime agent of socialization.
Social Theory and the Family several institutions, such as the People derive status and roles from
that privileging the nuclear education system and the law, that their various positions in the family.
family is potentially harmful. Although during World War II

1988 In The Sexual Contract,
British political scientist
Carole Pateman reveals
that the notion of “separate
but equal” hides the power
men have in both the private
and public spheres.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 301

See also: Émile Durkheim 34–37 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ Margaret Mead 298–99 ■ Judith Stacey 310–11 ■
Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim 320–23

women showed that they were He argues that women are able The nuclear family was once
perfectly able to do work previously to use their emotional bond considered the traditional family unit.
considered “men’s work,” many with children to steer them into But the existence of diverse family
non-feminist authors typically becoming socialized human types is now acknowledged, including
assume a natural division of labor beings. For example, children learn same-sex and single-parent families.
between men and women, and their sex roles by identification
Parsons is no exception. with their same-sex parent. These This way of understanding families
roles are internalized so that girls remained dominant in the social
Happy families become “feminine” women and sciences until the 1970s and 1980s,
The separation of home life and boys become appropriately when feminists, among others,
paid employment, with women “masculine” men, ready to take began to question it. The nuclear
remaining at home, is logical, their place in heterosexual family family, it is argued, only pertained
according to Parsons, because life. So, in much the same way as a to privileged white, middle-class
women are natural carers. Men factory produces goods, each stable Western families and ignored the
are then able to take the lead in family unit produces grounded differing realities of many other
the role of breadwinning. This individuals who are groomed to groups in society. It also served
division is considered efficient contribute positively to society. to justify and perpetuate inequality
because there is less competition between the genders. ■
for the family wage. Staying out Nuclear power
of paid employment allows women For Parsons, this neat division
to focus on their caring role: child- avoids tainting the household with
rearing and the stabilization of the rational, competitive outside
adult personalities. world, although the father can
provide the link between the
In addition to cooking and outside world and the home
cleaning, this role demands when the child is ready. The
psychological management to nuclear family, from a Parsonian
ensure a happy household. Parsons perspective, can be seen as the
is of the opinion that personality is lynchpin of civilization and crucial
not born but made, and the family for the moral health of society.
is the first place this happens.

The importance of the Talcott Parsons society. For most of his academic
family and its function for career, he was based at Harvard
Talcott Parsons was born in University until he retired in
society constitutes the Colarado in 1920 and belonged 1973, after which he continued
primary reason why to one of the oldest families in to develop theories and give
US history. His father was a lectures. Parsons died of a
there is... differentiation liberal academic and a stroke in 1979 in Munich,
of sex roles. congregational minister. Germany, where he had
been lecturing.
Talcott Parsons Parsons graduated from
Amherst College with a degree Key works
in philosophy and biology and
thereafter studied at the London 1937 The Structure of Social
School of Economics and at Action
the University of Heidelberg, 1951 The Social System
Germany. He was a fierce critic 1955 Family, Socialization,
of both fascism and communism, and Interaction Process
and a staunch advocate of US

302

WESTERN MAN
HAS BECOME A
CONFESSING ANIMAL

MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926–1984)

IN CONTEXT W hy do people talk so important relationship between
much about sex these confession, truth, and sex. He
FOCUS days? This is one suggests that to understand
The will to truth of the key questions posed by sexuality in the West, we must
the influential French philosopher consider how knowledge operates
KEY DATES Michel Foucault in The History and how particular forms of
1782 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, of Sexuality: Volume I (1976). knowledge, such as the science
Swiss political philosopher, Foucault claims there is an of sexuality (scientia sexualis) and
publishes Confessions, one
of the first autobiographies The Christian Church Psychiatry and
to focus on worldly life, rather requires confession to psychology require
than religious experiences confession of sexual
and inner feelings. absolve “sins of desires and obsessions
the flesh.” to reveal who we
1896 Austrian neurologist
Sigmund Freud introduces really are.
the term “psychoanalysis.”
We are told that telling all to unveil
1992 Sociologist Anthony the “truth” will cure us.
Giddens suggests in The
Transformation of Intimacy
that men are reluctant to
disclose feelings publicly
and rely on women to do the
emotional work in relationships.

2003 Frank Furedi’s
Therapy Culture: Cultivating
Vulnerability in an Uncertain
Age sees the will to talk and
reveal as potentially damaging.

Western man has become
a confessing animal.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 303

See also: Michel Foucault 52–55; 270–77 ■ Norbert Elias 180–81 ■ Therapy culture
Arlie Hochschild 236–43 ■ Karl Marx 254–59 ■ Jeffrey Weeks 324–25

In confessing, we give power to confession—admitting to sins and The Hungarian sociologist
“experts” (priests, therapists, doctors) seeking penance from a priest in Frank Furedi, emeritus
to judge, punish, and correct us. The order to regain the grace of God— professor of sociology at the
confessor suffers an endless cycle of became reconstructed in scientific University of Kent, UK, argues
shame, guilt, and more confession. form. Revealing sexual habits that we are obsessed with
and desires was seen as a way emotion in the modern age.
psychology, have increasingly to unearth the “authentic” self. Experiences and emotions
dominated our ways of thinking that were once thought
about gender and sexuality. According to Foucault, the normal, such as depression
confession has become one of and boredom, are now
These knowledges are a form of the most valued ways to uncover believed to require treatment
“discourse”—ways of constructing “truth” in our society. From being and medical intervention.
knowledge of the world that create a ritual, it has become widespread
their own “truths.” Incitement to and is now part of family life, We read constantly about
discourse, says Foucault, began relationships, work, medicine, and sports stars’ addictions and
in the West four centuries ago. policing. As Hungarian sociologist celebrities’ sex lives. And in
The Christian Church’s emphasis Frank Furedi posits, confession order to heal, the emotionally
on “sins of the flesh” in the 17th now dominates personal, social, injured are encouraged to
century led to a greater awareness and cultural life, as evident in share their pain with others,
of sexuality, and to the rise in reality TV shows and in social to ignore the boundaries
the 18th century of “scandal” media platforms such as Facebook separating public and
books—fictional accounts of illicit and Twitter. private. To seek help
sexual behavior. The discourse publicly—through a revealing
culminated in the 19th-century Healthy relationships, we are autobiography, for example—
science of sex that created modern continually assured, require truth- is seen as a virtue in a
sexuality—from being an act, it telling. Thereafter, an “expert” (a therapeutic culture. Emotions
was transformed into an identity. therapist or doctor, for example) is have come to be seen as
required to reveal our “authentic” defining features of identity
The confession self. The compelling promise of the and we are encouraged to
With the advent of psychiatry and confession is that the more detailed understand them as being
psychology at the end of the 19th it is, the more we will learn about indicators of illness. This
century, the Christian ritual of ourselves, and the more we will phenomenon, Furedi argues,
be liberated. A person who has is intensely disabling.
experienced trauma is often told Ironically, the supposedly
that retelling the experience will “therapeutic” culture leaves
have a curative effect. But this “will society feeling vulnerable.
to truth” is a tactic of power, says
Foucault, that can become a form Everything had to be told...
of surveillance and regulation. sex was taken charge of,
Confession, he claims, does not
reveal the truth, it produces it. tracked down.
Michel Foucault
Foucault’s work has had an
immense impact on feminism
and studies of sexuality since the
1980s. In particular, his ideas have
influenced British sociologist
Jeffrey Weeks, who uses Foucault
to unearth the ways in which
legislation has served to regulate
gender and sexuality in society. ■

HETEROSEXUALITY

MUST BE RECOGNIZED

AND STUDIED AS AN

INSTITUTION

ADRIENNE RICH (1929–2012)



306 ADRIENNE RICH W hat if heterosexuality The most pernicious message
is not innate or the only relayed by pornography is
IN CONTEXT “normal” sexuality?
Heterosexuality is often seen as that women are natural sexual
FOCUS a “natural” foundation for society, prey to men and love it;
Compulsory but Adrienne Rich challenges
heterosexuality this idea in her important essay that sexuality and violence
“Compulsory Heterosexuality and are congruent.
KEY DATES Lesbian Existence” (1980). Rich
1864 The Contagious was influenced by the French Adrienne Rich
Diseases Act in Britain intellectual Simone de Beauvoir,
punishes prostitutes who who argues that women have been Women are therefore expected,
are infected by their clients. urged to accept the roles placed according to Rich, to behave in
upon them in a society that views restrictive ways, as passive and
1979 Sexual Harassment of women as inferior. dependent on men; behavior
Working Women, by US lawyer that does not conform to these
Catherine A. MacKinnon, Rich suggests that, far from expectations is considered deviant
argues that women occupy being natural, heterosexuality is and dangerous. Sexually active
markedly inferior positions imposed on women and must be women, for instance, are labeled
in the workplace and are seen as a system of power that as abnormal or called promiscuous.
sexualized as part of their job. encourages false binary thinking— Patriarchy (a power system that
heterosexual/homosexual, man/ assumes male superiority) is a
1993 Marital rape is finally woman—in which “heterosexual” useful conceptual tool for Rich in
recognized as a crime by and “man” is privileged over explaining women’s oppression
every state in the US. “homosexual” and “woman.” over time; she suggests that it is
Compulsory heterosexuality, she necessary to think about male
1996 In Theorizing says, presents “scripts” to us that
Heterosexuality: Telling it are templates for how we conduct
Straight, British sociologist relationships and “perform” our
Diane Richardson introduces gender. We are, for example,
a series of key essays that encouraged to think of men as
critique the institution of being sexually active and women
heterosexuality. as sexually passive, even though
there are no studies to prove this.

Heterosexuality Heterosexuality Heterosexuality
is constructed is promoted and must be recognized
as an institution and
as normal; men are maintained by a system of power
seen as active and ideology and force;
women as passive. that benefits men
lesbianism is and subjugates
denied and denigrated. women.

.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 307

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Judith Butler 56–61 ■ R.W. Connell 88–89 ■ bell hooks 90–95 ■ Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■
Steven Seidman 326–31

power over women as the key not have to. Heterosexuality
to understanding women’s therefore carries with it an
subordinate position. insidious assurance of normality.

The power of ideology Oppressive tactics Hollywood films such as Basic
Rich discusses many of the ways in Karl Marx argued that capitalism Instinct that depict lesbians as killers
which the ideology of compulsory is, in part, maintained through provide an ideological endorsement
heterosexuality “forces” women violent actions such as conquest of lesbianism as threatening and
into sexual relationships with men. and enslavement. Heterosexuality, deviant and heterosexuality as normal.
The unequal positions of men and Rich contends, can be viewed in
women in the labor market, for a similar way. Under conditions of
instance, can result in women compulsory heterosexuality, men
being financially dependent on and women no more choose to be
men. And the pervasive myth that heterosexual or homosexual than
women are at risk of male violence a worker chooses wage labor.
in public spaces, and should
restrict their movements and Alongside the symbolic violence
seek male protection, is another of ideology, physical violence is
example of how women are coerced often used to control the behaviors
into heterosexual relationships. of women. Acts such as female
Women are encouraged to view genital mutilation and punishment
themselves as sexual prey, and for female adultery or lesbianism ❯❯
men as “natural” sexual predators
(reinforced by beliefs such as Modes of dress that restrict women’s movements
stranger danger), so entering into are designed, Rich argues, to inhibit women’s
heterosexual relationships offers freedom and prevent them from moving outside
women a (false) sense of security. and participating in the public sphere,
independent of men: they can then,
Despite increasing numbers she says, be kept under control by
of people opting to delay marriage, men within compulsory
many young women still perceive heterosexuality.
it as a normal and inevitable part
of their lives: this expectation The veil and niqab
is an important aspect of Rich’s
argument about the compulsory Tight dress Corset
nature of heterosexuality. Once
again, ideology helps shore up High heels Bound feet
heterosexuality through the
promotion of romantic narratives
in films such as Titanic and fairy
tales like Cinderella.

So prevalent is the idea of
heterosexuality in society that
people are assumed to be
heterosexual unless they declare
otherwise. The irony then is that
when lesbians or gay men “come
out” they are viewed as being
more sexual than those who do

308 ADRIENNE RICH

deny women sexuality. Child and [Heterosexuality] has had Erasure and denial of lesbianism
arranged marriage, pornographic to be imposed, managed, in history and culture is one of the
images that depict women enjoying organized, propagandized, ways in which heterosexuality is
sexual violence and humiliation, and maintained by force. maintained. Rich contends that
child sexual abuse, and incest— society is male-identified, meaning
all force male sexuality on women. Adrienne Rich it is a place where men and their
Rape is another violent tactic; needs are placed above women’s
marital rape was not recognized clubs, and from leisure pursuits needs. Women feel the need to look
in many Western nations until the such as golf where important beautiful for men, and place more
1990s—a reflection of the belief business deals might be made. value on romantic relationships
that a woman must be sexually with men than on their friendships
submissive to her husband. And It is in these many different with women. Rich calls upon
Rich says that “using women ways that heterosexuality can women to try and reshape their
as objects in male transactions” be understood as an institution lives around other women—in other
is another oppressive tactic of that operates through rigid social words, to be woman-identified.
compulsory heterosexuality— constructions of gender and This does not mean that she urges
as revealed, for instance, in the sexuality. Considerable social all women to give up men and sleep
trafficking of women for sexual control, including violence, is used with women but, rather, she wants
exploitation and the use of to enforce these ideas of gender. all women to experience that which
prostitutes for sexual pleasure. The effect is to keep women inside has arguably only been available to
heterosexuality and to ensure lesbian communities—namely, to
The view, persistent in some that they remain subordinate love other women.
cultures, that it is preferable to send within it. A direct consequence
the son to school because sons will of heterosexuality, for Rich, is the The lesbian continuum
stay in the family, whereas girls oppression of women. Rich challenges preconceptions
leave to join the husband’s family about what a lesbian is—it is not
after marriage, means that across someone who hates men or sleeps
the globe only 30 percent of girls with women, but simply a woman
get a secondary-school education. who loves women. This idea is
A poor education will inevitably known as “political lesbianism”:
mean poor employment prospects. Rich and others saw it as a form
of resistance to patriarchy rather
Another method whereby male than simply a sexual preference.
power is maintained is through the
barring of women from exclusive

Adrienne Rich Feminist, poet, and essayist rights movement. In 1997, in
Adrienne Rich was born in 1929 protest against the inequalities
in Maryland. Her home life was in the US, she refused the
tense, due to religious and cultural National Medal of Arts from
divisions between her parents. President Bill Clinton.

Despite later identifying as Key works
a lesbian, Rich married, in part
to disconnect from her family. 1976 Of Woman Born:
During this time she took a Motherhood as Experience
teaching post at Columbia and Institution
University. Her experiences as 1979 On Lies, Secrets, and
a mother and a wife impeded Silence: Selected Prose,
her intellectual potential and 1966–1978
radicalized her politics. She was 1980 “Compulsory
committed to anti-war protests, Heterosexuality and
and was also actively engaged Lesbian Existence”
in feminist politics and the civil

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 309

Female witches were often feared
and persecuted for their “otherness.”
In the late 15th century it was believed
that they possessed the power to cause
impotence and infertility in men.

Lesbianism can, then, be placed Sheila Jeffreys, a British radical Carol Smart suggests, heterosexual
on a continuum, which includes feminist, argued that it allowed identity, like white colonial identity,
those who are sexually attracted heterosexual women to continue has maintained an effortless
to women and those who may be their relationships with men while superiority and an ability to
heterosexual but are politically feeling politically validated. But remain invisible because it has
connected to other women. This the strength of Rich’s work is that constructed itself as the norm.
does not mean there are degrees rather than critiquing heterosexual Heterosexual feminists such
of lesbian experience, with those women, it critiques heterosexuality as British sociologist Stevi
who are “less” lesbian being more as an institution. Jackson have gone on to unpick
socially acceptable. Instead, Rich is heterosexuality as a direct result
suggesting that there have always Rich’s ideas also challenge of Rich’s work. French feminist
been women who have resisted the the hetero/homo binary and thus Monique Wittig argued in 1992 that
compulsory way of life and existed anticipate queer theorists such heterosexuality is a political regime
in and out of the continuum for as US scholar Eve Kosofsky that relies on the subordination and
hundreds of years—from the many Sedgwick, who argues that sexual appropriation of women.
women in Europe, in the 16th and identity is a construct of Western
17th centuries in particular, who culture. Sedgwick also opposes The recent revelation in the
were hanged or burned as witches, the assumption that these UK of the sexual abuse of girls
often for living outside of patriarchy, constructions of sexuality are only by celebrities and the abduction
to the late 19th-century “Wigan Pit an issue for “minority” groups such of more than 200 schoolgirls in
Brow Lasses,” colliery workers who as lesbians and gay men. Nigeria, Africa, by the militant
caused scandal in Britain by Islamist group Boko Haram,
insisting on wearing trousers. A conceptual shift are glaring examples of how
The ideas put forward in Rich’s heterosexuality is still forced on
Rich’s idea of a lesbian 1980 essay have arguably provided women and girls. The arguments
continuum has caused considerable the most important conceptual put forward by Rich thus continue
debate, partly because it can be shift in studies of sexuality by to inform important explorations
seen as desexualizing lesbianism inviting an examination of of heterosexuality as a social and
and allows feminists to claim to heterosexuality as an institution. political structure. ■
be part of the continuum without This had never been done before
examining their heterosexuality. because, as British sociologist The patriarchal institution
of motherhood is not the
“human condition” any more
than rape, prostitution,

and slavery are.
Adrienne Rich

310

WESTERN FAMILY
ARRANGEMENTS
ARE DIVERSE, FLUID,
AND UNRESOLVED

JUDITH STACEY

IN CONTEXT Western Traditional Women are
economic family roles rejecting
FOCUS structures patriarchal
The postmodern family have shifted. of male relationships.
breadwinner/
KEY DATES
1970 US radical feminist Kate female
Millet argues that the nuclear homemaker are
family is a site of subordination
for women. no longer
relevant.
1977 In Haven in a Heartless
World: The Family Besieged, These changes enable “brave new family” forms.
US social critic Christopher
Lasch gives an anti-feminist Western family arrangements are diverse,
account of how traditional fluid, and unresolved.
family values are eroded in
the modern world. T he “modern” US family detailed research into families
unit, praised by the likes in Silicon Valley, California,
1997 In Lesbian Lifestyles: of Talcott Parsons, is Stacey suggests that, in line
Women’s Work and the Politics a dated and potentially oppressive with demands from a changing
of Sexuality, British academic institution. This is the view of economic structure resulting in
Gillian Dunne argues that Judith Stacey, professor emerita of poverty and unemployment, the
lesbian relationships are social and cultural analysis at New family has undergone a radical
more egalitarian than York University, whose work has shift. Marriage is also weaker
heterosexual partnerships. focused on the family, queer theory, because women are rejecting
sexuality, and gender. Based on her patriarchal relationships. Instead,
2001 In Same Sex Intimacies:
Families of Choice and Other
Life Experiments, Jeffrey
Weeks and others state that
families are increasingly
becoming a matter of choice.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 311

See also: Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■ Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Gay parenthood
Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim 320–23 ■ Jeffrey Weeks 324–25

there is a move toward blended The family indeed Stacey notes that US pressure
families, lesbian and gay families, is dead, if what we mean groups are claiming that the
cohabitating couples, and single country is facing a crisis due
parents—all of which are part of by it is the modern to fatherlessness: heterosexual
what she calls the “postmodern” family system. men are abandoning pregnant
family (although many have argued Judith Stacey partners or opting not to
that these forms have always have children at all. New
existed and that Parson’s nuclear technologies and the
family was only relevant for a few availability of contraceptives
privileged middle-class families). have separated sex from
To reflect this new reality, Stacey procreation. And having a
insists that the work structure child no longer guarantees
needs to ensure equal pay for men a future income for parents.
and women, and universal health Thus Stacey argues that
and child care should be provided. parenting is now more about
emotion than finances.
A pioneering spirit creating more democratic and
The economic role of the family equal relationships. For her, these Yet increasing numbers
has declined, Stacey argues, and relationships represent an ideal of gay men are opting for
as a result, intimacy and love have of postmodern kinship for which parenthood, even though they
become more important. Despite traditional roles are less applicable. face many more challenges
the decline of marriage, Stacey than lesbian and heterosexual
does not believe that individuals Equal love? couples, including access to
no longer form meaningful social The British sociologist Anthony the means of reproduction
ties, but rather that complex ties Giddens is in agreement with (eggs and a womb). When
continue to be formed as a result Stacey when he suggests that straight couples adopt, they
of divorce and remarriage. contemporary family forms bring are often given healthy babies.
greater equality to relationships Gay men tend to be offered
Because traditional roles and and undermine stereotypes older children or those who
legal- and blood-ties within the and traditional gender roles. In are unwell or thought of as
family are less relevant today contrast, recent studies in Britain “difficult” in some way. Thus
than they were in the past, family have revealed that in heterosexual it is gay men, says Stacey, who
members now have greater choice couples, women are still largely are giving homes to some of
and are therefore creating more responsible for housework. society’s most needy children.
experimental intimacies. She
suggests that the heterosexual/ Some have questioned the Gay men who choose to become
homosexual binary is becoming extent to which same-sex fathers challenge many of society’s
less stable and is being replaced relationships are more equal. stereotypes about masculinity,
by a “queering” of family relations. Canadian researcher Janice fatherhood, and gay promiscuity.
These “brave new families” are Ristock, for example, has pointed
endeavoring to fully embrace to the prevalence of domestic abuse
change and diversity and forge among same-sex couples. Others,
more unconventional and such as sociologists Beck and
egalitarian relationships. Beck-Gernsheim, have emphasized
the many difficulties associated
Stacey is in line with other key with living a detraditionalized life.
thinkers, such as Jeffrey Weeks and Nevertheless, Stacey contends
British sociologist Gillian Dunne, that social experiments in ties
in suggesting that lesbian and of love are ongoing. ■
gay families are at the forefront of

THE MARRIAGE

CONTRACT IS A

WORK

CONTRACT

CHRISTINE DELPHY (1941– )



314 CHRISTINE DELPHY Within a patriarchal system, heterosexuality is a
socially constructed institution that encourages marriage.
IN CONTEXT
Marriage enables the husband, as head of the household,
FOCUS to exploit his wife, by benefitting from her unpaid labor…
Material feminism
…around …in support …in producing
KEY DATES the home. of his job. and looking
1974 British sociologist Ann after children
Oakley puts housework under (his legitimate
feminist scrutiny in The heirs).
Sociology of Housework.

1980 US writer and feminist
Adrienne Rich suggests that
heterosexuality is a political
institution that continues to
give men power and control
over women.

1986 According to British
sociologist Sylvia Walby,
the gender division of labor
in the household is one of the
key structures that maintain
patriarchy in society.

1989 French materialist
feminist Monique Wittig
publishes On the Social
Contract, suggesting that
the heterosexual contract is
a sexual and labor contract.

The marriage contract is a work contract.

F or hundreds of years in any sort is through a Marxist-style she argues, in the way that women
many societies, marriage analysis that looks at the material are channeled into marriage and
has been the destiny and benefits accruing to any party. motherhood, so that their labor can
often the dream of every young girl. But where Marx investigated be exploited by men.
Numerous cultural arteficts—from oppression through examining
fairy tales to novels and films— class structure, Delphy investigates Domestic production
have reinforced this view. However, women’s oppression through the Delphy argues that Marx’s
in the 1980s, feminists such as power structure of patriarchy (the concepts can be applied to the
Ann Oakley and Christine Delphy power and authority held by men). home environment, which she sees
argued that, in reality, marriage is She says that within a patriarchal as a site of the patriarchal mode of
a highly abusive institution that system, heterosexuality (and the production. Within this workplace,
is fundamental in aiding men’s resulting male–female couple) is not men systematically take advantage
continuing oppression of women. an individual sexual preference but of, and benefit from, women’s labor.
a socially constructed institution, Under these conditions, women
Christine Delphy is a Marxist which acts to maintain male labor for the male head
theorist, who claims that the only domination. This is demonstrated, of the household, carrying out
way to investigate oppression of

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 315

See also: Judith Butler 56–61 ■ Friedrich Engels 66–67 ■ Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■ Arlie Russell Hochschild 236–43 ■
Teri Lynn Caraway 248–49 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Ann Oakley 318–19 ■ Steven Seidman 326–31

the sense that their labor was often
appropriated by brothers, fathers, or
employers. This view was partly
influenced by the book
Married to the Job, by British
sociologist Janet Finch. This work
documents how women are
co-opted by employers into a male
relative’s job, but without pay.
This might be through indirect
help, such as entertaining (for
businessmen or politicians); direct
involvement, such as acting as
an assistant (for tradesmen or
academics); or providing welfare,
for example cooking and cleaning
(for members of the clergy).

The narrative of films such as the development of a class society Materialist feminism
Pride and Prejudice, adapted from the is the basis for women’s oppression. Delphy sees capitalism and
novel by Jane Austen, reinforce the idea He said that with the rise in private patriarchy as two distinct social
that what every woman wants is to find property during the 19th century, systems, both of which share the
the “perfect” man and marry him. there was a corresponding rise appropriation of labor, and which
in inequality because men influence and shape each other.
potentially limitless work. This role, increasingly controlled the public Her materialist feminist approach
she says, has no job description, sphere of production, and so to the family marks a departure
no agreed wage, and no limit in became increasingly wealthy and from earlier forms of feminist
terms of the hours. In any other powerful. In addition, men wanted analysis, which did not consider
working position, such conditions to ensure that their property would the role of capitalism. Delphy
would be viewed as exploitative. be inherited by their legitimate pointed out, however, that a ❯❯
And in marriages where a woman male heirs, and the most effective
is engaged in paid employment way of doing this was through the Women’s exploitation in the home
outside the home, she is also— institution of the monogamous is, says Delphy, a consequence of the
in most cases—expected to be patriarchal family. In this way, combined effects of patriarchy and
responsible for household and marriage became a relationship capitalism, both of which function to
childcare duties. According of property. perpetuate male dominion and control.
to Delphy, when the domestic
situation is viewed in these Unpaid assistants
materialist terms, it becomes Demand for labor increased during
obvious that married women and following the Industrial
are working for nothing. Revolution. Women were required
to produce more children to supply
Delphy points out that for that demand. But the more children
Marxists, classes only exist in a woman had, the more tightly she
relation to one another: there can was tied to the household and
be no bourgeoisie (owners of the unable to work elsewhere. Delphy
means of production) without the also suggests that unmarried
proletariat (the workers). Friedrich women become “wives” too, in
Engels wrote extensively on how

316 CHRISTINE DELPHY

Surveys conducted among OECD countries (Organisation for unpaid work. Writing with Diana
Economic Co-operation and Development) between 2009 and 2011 Leonard, Delphy notes that married
have shown a hugely unequal division of labor in the home, with men and women may love each
women spending far more time than men caring for family members other—but “loving women does not
(preparing food, for example) and doing domestic chores. prevent men from exploiting them.”

Care for household Routine housework A woman is made, not born
members per day per day Delphy argues that a person’s sex
is far from self-evident: maleness
40 mins 16 mins 168 mins 74 mins is not determined solely by the
presence of a penis or chest hair,
wife’s obligation to perform go away by paying women more. for example, nor is femaleness
domestic duties is institutionalized This is because—as Marxist class a function of being able to bear
on entering marriage, making analysis has shown—the system children. Sex is emphasized in
marriage a labor contract. only works if there is a group that society because we live in a world
can be exploited. If there is no where the simple binary division
This idea has proven to be exploited group, there is no profit. by gender gives men priority over
controversial, but has received The creation of an exploitable group women, and values heterosexuality
support from other academics in turn depends on the existence over homosexuality. In this way,
including the British political of a dominant ideology that runs gender dictates, or “precedes,” sex,
theorist Carole Pateman. Drawing throughout a society, continually and the classification of people by
on the ideas of British philosopher positioning a group of people sex maintains hierarchies and
John Locke, who envisaged a social in a certain way. In a capitalist, power structures.
contract whereby individuals act as patriarchal society, this ideology is
good citizens and in return receive sexism (prejudice against women Delphy argues that using sex
protection from the state, Pateman because of their sex). as a system to classify people is
saw heterosexual relations in terms misguided and leads to serious
of a sexual contract. Women might One critique raised against errors in thinking. Why should a
be seen to receive protection Delphy’s ideas is that they do not person’s sex be more prominent
from men by being married, but take account of the fact that some than other physical traits that
husbands had acquired a right to women benefit from marriage, are equally distinguishable? Why
their wives’ work and their bodies financially and/or sexually. Delphy is biological sex the only physical
(“rape in marriage” was not yet a does not deny this; she claims, trait that splits the world’s
criminal offense in England when however, that there is an unequal
Pateman wrote her book The exchange. Wives may enjoy some The fact that domestic work
Sexual Contract in 1988). of the tasks they complete for their is unpaid is not inherent to
own sake and because they love the particular type of work
Delphy claims that it is not their husbands, but this does done, since when the same
simply a case of women’s work not mask the fact that they are tasks are done outside the
being devalued, as some feminists expected to do large amounts of
have argued. The problem will not family they are paid for.
Christine Delphy
& Diana Leonard

British sociologist (1941–2010)

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 317

Signing a marriage contract feminists were interested in product, not the cause, of
means entering a legal partnership. domestic labor and how to inequality. In The End of Equality
This has different implications in understand it, but there was (2014), journalist and campaigner
different countries, but Delphy considerable disagreement about Beatrix Campbell charted the
suggests it always benefits the man. the relationship between feminism ways in which women continue
and Marxism. Some Marxist to be exploited in their intimate
population into two groups, which feminists, such as British scholars relationships; for instance, there
are then loaded with apparently Michele Barrett and Mary are few societies in the world
“natural” traits and roles? This McIntosh, were extremely hostile where men equally share the
idea of sex as a wholly false to the accusation that men benefit work of childcare with women.
classification is a crucial concept from their wives’ labor and For Campbell, contemporary
within Delphy’s radical appraisal of therefore directly exploit them. global capitalism has served
patriarchy because it undermines Others argued that it is impossible to strengthen and further men’s
the notion of sex being used to for two modes of exploitation domination over women.
differentiate between those who (patriarchy and capitalism) to exist
will dominate (financially, socially, at the same time in a given society. Material oppressions in forms
and sexually) and those who will other than economic exploitation,
be dominated. Continuing inequality such as the ongoing debate about
Delphy and many other feminists abortion in some countries, also
In developing her theories, since the 1980s have taken on benefit from Delphy’s analysis.
Delphy was greatly influenced by board these criticisms and worked If child-bearing and -rearing are
the writings of the French feminist them through in detail, making understood as labor extorted from
Simone de Beauvoir, who argued Delphy’s work a continuing women, as Delphy suggests, men
that men had made women “other” influence on feminists around the may fear that women will escape
in order to support an unequal world. US philosopher Judith Butler, this form of exploitation by limiting
patriarchal system. By challenging for instance, has used many of births. In this way the withdrawal
the categories of “men” and Delphy’s concepts in her work, of the right to abortion in places
“women” as meaningful, Delphy’s in particular her questioning of such as Northern Ireland, and
ideas can be seen as a precursor the sex/gender distinction. the fierce debates about abortion
to queer theory, which questions In developing Delphy’s ideas, in the US, can be seen as a
previously accepted ideas of sex, French feminist Monique Wittig form of male control over women’s
sexuality, and gender, and their role has argued that the division of choice, keeping them as an
in establishing identity. society into two sexes is the exploited class so as to sustain
both capitalism and patriarchy. ■
Feminism and Marxism Christine Delphy
Delphy’s ideas created a furor the insulting term “dykes” used
in feminism when they were first Christine Delphy was born in for lesbians by referring to it as
published. This was at a time when France in 1941 and educated at a revolutionary position. More
the universities of Paris, France, recently, she voted against the
and California, Berkeley. law that banned Muslim girls
Inspired by the political protests from wearing the hijab (veil) in
in Paris in 1968, she became French schools, calling the act
an active member of the French a piece of racist legislation.
women’s liberation movement.
In 1977 she cofounded the Key works
journal New Feminist Issues
with French philosopher 1984 Close to Home: A
Simone de Beauvoir. Materialist Analysis of Women’s
Oppression
Delphy was a member of 1992 Familiar Exploitation (with
Gouines Rouge (Red Dykes), a Diana Leonard)
group that attempted to reclaim 1993 Rethinking Sex and Gender

318

HOUSEWORK IS
DIRECTLY OPPOSED TO
SELF-ACTUALIZATION

ANN OAKLEY (1944– )

IN CONTEXT Housework in capitalist and patriarchal
societies is exploitative...
FOCUS
Housework as alienation ...because it is ...because it offers little
low-status work that is opportunity for creativity
KEY DATES assumed to come naturally
1844 Karl Marx introduces or self-fulfillment.
his theory of the workers’ to women.
alienation from their work.
Housework is work directly
1955 Sociologist Talcott opposed to self-actualization.
Parsons sees housework as an
integral part of the female role. T he majority of women’s at least one child under five.
work is still domestic labor The pioneering study looks at
1985 In Contemporary that takes place in the housework from the perspective
Housework and the home. More than a generation ago, of these women.
Houseworker Role, British in 1974, sociologist Ann Oakley
sociologist Mary Maynard undertook one of the first feminist Oakley argues that housework
reveals that working women sociological studies of domestic should be understood as a job
do far more housework than labor when she interviewed 40 in its own right and not a natural
their working husbands. London housewives between the extension of a woman’s role as
ages of 20 and 30, all of whom had a wife or mother. This was a
1986 British sociologists controversial standpoint at a time
Linda McKee and Colin Bell
claim that when men are
unemployed, they do less
housework: their masculine
identity is seen as threatened
and wives are unwilling
to weaken it still further by
asking them to accept greater
domestic responsibility.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 319

See also: Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■ Harry Braverman 226–31 ■ Robert Blauner 232–33 ■ Arlie Hochschild 236–43 ■
Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Christine Delphy 312–17

when housework was not seen as roles, should be seen as reflecting Women’s domesticity
“real work.” Women are compelled cultural and historical processes, is a circle of learned
to engage in domestic duties for rather than as being tied to biology.
no wages—an essential form of deprivation and
exploitation that enables capitalism Alienation induced subjugation.
to function and succeed: by Marx claims that workers, in
providing the needs of the male a system of private ownership, Ann Oakley
worker, housewives ensure male experience alienation or
workers are able to provide the estrangement from their work have no autonomy or control;
needs of the economy. because they do not own the fruits responsibility for the work is theirs
of their labor. Similarly, Oakley alone and if it is not done they risk
A woman’s role? insists, the majority of housewives an angry husband or sick children.
Domestic duties have often been are dissatisfied with their lot,
regarded as natural for women, finding nothing inherently Viewed in this way, housework
due to their ability to give birth; satisfying about their work, which prevents women from reaching
although why that capacity means is lonely, monotonous, and boring. their full potential. Oakley’s
a woman is better able to iron They resent the low status that is findings remain significant today:
out creases in clothes is unclear. associated with being a housewife. recent research by, among others,
Arguably, it does not occur to most Like factory workers, they find their British sociologist Caroline Gatrell
women to demand wages for the jobs repetitive, fragmented, and shows that 40 years later women
work they give “for free.” time-pressured. are still doing most of the
housework, despite engaging
Karl Marx’s argument that Oakley’s studies reveal that more in paid employment. ■
male workers are exploited in women report feelings of alienation
paid employment is applicable to from their work more frequently
women’s exploitation in the home. than factory workers. This is due
Ideology serves to disguise this in part to their sense of social
fact by presenting housework as isolation as housewives—many of
“natural” for women and also not them had careers before marriage,
worthy of a wage. Oakley contends, which they subsequently gave
however, that gender, and gender up. These women, Oakley says,

Ads for household products from Ann Oakley Oakley’s first novel, The Men’s
the 1950s stereotype women as happy Room, was published in 1988
housewives who have an emotional The sociologist and feminist and in 1991 it became a popular
attachment to the cleaning agents that Ann Oakley was born in the BBC series starring Bill Nighy.
form such a key part of their lives. UK in 1944. She is professor of Oakley remains committed
sociology and social policy at to feminism, and much of her
the University of London. After work addresses gender issues.
completing a degree at Oxford, She also has an interest in
where she was one of the first developing environmentally
students to take a sociology friendly cleaning products.
option, she wrote two novels
but was unable to find a Key works
publisher for them. She then
enrolled for a PhD and her first 1972 Sex, Gender, and Society
academic book, Sex, Gender, and 1974 The Sociology of
Society, introduced the term Housework
“gender” into everyday use. 1974 Housewife

320 IN CONTEXT

WHEN LOVE FOCUS
FINALLY WINS IT The chaos of love
HAS TO FACE ALL
KINDS OF DEFEAT KEY DATES
1992 Anthony Giddens’ The
ULRICH BECK (1944–2015) AND Transformation of Intimacy
ELISABETH BECK-GERNSHEIM (1946– ) presents an optimistic view
of egalitarian relationships in
a reflexive (self-aware) society.

1994 US right-wing thinker
Charles Murray asserts that
traditional family values need
to be emphasized to halt a
breakdown in society.

1998 British sociologist
Lynn Jamieson suggests
that “intimacies” is the most
useful term for describing
the organization of our
personal relationships.

1999 British academics
Carol Smart and Bren Neale
suggest parental relationships
with children are far more
enduring than fragile
intimate partnerships.

S ustaining a happy, intimate
relationship can be a
difficult and tiring business,
yet at the same time a compelling
one. In The Normal Chaos of Love
(1995), German husband-and-wife
team Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth
Beck-Gernsheim try to explain
why this is so. They trace the
development of a new social order
that has transformed the ways in
which we conduct our personal
lives, arguing that one of the main
features of this new order is “a
collision of interests between love,
family, and personal freedom.”
The traditional nuclear family—
“built around gender status”—
is disintegrating “on the issues

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 321

See also: Ulrich Beck 156–61 ■ David Held 170–71 ■ Colin Campbell 234–35 ■ Elisabeth Beck-
Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Judith Stacey 310–11 Gernsheim

Increased social They still yearn Born in Freiburg, Germany,
freedoms today mean for stability and in 1946, Elisabeth Beck-
that people have greater emotionally fulfilling Gernsheim is a sociologist,
scope than ever before to relationships... philosopher, and psychologist.
shape their own lives. Her partly Jewish heritage
meant that many of her family
Family units are now ...but the social members fled Nazi Germany
more fragile; separation, changes have weakened in the 1930s, with some of her
divorce, and remarriage uncles moving to London.
gender stereotypes
are more common. and led to a clash of She has produced several
interests between key works in collaboration
with her husband, Ulrich Beck
love and freedom. (who had his own links to
London through the LSE), but
When love finally wins it has has also written extensively
to face all kinds of defeat. on issues from social change
to biotechnologies. More
recently, she has developed
an interest in transnational
marriage, migration, and
ethnic identities. She is
currently a senior research
fellow at the Institute for
Cosmopolitan Studies,
University of Munich. (See
pp.156–61 for Ulrich Beck.)

Key works

of emancipation and equal rights.” “reflexive modernity” has produced 1995 The Normal Chaos of
The fading away of traditional new risks and opportunities. The Love (with Ulrich Beck)
social identities means that the particular social and economic 2002 Individualization (with
antagonisms between men and conditions of global capitalism have Ulrich Beck)
women over gender roles emerge led to a greater sense of individual 2002 Reinventing the Family
“in the very heart of the private identity; life is less predictable and
sphere,” with the result that more personal narratives have more of People marry for... love
couples are divorcing or separating, a sense of “do-it-yourself.” and get divorced for... love.
and different family forms are Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth
taking shape. All this is part of “the The couple explains that
quite normal chaos called love.” “individualization” is the Beck-Gernsheim
opposite principle to that used
Individualized living in Germany’s Code of Civil Law
Following on from Beck’s earlier in the late 19th-century, which
Risk Society (1986), which suggests established that “marriage is to
that women are torn between be viewed [as] a moral and legal
“liberation” and the continuance of order independent of the will of
traditional gender roles, the couple the spouse.” Individualization has
makes the case that a new age of facilitated new forms of personal
and social experimentation. ❯❯

322 ULRICH BECK AND ELISABETH BECK-GERNSHEIM

The pursuit of love and marriage
remains a feature of modern society,
despite the fact that the pressures on
our lives mean that marriages are more
likely to end in divorce than in the past.

The couple’s views echo those Individualization may have persist until men become more
of Anthony Giddens who, in released people from the gender accepting of women’s participation
The Transformation of Intimacy roles prescribed by industrial in the workplace and until men
(1992), argues that in contemporary society, but the material needs of engage in more domestic labor.
society we make our identity rather modern life are such that they are
than inherit it. Such a change has, forced to build up a life of their own Fragile yet resilient
he says, altered how we experience that is adapted to the requirements Beck and Beck-Gernsheim contend
the family and sexuality. of the labor market. The family that, for the most part, intimate
model, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim relationships cannot be egalitarian;
According to Giddens, in say, can mesh “one labor if equality is what is required, then
the past, when marriages were market biography with a lifelong relationships must be abandoned:
economic partnerships rather housework biography, but not “Love has become inhospitable.”
than love matches, expectations two labor market biographies,”
were lower and disappointments because their inner logic demands Men and women face choices
fewer. Now that men and women that “both partners have to put and constraints that differ
are increasingly compelled to themselves first.” Inequality will significantly from those faced
reflexively create their identity by their counterparts in previous
through day-to-day decisions, For individuals who... eras because of the contradiction
Giddens argues that they are able invent... their own social between the demands of
to choose partnerships on a basis setting, love becomes the... relationships of any kind (family,
of mutual understanding, leading marriage, motherhood, fatherhood)
to what he describes as “pure pivot giving meaning and the demands of the workplace
relationships”—entered for their to their lives. for mobile, flexible employees.
own sake and only continuing These choices and constraints
while both parties are happy. Such Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth are responsible for pulling families
partnerships, he says, bring greater Beck-Gernsheim apart. Rather than being shaped
equality between individuals and by the rules, traditions, and
challenge traditional gender roles. rituals of previous eras, Beck
and Beck-Gernsheim argue
Intimate but unequal that contemporary family units
Although Beck and Beck- are experiencing a shift from
Gernsheim agree with Giddens a “community of need,” where
that there is far more scope in the ties and obligations bound us
modern world for men and women in our intimate lives, to “elective
to shape their own lives and thus affinities” that are based on
weaken gender stereotypes, they
are not wholly optimistic.

Individuals are subject to forces
beyond their control; life may be
do-it-yourself but it is not do-as-
you-like. Women and men, say
the couple, are “compulsively on the
search for the right way to live”—
trying to find a model of the family
that will offer a “refuge in... our
affluent, impersonal society.”

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 323

choice and personal inclination. nor women would wish to, the The child... promises a tie...
In spite of these difficult changes, pressures of an individualized more... profound and durable
the lure of the romantic narrative life mean that it can be tinged than any other in... society.
remains strong. In an uncertain with nostalgia and a longing for Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth
society, “stripped of its traditions certainties that perhaps never
and scarred by all kinds of risk,” as existed—those “family values” that Beck-Gernsheim
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim put it, governments often hark back to.
love “will become more important The more fragile our relationships the child in this context becomes
than ever and equally impossible.” are, the more we hanker after love. ego-driven and intense, providing
a feeling of permanence not found
Individuals now have a greater One way in which this yearning in the chaos of adult relationships.
desire for emotionally fulfilling for the past exerts itself is through
relationships, which has fueled the increased significance placed Inevitably, criticisms have
industries such as couples’ therapy upon children in contemporary been leveled at Beck and Beck-
and self-help publishing. But the society. While love between adults Gernsheim’s arguments. Several
ties that bind are fragile and people might be viewed as temporary theorists, including Swedish
tend to move on if perfection is not and vulnerable, love for children scholars Diana Mulinari and
achieved. As the couple say, even becomes more important, with Kerstin Sandell, have objected to
when individuals do fall in love both parents investing emotionally the implication that women are
(“when love finally wins”), there are in their children, who are seen responsible for the increased
often more battles ahead—division, as providing unconditional love. divorce rates. Nevertheless, The
resentment, and divorce, for example. Normal Chaos of Love transformed
In this respect, Beck and Beck- academic work on the family—from
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim Gernsheim suggest that men may being seen as an institution that
suggest that nurturing personal be challenging women for the role responds to social change, it was
relationships and attending to the of emotional caretakers in the acknowledged as one that actually
demands of a rapidly changing family. This can be seen in the contributes to change. ■
economic world require a delicate increased numbers of fathers who
balancing act; as a consequence, seek custody of their children post-
there is a rise in divorce. Yet so divorce and the rise of groups
strong is the hope of happiness advocating equal parenting rights
that many divorcees marry again. for fathers, such as Fathers4Justice.

The importance of children The feminist academic Diana
While Beck and Beck-Gernsheim Leonard supports this view, saying
argue that we have come too far to that parents are “spoiling” their
return to old ways, and neither men children with gifts to keep them
close to them. Connection with

Marriage and divorce rates FIGURES PER ’000 ADULTS 10
in the Western world during 9
the past 50 years have altered 8
significantly. Changes in the 7
law and society have seen 6
marriage decline and divorce 5
increase. Although the pattern 4
seems to have stabilized, the 3
family unit is now more fragile. 2
1
1960: 2012: 0
Marriage Marriage
Divorce Divorce GERMANY

* Divorce not permitted in Spain until UK US SPAIN* FRANCE NORWAY
1981. Earliest data is from 1990.

324

SEXUALITY IS AS MUCH
ABOUT BELIEFS AND
IDEOLOGIES AS ABOUT
THE PHYSICAL BODY

JEFFREY WEEKS (1945– )

IN CONTEXT J effrey Weeks, arguably the Inspired by the work of British
most influential British sociologist Mary McIntosh, he
FOCUS writer on sexuality, offers a argues that industrialization and
The social construction detailed historical account of how urbanization consolidated gender
of sexuality sexuality has been shaped and divisions and increased the stigma
regulated by society. He sees of male same-sex relations.
KEY DATES sexuality not so much as rooted in
1885 The Criminal Law the body, but as a social construct Weeks examines how Victorian
Amendment Act is passed that is ideologically determined. society used the new “sciences” of
in the UK, recriminalizing psychology and sexology (the study
male homosexuality and
strengthening the laws Sexology Marriage is The law
against prostitution. invents promoted regulates
the categories as necessary for sexuality
1968 An essay by British “homosexual” a healthy and by deciding who
sociologist Mary McIntosh, stable society. can do what.
“The Homosexual Role,” and
helps promote the view “heterosexual.”
that sexuality is socially
not biologically determined. Homosexuality is constructed as abnormal;
heterosexuality is constructed as normal.
1976 The History of
Sexuality: Volume I, by Sexuality is as much about beliefs and
French philosopher Michel ideologies as about the physical body.
Foucault, examines the
role of “experts” in the
classification of sexuality.

2002 Same-sex couples
are legally entitled to adopt
in the UK.

2014 Same-sex marriage
is legalized in the UK.

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 325

See also: Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■ Margaret Mead 298–99 ■ Jeffrey Weeks
Michel Foucault 302–03 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Steven Seidman 326–31
The social historian Jeffrey
heralded as the norm and essential Weeks was born in Rhondda,
for society, “homosexuality,” Weeks Wales, UK, in 1945. His
says, was invented. Acts that work has been influenced
might be homosexual had been by his early participation as
criminalized previously, but for the a gay rights’ activist in the
first time in history, sexologists Gay Liberation Front (GLF).
identified a new type of people:
“homosexuals” (the category Weeks was a founding
“heterosexuality” was invented member and editor of the
soon after). Many of the studies on journal Gay Left, and his work
sexuality were influenced by the continues to be informed by
teachings of the Christian Church. ideas from lesbian and gay
politics, socialism, and
Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted Sexuality as social control feminism. He has published
in the late 19th century of “gross Male homosexuality was viewed as over 20 books and numerous
indecency” with other men. The trials a perversion and, increasingly, as a articles on sexuality and
of the Irish writer helped construct social problem, leading to tighter intimate life, and is currently
homosexuality as a social problem. legal and social control. The 1885 a research professor at the
Criminal Law Amendment Act, for eponymous Weeks Centre
of sexuality that claimed to be a example, broadened and redefined for Social and Policy Research
science but was often undertaken the legal definition of homosexual at South Bank University in
by wealthy amateurs) to pass acts. This construction of London, England. In 2012, he
sentence on homosexuals. homosexuality as abnormal, along was awarded an OBE for his
with essentialist ideas of femininity services to social science.
The growing interest in and masculinity, served to support
classifying sexuality assumed that the belief that heterosexuality was Key texts
women were naturally sexually normal and the only legitimate form
passive and men were naturally of sexual behavior. 1977 Coming Out: Homosexual
active, without having any Politics in Britain
evidence for such assumptions. It is possible, Weeks suggests, 1989 Sex, Politics, and Society
Anything contrary to these to see this defining of sexuality as 2001 Same Sex Intimacies:
“essentialist” views (that sexuality both a social construction and a Families of Choice and Other
reflects biology) was often form of social control. The law can Life Experiments
considered abnormal. The new decide who is allowed to marry,
sciences thus firmly upheld adopt children, have sex, and at Social processes construct
existing patriarchal ideas. what age. Religion can instruct subjectivities not just as
society that any sex that does not categories but at the level of
Weeks observes that there was lead to procreation is sinful.
an increasing tendency to view individual desires.
the institution of marriage as But cultural ideals about who Jeffrey Weeks
essential to the maintenance of should have sex, and who should
a stable, “healthy” society. There not, can have a significant negative
was also, therefore, a concern to impact. There has, for example,
regulate men’s “natural” lustfulness been a notable rise in sexually
by steering them toward marriage. transmitted diseases among the
At the same time marriage was over-50s in the UK and the US
because ideas that sex between
older people is, among other things,
distasteful, has led to fewer older
people seeking medical care. ■

QUEER THEORY

QUESTIONS THE

VERY GROUNDS OF

IDENTITY

STEVEN SEIDMAN (1950– )



328 STEVEN SEIDMAN Queer theory argues that...

IN CONTEXT ...sexuality is ...there is ...few “men”
a social no original or “women” fit
FOCUS on which gender neatly into the
Queer theory construct. binary sex
is based.
KEY DATES system.
1976 Michel Foucault’s work
The History of Sexuality. There is no such thing as “normal” sexuality.
Volume I: An Introduction
traces the social construction Queer theory questions the
of sexuality; he sees sexual very grounds of identity.
identities emerging through
history and produced by
power, and thus not based
on nature or biology.

1987 ACT UP (AIDS Coalition
to Unleash Power) forms in
New York as a response to
homophobic AIDS campaigns.

1990 In Gender Trouble,
Judith Butler argues that
gender is socially constructed
and produced from actions
and behaviors that are
constantly repeated.

1998 US academic Judith
(“Jack”) Halberstam examines
masculinity without men in
Female Masculinity.

I n the early 1980s, the AIDS includes any category that debunks categories, believing that the
crisis was wrongly identified the heterosexual male–female differences within categories such
in the public mind as an “natural” model—not just gays as “woman” or “gay” undermine
epidemic that mainly affected gay and lesbians, but transgendered their usefulness. Queer theory,
men. The resultant health panic people, cross-dressers, and others, like some feminist theory, was
and growth of homophobia made including heterosexuals who reject also initially critical of the lesbian
the lesbian and gay community the “norm.” and gay communities, which were
feel isolated and marginalized. seen as assimilationist—seeking
Queer theory and its political to enter the mainstream by
Politically activist gay men and approach has grown out of feminist campaigning for things such as
lesbians responded by originating and lesbian and gay theory. marriage rights.
“queer” politics and theory, trying Influenced by Michel Foucault
to deprive the term “queer” of its and Judith Butler, the key queer Constructed sexuality
derogatory power. As a reverse theorists, such as Eve Kosofsky Steven Seidman is an important
affirmation of a pejorative word, Sedgwick, Gayle Rubin, and Steven figure in the history of queer
“queer” is still a contentious term Seidman, have disrupted traditional thinking due to his interpretation
for some. In its widest sense it unitary identity—or social—

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 329

See also: Judith Butler 56–61 ■ R.W. Connell 88–89 ■ Michel Foucault 302–03 ■ Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■
Christine Delphy 312–17 ■ Jeffrey Weeks 324–25

and critique of other queer many of the social inequalities that Let’s declare war against
theorists. Seidman argues, like persist, such as the divisions the center, against all
Foucault and British sociologist between men and women. centers, all authorities
Jeffrey Weeks, that sexuality is
“constructed.” Industrialization Questions of identity in the name of difference.
and urbanization, which gendered Because queer theorists such as Steven Seidman
social space by creating the public Seidman regard identity as socially
male world of work and the private constructed, it is considered middle class (and men, in the case
female world of the home, produced unstable and lacking coherence; of lesbian and gay politics). At
significant changes in how we even something seemingly times, such groups also took
understand masculinity and as stable as biological sex is essentialist approaches to identity,
femininity, and the regulation of questioned. Few individuals fit meaning that they saw identities
sexuality. Many of the qualities of neatly into the categories “man” as rooted in biology and therefore
gender and sexuality that we now or “woman”—when tested on natural or normal. As Butler argues,
see as natural (“heteronormative” chromosomes, hormones, genes, in this context the marginalized
means heterosexuality deemed to or anatomy most will fit somewhere identities themselves, by producing
be the normal sexual orientation) on a continuum. Some men may fixed meanings, become complicit
were established at this time, such look very masculine but have high in reaffirming the binary regimes.
as women being seen as nurturing levels of “female” hormones, or a Seidman argues that queer theory
and caring, men being regarded as micropenis, while some women provides a necessary challenge
sexually active, and homosexuality may be very tall or hairy, which to the normative gay and lesbian
being viewed as a perversion. are qualities we are encouraged politics because these sexual
to view as masculine. identities reproduce the processes
Seidman suggests that up until of power they seek to challenge.
the late 20th century, the study of When babies are born with
sexuality can be seen as a history ambiguous sex, surgeons have Challenging the norm
of homosexuality. To the sciences often intervened, removing a boy’s In his influential text The Trouble
of the 19th century, as well as to small penis and suggesting that he with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the
sexology and Freudian psychology, be brought up a girl: a paradoxical Ethics of Queer Life (1999), Michael
heterosexuality was normal and not response that is at one and Warner argues that the concept of
in need of examination. In effect, the same time essentialist, by “queer” is not just about resisting
this moment in history established assuming that a characteristic of the norm but challenging the very
“real” men is that they have large idea of normal behavior. Because
In India, the Supreme Court in penises, and social constructionist, “queer” is about attitude rather
2014 upheld the right of transgender by implying that identity is really than identity, anyone who
individuals, an ancient group called a matter of social conditioning. challenges the norm or the
hijra, to self-identify their sex, thereby By challenging the idea of unitary expected can be ”queer”—for
creating a third gender status in law. identity, such as straight, and instance, couples who decide
rejecting binary ways of thinking, not to have children. ❯❯
such as man/woman, Seidman is
fundamentally critiquing identity-
based theory and politics.

Feminism and the lesbian and
gay movements emerged as forms
of identity politics to challenge
patriarchal and heteronormative
society. However, critics argued
that these movements were
promptly dominated by the white

330 STEVEN SEIDMAN

Seidman, in Difference Troubles: His aim is to challenge all norms Queer is by definition
Queering Social Theory and Sexual by recognizing difference and whatever is at odds with
Politics (1997), while acknowledging having “an affirmative politics of the normal, the legitimate,
the important contribution that difference” rather than an “illiberal
queer theory has made to modern kind of identity politics,” such that the dominant.
politics and culture, explores the “difference and democracy might David Halperin
difficulties that can arise for those coexist.” Seidman insists that
who champion the politics of queer theorists must, just as US academic (1952– )
difference. How do social thinkers other social thinkers do, take into
conceptualize differences, such as account other forms of social theory refers to gay men, lesbians,
sexuality or race, without falling and continue to critique key social bisexuals, and transgender people.
into the trap of reducing them to institutions and examine how In essence, “queer” can be seen
inferior status? people live their lives. as a new label for an old concept.
In this way it has been used to
His pragmatic response is There are many criticisms of the unify many diverse categories of
to argue for what he calls a “less “queer” concept and its theoretical people and has been accused of
repressive view of difference”—a approach. Although it argues ignoring important differences
social postmodernism in which against the concept of identity, and inequalities.
“queer” is a verb, describing it has nevertheless become an
actions, and no longer a noun. umbrella term that particularly

Groups asserting self-identification sexuality have in recent years
challenged the assumption that male–female heterosexuality is the normal
sexual orientation. The symbols below are just a few of the many now used
to declare to the mainstream that different sexual identities exist.

Self-identification symbols

Symbol Orientation Inspiration A flawed approach?
Because queer theorists such as
Female couple Paired mirror of Venus astrological and the American David Halperin have
alchemical signs, traditionally used to denote understood “queer” as a position
Male couple that can be taken by anyone who
an organism of female gender. feels they have been marginalized
An intersex or due to their sexual preferences,
genderless person Paired shield and spear of Mars astrological Australian academic Elizabeth
and alchemical signs, traditionally used to Grosz warns that it could be used
A transgender to validate ethically questionable
person denote an organism of male gender. practices, such as those by
“sadists, pederasts... pimps.”
A bisexual The circle element of the Venus
person and Mars signs, without the Queer theory has been accused
gender-defining additions. of focusing on sexuality to the
exclusion of other categories: when
A combination of the male Warner argues that pornography is
and female gender signs. “queer” because—as a result of its
uninhibited enactments of sexual
The double-moon symbol is widely used in fantasies—it is the opposite of
northern Europe, in preference to a “reclaimed” “normal,” he ignores the ways in
Nazi-era pink triangle used in some countries. which the use of women in much
pornography relies on assumptions
of “normal” masculinity. In Queer
Race, South African academic Ian

FAMILIES AND INTIMACIES 331

Barnard contends that queer approach also yields a great “Queer” interpretations have now
theory has created a whitewashed, deal when applied to novels and been given to many films. In Alien
Western version of “queer” that films. He argues that the goal of Resurrection, Ellen Ripley—part
ignores race. British historian contemporary literary criticism has human, part alien—has a potentially
Jeffrey Weeks has accused it of been to deconstruct the binaries erotic liaison with a female android.
ignoring the material constraints, present in much literature—and
such as a lack of money, that mean “queer” makes this possible. romantic friendship between
the decision to be transgressive is Holmes and Watson; the cross-
not available to all. It could, then, For those whose sexualities are dressing in Shakespeare’s plays
be argued that queer theory has marginalized and who often find can also be given a “queer”
become a white, middle-class, gay that their representations are interpretation; and films in the
male position. limited, a “queer” reading that Alien series are open to a new twist
reinterprets the narrative opens on the “predatory female” trope.
Queer theory also claimed to be up possibilities that the author or “Queer” has also filtered into TV
the first social theory to challenge creator may not have foreseen—for shows such as the US reality series
the sex/gender distinction. But example: Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. ■
as British sociologist Diane Holmes novels can suggest a
Richardson points out, this claim is
exaggerated: radical feminists such
as Christine Delphy, author of The
Main Enemy (1970), had begun this
task as early as the 1970s.

Despite such criticisms, queer
theory has influenced a range of
academic areas, particularly in
studies of masculinity. For example,
the work of US academic Judith
Halberstam has been lent a “queer”
bent by arguing that if we want
to understand masculinity it is
important to consider marginalized
or subordinate forms such as
female masculinity. Seidman
contends that a queer theory

US drag king Murray Hill (shown Female masculinity understood as “queer,” argues
here) is described by Halberstam that there has been a tendency
as “transforming masculinity and Judith (“Jack”) Halberstam argues to lump all gender-“queer”
exposing its theatricality.” that masculinity can exist without women under the umbrella term
men, and challenges the ways lesbian; but words like “lesbian”
in which “masculine” females, and “gay” are not sufficient
such as tomboys, are denigrated. to explain the broad array
Femaleness does not necessarily of erotic activity that is not
produce femininity; maleness does conventionally heterosexual.
not always lead to masculinity. Female maleness becomes a
gender rather than an imitation.
This idea poses a fundamental
challenge to the gender/sex “Drag kings” (women who
distinction whereby socially dress as men) highlight the
constructed gender (masculinity) ways in which male masculinity
is perceived as the natural is not based on an authentic
expression of biological sex (man). essence but is produced through
Halberstam, whose work is repeated everyday actions.

DIRECTO

RY

334

DIRECTORY

A lthough sociology was recognized only relatively recently as
a social science, its roots go back to the ancient philosophers,
such as Plato, who reflected on the “ideal” society. Its main
themes have long been of interest to rulers, who had much to gain from
understanding the ways in which people form large groups (societies), and
how they distribute information, cultural values, wealth, and power. Social
reformers realized that such theories could be used to change society, and
their voices became ever louder as sociology came of age as a “science.”
Leaders in the field have been described already in the main part of
the book; this section includes other thinkers who have also made key
contributions to the discipline and to our understanding of social life.

HERBERT SPENCER the basis for the sociological theory and Ernst Bloch at the Frankfurter
of “socialization.” Zeitung newspaper as film
1820–1903 See also: G.H. Mead 176–77 ■ and literature editor and began
Erving Goffman 190–95 analyzing society’s cultural
British sociologist and philosopher artifacts, from advertising to
Herbert Spencer was one of the ROBERT E. PARK films. In 1933, he fled from the
earliest evolutionary theorists. He Nazi threat, first to Paris and then
coined the phrase “the survival 1864–1944 the US. Kracauer was a major
of the fittest,” and suggested influence on Theodor W. Adorno.
that societies follow the same Robert E. Park, a US sociologist, See also: Walter Benjamin 334 ■
evolutionary principles as the is widely recognized for his work on Theodor W. Adorno 335
human body: they change naturally, collective behavior, race relations,
evolving from simple states to and “human ecology” (the idea that WALTER BENJAMIN
highly complex forms, and only humans function similarly to plants
the stronger societies survive and animals). His approach to 1892–1940
and grow. This view became urban sociology—treating the city
known as “social Darwinism.” as a “research laboratory”—was a Born in Berlin, Walter Benjamin
See also: Harriet Martineau 26–27 hallmark of what became known became a well-known cultural
■ Karl Marx 28–31 as the Chicago School of sociology. theorist. He was awarded a PhD
See also: Georg Simmel 104–05 ■ in literature from the University
CHARLES H. COOLEY G.H. Mead 176–77 of Berne, Switzerland, in 1919. He
returned to Germany, but fled from
1864–1929 SIEGFRIED KRACAUER the Nazis in 1933. While in exile,
he contributed articles on art and
Charles Horton Cooley, from 1889–1966 culture to the Institute for Social
Michigan, developed the theory of Research in Frankfurt. In 1939 he
the “looking-glass self,” which Born in Frankfurt, Germany, was interned in a camp in France,
claims that our sense of identity Siegfried Kracauer is best known and after his release tried to flee to
develops mainly from a sense of for his theories on modern culture Spain across the Pyrenees. When
how we are perceived by others, and his idea that technology refused entry, he took his own life.
and therefore through social threatens to supersede memory. See also: Jürgen Habermas
interactions. The concept formed Kracauer joined Walter Benjamin 286–87 ■ Siegfried Kracauer 334

DIRECTORY 335

KARL MANNHEIM Husserl. In 1938 he moved to Paris, He was reunited with it in the US
and then to New York. Following and helped it to become a leading
1893–1947 Husserl’s phenomenological voice against US capitalism’s
approach, which examines how the “illusory” pleasures. In 1949, the
Karl Mannheim cofounded the world is experienced in a person’s institute and Adorno returned
sociology of knowledge, which subjective consciousness, Schütz to (West) Germany. Adorno spent
looks at the processes involved set out the basis for the new field his retirement in Switzerland.
in “knowing” the world. He claimed of phenomenological sociology, See also: Herbert Marcuse
that we “see” the world through the which focuses on the nature of 182–87 ■ Jürgen Habermas 286–87
lenses of our culture and ideologies, social reality. ■ Siegfried Kracauer 334 ■ Walter
and as a function of our position See also: Max Weber 38–45 ■ Benjamin 334
in society; “truth” is relative and Peter L. Berger 336
depends on subject-positions. ANSELM L. STRAUSS
Hungarian-born, Mannheim HERBERT BLUMER
studied under Georg Simmel in 1916–1996
Berlin, Germany. In 1933 he joined 1900–1987
the London School of Economics. US sociologist Anselm L. Strauss
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Herbert Blumer gained his PhD developed, with Barney Glasser,
Max Weber 38–45 ■ Georg Simmel in sociology at the University of an innovative method of qualitative
104–05 ■ Norbert Elias 180–81 Chicago, where he taught for analysis known as “grounded
27 years. In 1952, he became theory,” which sought to build a
BARBARA ADAM WOOTTON the first chair in sociology at the theory from research, rather than
University of California, Berkeley. In find research to prove a theory.
1897–1988 Symbolic Interactionism (1969), his Strauss studied at the University
best-known work, he suggested of Chicago under Herbert Blumer,
Sociologist Barbara Adam Wootton that individual and collective then later wrote Social Psychology
is best known for her work Crime actions reflect the meaning that (1949) with Alfred R. Lindesmith.
and the Criminal Law (1963), which people place on things, and these He became part of the “Second
reversed commonly accepted views meanings arise from within the Chicago School,” with Howard S.
about “the criminal personality.” context of human group life. Becker and Erving Goffman.
She studied economics at the See also: G.H. Mead 176–77 ■ See also: Erving Goffman 264–69
University of Cambridge, UK, in Howard S. Becker 280–85 ■ ■ Howard S. Becker 280–85 ■
1919, and for an MA in 1920, but Charles H. Cooley 334 Herbert Blumer 335
as women then were not formally
recognized as students, she was THEODOR W. ADORNO LOUIS ALTHUSSER
not awarded the degrees. She later
taught sociology at the universities 1903–1969 1918–1990
of London and Bedford.
See also: Sylvia Walby 96–99 ■ Theodor W. Adorno was a proponent French Marxist philosopher Louis
Ann Oakley 318–19 of neo-Marxist “critical theory.” Althusser was a major figure of
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, he the structuralist movement of the
ALFRED SCHÜTZ studied under Siegfried Kracauer 1960s, a philosophy that analyzed
and received a PhD in philosophy society through the study of signs
1899–1959 from the University of Frankfurt in (semiotics). His reinterpretation
1924. In 1931 he cofounded the of Marx pointed to the role of
Alfred Schütz gained a PhD in the Institute for Social Research (also “ideological state apparatuses” that
philosophy of law at the University known as the Frankfurt School) underlie and perpetuate particular
of Vienna, Austria, and became with Max Horkheimer, but with the ideologies. Born in Algeria, he
interested in the work of Max rise of Nazism he moved to the UK, moved to France in 1930. He spent
Weber and the philosopher Edmund while the institute moved abroad. most of World War II in a prison

336 DIRECTORY

camp in Germany, and began to the dominant male standpoint. and went on to study sociology at
suffer the psychological problems Smith studied sociology at the the London School of Economics.
that would afflict him for the rest of London School of Economics and Lockwood taught at Cambridge
his life. In 1945 he began studying in 1955 studied at the University of and Essex universities. In
philosophy at the prestigious l’École California, Berkeley. She later 1998 he was honored for his
Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris. taught one of the first courses in contributions to sociology and
He received great acclaim for his women’s studies at the University made a Commander of the Order
essays and books, despite writing of British Columbia. of the British Empire (CBE).
them between hospitalizations. In See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■
1980, he murdered his wife and Alfred Schütz 335 Émile Durkheim 34–37
died, aged 72, in a mental hospital.
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ ROBERT N. BELLAH PETER L. BERGER
Antonio Gramsci 178–79
1927–2013 1929–
PABLO GONZÁLEZ
CASANOVA US sociologist Robert Neelly Bellah Born in Austria, Peter Ludwig
is arguably the leading sociologist Berger is best known for his
1922– of religion in the 20th century. He idea that “reality” is constructed
first won acclaim with the essay through a kind of social consensus,
Pablo González Casanova is a “Civil Religion in America,” which as explained in his book, The Social
Mexican historian and sociologist examined the political use of Construction of Reality (1966),
who wrote a groundbreaking 1965 religious symbolism. Born in written with Thomas Luckmann.
article, “Internal Colonialism and Oklahoma, Bellah graduated in Berger emigrated to the US at the
National Development.” The idea social anthropology from Harvard age of 17 and received an MA and
of a “nation within a nation” was University, staying there to gain PhD in sociology from the New
first raised by W.E.B. Dubois in the a PhD under the mentorship of School for Social Research, New
1930s, but Casanova revealed the Talcott Parsons. After spending York. He became professor of
structural underpinnings of the two years studying Islamic studies sociology and theology at Boston
idea in practice. His in-depth at McGill University, Montreal, University, and in 1985 director
analysis of the political and social Canada, he returned to Harvard to of Boston’s Institute for the Study
structures of Mexico have provided teach. In 1967 he became professor of Economic Culture, which
insights into developing countries of sociology at the University of examines the relationships
in general. In 2003 his work was California, Berkeley. between economic development
recognized by UNESCO, when See also: Bryan Wilson 278–79 ■ and sociocultural change.
it awarded him the prestigious Jürgen Habermas 286–87 ■ Talcott See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■
International José Martí Prize. Parsons 300–01 Karl Mannheim 335 ■ Alfred
See also: W.E.B. Dubois 68–73 ■ Schütz 335
David McCrone 163 DAVID LOCKWOOD
FERNANDO HENRIQUE
DOROTHY E. SMITH 1929–2014 CARDOSO

1926– British sociologist David Lockwood 1931–
was an influential figure in the
Dorothy E Smith is from Yorkshire, theory of class stratification. His In 1986, Fernando Cardoso became
UK. She developed “a sociology father died when he was 10, and senator for São Paulo, Brazil, and
for women” that adopted a his mother struggled financially, in 1995 and 1998 he was elected
phenomenological viewpoint, which forced him to leave school as the country’s president. He is
using the subjective, everyday at an early age to start work. While acclaimed for bringing economic
experience of lives, rather than doing National Service in the stability and social reforms to
the intellectual theories from armed forces he discovered Marx, Brazil. Cardoso studied sociology

DIRECTORY 337

at the University of São Paulo, layer structure now used in Europe, economists, sociologists, and
becoming a professor there in 1958. Australasia, and North America. psychologists. He has taught in the
His left-wing articles made him He is a critic of the concepts of UK, US, and France. In 1995 he
popular with the public, but they “cultural capital” and “habitus,” became the first Robert K. Merton
antagonized the military regime, especially as formulated by Pierre Professor of the Social Sciences at
which forced him into exile in Bourdieu. He was a fellow of Oxford Columbia University in New York.
1964. He taught at universities University from 1969 to 2002 and See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Max
in Latin America, Europe, and holds a US visiting professorship Weber 38–45 ■ Talcott Parsons
the US before returning to Brazil. at Cornell University. 300–01
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ See also: Max Weber 38–45 ■
Immanuel Wallerstein 144–45 Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 JULIA KRISTEVA

CHRISTOPHER LASCH MICHAEL LÖWY 1941–

1932–1994 1938– Julia Kristeva was born in Bulgaria.
Her writings on linguistics,
The US political theorist and The French-Brazilian sociologist semiotics, psychoanalysis, and
historian Christopher Lasch was an and professor Michael Löwy grew feminism have received worldwide
only child of left-wing intellectuals. up in São Paulo, Brazil, in a family acclaim. After graduating from
He graduated from Harvard of immigrants from Austria. He is university in Sofia, she gained
University in 1954 and took an MA best known for developing Georg a scholarship to study in Paris.
in history at Columbia. While on a Lukács’ idea of “romantic anti- She became part of the left-wing
sabbatical in the UK, he wrote The capitalism,” which seeks to disrupt intellectual group associated with
New Radicalism in America (1965). capitalism not through socialism, St. Germain (the Parisian “Left
It portrayed intellectuals as self- but by a return to a pre-industrial Bank”), and her study of language
indulgent strivers, who professed to past and way of thinking. Löwy and linguistics was heavily
offer guidance, but were really was politicized by reading the influenced by the work of
interested in status and power. An Marxist theorist Rosa Luxemberg, contemporaries such as Michel
iconoclast who tried to disrupt and studied sociology at the Foucault and Roland Barthes.
consensus thinking, his work University of São Paulo under She became a psychoanalyst,
included strong critiques of Fernando Cardoso and Antonio and increasingly interested in
democratic citizenship, elite Candido. He gained a PhD from the nature of the relationship
groups, consumerism, mass the Sorbonne, France, focusing between language and the body.
culture, US institutions, and the on Marxist theory. See also: Michel Foucault 52–55;
idea that Western societies are See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ 302–03 ■ Elizabeth Grosz 339
making some kind of “progress.” Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Walter
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Benjamin 334 NANCY CHODOROW
Jürgen Habermas 286–87 ■
Theodor W. Adorno 335 JON ELSTER 1944–

JOHN GOLDTHORPE 1940– Born in New York, Nancy
Chodorow is a leading theorist
1935– Norweigan sociologist Jon Elster in feminist thought. She studied
focuses on rational-choice theory— anthropology at Radcliffe College,
John Goldthorpe was born in the idea that people make decisions Massachusetts, then trained as a
Yorkshire, UK, and attended the based on rational considerations psychoanalyst in San Francisco.
London School of Economics. An of fact (although his later work In 1975, she received a PhD in
expert in social mobility and class reveals his disenchantment with sociology from Brandeis University,
stratification, he invented the the power of reason). Elster’s ideas Boston. Using an interdisciplinary
Goldthorpe Class Scheme, a seven- have influenced governments, approach, she formulated a

338 DIRECTORY

psychoanalytic theory of feminism Union, the first such group in the globalization and religion,
that opened up the field of feminist US. She wrote the influential book religious authority and electronic
psychology. She teaches at the The Dialectic of Sex: A Case for information, religious consumerism
University of California at Berkeley. Feminist Revolution (1970), arguing and youth cultures, and human
See also: Harriet Martineau that women are an oppressed class, rights and religion. In The Body
26–27 ■ Judith Butler 56–61 ■ and gender inequality is ultimately & Society (1984; 2008), he argues
Erich Fromm 188 dictated by biology. Echoing Marx, that the body, not abstract ideas
she felt the answer was for women such as class, should be the focus
DONNA HARAWAY to seize control of the means of of sociological analysis.
human reproduction (made possible See also: Edward Said 80–81 ■
1944– by new forms of contraception). Max Weber 220–23
She subsequently produced only
“Technoscience” expert Donna one book, but her impact on BRUNO LATOUR
Haraway, from Colorado, studied feminism remained undiminished.
evolutionary philosophy and See also: Harriet Martineau 26–27 1947–
theology in Paris, before returning ■ Karl Marx 28–31
to the US to take a triple major in Bruno Latour was born in
zoology, philosophy, and literature. WALDEN BELLO Burgundy, France, and trained as
Her PhD in biology at Yale a philosopher, then anthropologist.
examined the use of metaphor in 1945– In the 1980s, along with Michel
shaping experiments—she sees Callon and John Law, he developed
biology as part of politics, religion, Walden Bello was born in Manila, “actor–network theory” (ANT)—
and culture. Professor emerita the Philippines, and became a the idea that knowledge does not
in the History of Consciousness political activist in the 1970s, depend on a “truth” waiting to be
department at the University of following the declaration of martial found, but is gained by analyzing
California, Santa Cruz, Haraway law by Ferdinand Marcos. Bello’s the interaction between actors
is the leading authority on the official roles have included a and networks, where the “actors”
now-intimate relationship between professorship in sociology at involved in creating meaning are
people and technology. Her essay universities in the Philippines, the both physical and symbolic. Latour
“A Cyborg Manifesto” suggests US, and Canada; Chairperson is professor at Sciences Po, Paris.
that people are already part-human, of the board of Greenpeace South See also: Harold Garfinkel 50–51 ■
part-machine, and that this blend Asia; and Member of the Philippine Michel Foucault 302–03 ■
allows women to reconstruct House of Representatives. Bello Donna Haraway 338
themselves anew, in an age of is a leading critic of globalization.
“cyborg feminism.” See also: Robert N. Bellah 336 ■ THEDA SKOCPOL
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Michael Löwy 337
Michel Foucault 52–55; 302–03 ■ 1947–
Bruno Latour 338 BRYAN S. TURNER
US sociologist and political theorist
SHULAMITH FIRESTONE 1945– Theda Skocpol is Victor S. Thomas
professor of government and
1945–2012 Born in Birmingham, UK, Bryan S. sociology at Harvard University.
Turner is a world authority on the Her research focuses on US social
Revolutionary feminist Shulamith sociology of religion. His first book, policy, health reform, and civic
Firestone was born in Ottawa, Weber and Islam (1974), is a classic. engagement in US democracy. She
Canada. She studied art at He became professor of sociology began her career studying
Washington University, St. Louis, at the University of Cambridge in the French, Russian, and Chinese
and then at the Art Institute of 1998, and has held professorships revolutions, and in the 1970s she
Chicago, where she became part in Australia, the Netherlands, and became the main advocate of state
of the Chicago Women’s Liberation the US. His interests include autonomy theory. As a result, she is

DIRECTORY 339

credited with the creation of a new of women’s studies at Duke nothing essential actually changes.
paradigm, in which institutions University, Durham, North Rosa is professor of general and
(including the state) are seen Carolina. Her best-known work is theoretical sociology at Friedrich
as structuring political life and Becoming Undone (2011), Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
embodying ideas, and therefore in which she outlines a feminist See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Max
open to causal analysis. Her 1992 theory of postmodern Darwinism. Weber 38–45 ■ Jürgen Habermas
book, Protecting Soldiers and See also: Michel Foucault 52–55; 286–87
Mothers: The Political Origins 302–03 ■ Julia Kristeva 337
of Social Policy in the United TOM SHAKESPEARE
States, won five major awards. TARIQ MODOOD
See also: Max Weber 38–45 ■ 1966–
David McCrone 163 ■ Arjun 1952–
Appadurai 166–69 Tom Shakespeare studied at the
Tariq Modood was born in Karachi, University of Cambridge before
ANGELA MCROBBIE Pakistan, but raised in the UK. spending five years working for the
After studies at Durham and World Health Organization (WHO)
1951– Swansea universities, in 1997 he in Geneva, Switzerland. A medical
became founding director of the sociologist who is disabled himself,
Cultural theorist Angela McRobbie Centre for Study of Ethnicity and he is an important voice in the
is a professor at Goldsmiths Citizenship at the University of sociology of difference. He is
College, London, UK. She claims Bristol, UK. Also a professor of interested in the ethical aspects
that in the 1990s there was a sociology, politics, and public policy of genetics and disability studies,
backlash against feminism, despite at Bristol, he is an expert on racism, particularly in the areas of sexual
a general consensus that gender multiculturalism, and secularism. politics and human rights. Now a
equality had been achieved. In He argues that contemporary lecturer in medical sociology at the
her 2009 book, The Aftermath of Muslim assertiveness is inspired University of East Anglia, UK, he
Feminism, she draws on the work of by identity politics, rather than claims that people “are disabled
Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens theological demands. Modood by society and by their bodies.”
to argue “female individualization” is the cofounding editor of the See also: G.H. Mead 176–77 ■
is a post-feminist masquerade that international journal Ethnicities. Erving Goffman 190–95 ■ Howard
reinforces masculine hegemony. See also: Stuart Hall 200–01 ■ S. Becker 280–85
See also: Anthony Giddens Bryan S. Turner 338
148–49 ■ Stuart Hall 200–01 ■ BEVERLEY SKEGGS
Beverley Skeggs 339 HARTMUT ROSA
Beverley Skeggs studied sociology
ELIZABETH GROSZ 1965– at the universities of York and
Keele, before becoming Director
1952– German sociologist Hartmut Rosa of women’s studies at Lancaster
is best known for his theory of University (with Celia Lury). In
Cultural and feminist theorist “social acceleration,” the title of his Formations of Class & Gender
Elizabeth Grosz was born in 2013 book. The theory suggests (1997), she argues that class should
Sydney, Australia, where she that not only is society accelerating feature prominently in theories
studied philosophy. Influenced by in three ways (technological of gender, identity, and power.
post-structuralist thinkers such innovation, societal change, and Skeggs is a professor of sociology
as French philosopher Jacques the pace of life), it also has zones of at Goldsmiths College, London.
Derrida, her work focuses on deceleration, in which large groups See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■
gender studies (particularly sexual of people may be left behind. He Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Ann
difference), female sexuality, and also claims that the world is at a Oakley 318–19
the nature of time from a feminist point of “frenetic standstill” where
perspective. She is professor nothing remains as it is, while

340

GLOSSARY

Agency Within sociology, self- production, in which firms various goods and services define
determination or free will. compete to sell goods at a profit the era. The term also refers to a
and workers labor for a wage. perception that individuals desire
Alienation As identified by Karl goods to construct self-identity.
Marx, the condition of workers who Capitalists The social class of
feel estranged from themselves people that owns the means of Conspicuous consumption A
or society due to a lack of power, production in industrial societies. concept originated by Thorstein
control, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Veblen that describes members of
Marx attributed this to capitalist Chicago School Not to be a wealthy leisure class using luxury
society, where the means of confused with a free-market goods to display their status. See
production are privately owned. economic way of thinking, this also material culture.
The concept has been developed sociological school of thought
since the post-war era by various developed in the 1920s and 30s. Culture The languages, customs,
thinkers, including Robert Blauner. Although its interests were knowledge, beliefs, values, and
eclectic, it is often identified with norms that combine to make up
Anomie A state of confusion or the origin of urban sociology. the way of life of any society. May
“normlessness” resulting from rapid also refer to the arts (such as music,
social change. When the social Class conflict The tension that theatre, literature, and so on).
norms and values governing daily can arise between different social
conduct change suddenly, people classes as a result of competing Delinquency Minor crime
are liable to feel disorientated and socioeconomic interests. committed by a young person;
purposeless until a social order is the term can also describe behavior
re-established. See also deviant. Colonialism A phenomenon judged “unacceptable,” according
whereby one country exerts control to a society’s norms.
Bourgeoisie In Marxist theory over another, often exploiting it
(see Marxism), the social class economically. The term commonly Determinism The belief that a
of people that owns the industrial refers to the conquest, settlement, person’s behavior is determined by
means of production. and exploitation of parts of the some form of external force
world by European powers. (such as God, genetics, or the
Bureaucracy Defined by Max environment) so that genuinely
Weber as a system of organization Communism An economic free choice is not possible. See also
that is characterized by a hierarchy system based on collective economic determinism.
of rule-bound officials who keep ownership of property and the
detailed records of every action. means of production. Deviant A behavior or type of
person deemed “rule-breaking” in
Capital Financial assets (such as Construct, social A concept or terms of the norms of a particular
machinery) or the value of financial perception created in society. society or social group.
assets (cash) used to produce an
income. One of the key ingredients Consumer An individual who Discourse In general use,
of economic activity, along with buys goods or services for personal communication in speech or
land, labor, and enterprise. use or consumption. writing; in sociological use, a
framework or system of ideas that
Capitalism An economic system Consumerism The state of an provides a perspective on life and
based on the private ownership advanced capitalist society in governs the way in which it can
of property and the means of which the buying and selling of be discussed. Discourse imparts

GLOSSARY 341

a meaning to events, and varies in Ethnography The study of Gentrification A change in the
different eras, geographical areas, peoples and cultures. character of a run-down urban
and within social groups. community that is observable
Ethnology The comparative study through rising property prices and
Domestic labor Unpaid work of the differences between peoples an influx of wealthier individuals.
in the home, such as cooking, and cultures.
cleaning, childcare, and looking Globalization The increasing
after the sick and elderly. Feminism A social movement that interconnectedness and
advocates the social, political, and interdependence of societies
Economic determinism economic equality of the sexes. around the world, as media and
A materialistic view of history that Feminism is recognized as having culture, consumer goods, and
claims that economic forces cause had several “waves,” or eras, each economic interests spread globally.
all social phenomena and the with a different agenda of issues.
evolution of human society. Glocalization The modification of
Feudalism A dominant historical global forms—from fashion trends
Elite A small group of people who social system in which a warrior to musical genres—by contact with
hold a disproportionate amount of nobility was rewarded with land for local communities and individuals.
wealth and power in a society. providing military services to the
monarch, and then ruled over those Habitus Building on Thomas
Emotional labor As defined by lands, benefitting from labor and Aquinas’s idea that each of us
Arlie Hochschild, paid work that produce offered by vassals, or thinks of ourselves as a certain
requires an employee to display peasants, in return for protection. kind of person, Pierre Bourdieu’s
certain emotions with the aim concept refers to a set of acquired
of inducing particular responses. Frankfurt School A school of dispositions whereby people of a
interdisciplinary social theory, social class share cultural values.
Empirical evidence Evidence originally known as the Institute
that can be observed by the senses for Social Research, and affiliated Hegemonic masculinity A given
and measured in some way. to the University of Frankfurt. society’s ideal of manliness. In
The school fostered new Marxist Western nations, this is associated
Enlightenment, the A cultural thinking in the 20th century. with heterosexuality, “toughness,”
and intellectual movement in 17th- wealth, and the subordination of
and 18th-century Europe, which Functionalism In sociology, the women. The idea emphasizes that
fused ideas about God, rational idea that society is structured masculinity is an acquired identity.
thought, and nature into a world like a biological organism, with
view that prized logic and reason specialized functions. Every aspect Hegemony The winning and
over emotion and intuition. of this society is interdependent holding of power and the formation
and contributes to the overall of social groups during that
Essentialism The belief that functioning and stability. process. Antonio Gramsci says that
entities or people have inherent hegemony is how the dominant
characteristics, properties, or Gender The socially constructed, social class maintains its position.
“essences” that define who or what rather than biological, differences
they are. This idea leads to the between men and women. Heterosexuality An attraction
view that specific categories of toward people of the opposite sex.
people possess intrinsic traits. Gender identity The way that
individuals are seen, by themselves Homosexuality An attraction
Ethnicity The shared culture of and others, in terms of their toward people of the same sex.
a social group (such as language gender roles and biological sex.
or religious belief) that gives its Hyper-reality As defined by
members a common identity and Gender role The social behavior Baudrillard, the idea that there is no
differentiates it from others. expected from men and women. longer a separate “reality” to which

342 GLOSSARY

images and symbols refer, but Mass culture Products (books, Norms Social rules that define
instead a simulated version of TV shows, and so on) that are what is expected behavior
reality that seems more real created as entertainment for (“normal”) for an individual in
than anything that exists in sale to the general public. a particular society or situation.
the physical world.
Material culture The history and Nuclear family A two-generation
Iatrogenesis The danger that philosophy of objects; relationships household of parents and children—
arises from a medical system that between people and things. a prime agent of socialization.
harms more people than it heals.
Means of production The key Other, the A concept introduced
Identity The ways that individuals resources (such as land, factories, by Simone de Beauvoir to explain
see and define themselves, and raw materials, and machinery) how a group (men, in her example)
how other people define them. needed to produce society’s goods. sees itself as the norm, and judges
anyone outside the group (women)
Ideology A framework of ideas Mode of production A Marxist in terms of its own standards and
that provides a viewpoint or set concept about the way a society is attributes, rather than seeing that
of beliefs for a social group. organized to produce goods and group independently, with the
services; this includes the means attributes it actually has.
Industrial Revolution A stage of of production and the relations
development, originating in the UK among the labor force. Patriarchy A social stratification
in the 18th century, during which system in which men dominate,
the economy was transformed by Modernity The condition of exploit, and oppress women.
new forms of mechanization from society from the 17th century
a mainly agricultural economy to onward, especially the social Positivism Within sociology, the
an urban, industrialized one. change created by the Industrial idea, pioneered by Auguste Comte,
Revolution and urbanization. that it is possible to observe social
Interpretive The subjective life in a measurable, verifiable,
approach to examining society, Nation A body of people united scientific way and establish truths
which contrasts with the objective by culture, history, or language, about a society. This belief gave
and scientific positivist approach. and usually sharing a particular rise to the “positivist” opinion that
geographical area. science could build a better world.
Left-wing In the political
spectrum, the ideas of those who Nationalism A shared sense Postmodernism A perspective
favor reforming or socialist ideas. of identification that is attached that denies there can be a defining
to a nation and stems from “truth” about anything, instead
Marginalization The process by a commitment to a common suggesting that a text, person,
which a person or group of people is ideology and culture. or society can be deconstructed
pushed outside a powerful or ruling according to many different
group, with a consequent loss of Neo-liberalism Political and perspectives into many different
power, status, and influence. economic philosophies rooted in “truths.” By its nature, postmodern
a belief that free markets, limited social theory rejects being defined
Marxism A structural theory government, and the responses of and it is difficult to define.
of society developed by Karl Marx individuals provide better solutions
and Friedrich Engels that claims to problems than action by the Poverty Seebohm Rowntree
that history consists of epochs and state can. defined poverty as a state in which
that social change arises out of earnings are insufficient to provide
conflict between social classes— Neo-tribalism Short-lived, flexible, a person’s bare necessities, which
the owners of the means of and fluid groupings that people, in is a subsistence level of poverty.
production and the exploited a world of rapid change, seek out The term absolute poverty refers
working masses. to provide meaning in their lives. to a living standard based upon

GLOSSARY 343

providing basic wants such as Sexual orientation An Status The amount of prestige
food, housing, fuel, and clothing. In individual’s attraction toward or importance a person has in the
wealthier countries today, poverty people of a particular biological sex. eyes of other members of society.
is usually measured in relation to
the generally accepted standard Simulacra Images that have no Stereotype A widely held but
of living of the time, known as basis in reality yet appear to reflect overly simplified image of a person
relative poverty. Some definitions things in the physical world. or social group.
of poverty now take account of
factors, such as skills or health, that Social class A status hierarchy Stigma A mark of disgrace or
might produce social exclusion. within the social system, reflecting an undesirable characteristic,
power, wealth, education, and physical or social, that disqualifies
Proletariat In Marxist theory prestige. Although these classes an individual from being fully
(see Marxism), the social class vary by society, Western models accepted by society. The
of people who labor for a wage. generally recognize three broad marginalization of individuals
groups. The upper class is a small in society, because they evoke
Queer theory A cultural theory social group that has the highest negative responses from others,
that challenges binary notions of status and owns a disproportionate has been attributed to their having
sexuality and instead suggests that amount of society’s wealth. The assumed stigmatized identities,
sexualities are cultural constructs term middle class refers to well- which are demeaning in some way.
influenced by time and place. educated people who do non-
manual work, often in offices. Structuralism The idea that we
Racism Discriminating against Working class refers to people with must understand things—such as
people, typically identified by manual jobs, such as factory or a text, human mind, or society—by
skin color, on the basis of alleged agricultural work. examining the elements, or pattern
biological differences, when in fact of relationships, in its structure.
such biological differences have Social mobility The movement of
been proven by science not to exist. people or categories of people, such Subculture A group that is seen
as families, from one social class as a distinct and separate one
Right-wing In the political to another. within the larger society because
spectrum, the conservative ideas while its members may agree with
of those who favor traditional social Social networks The links most of a society’s values, beliefs,
arrangements and values. between individuals, families, and customs, they differ in others.
and groups with similar interests.
Roles The patterns of behavior that Symbolic interactionism The
are expected from individuals in Social structure The social theory that the self is an entity that
society. See also gender role. institutions and relationships that arises through social interactions.
form the framework of a society.
Secularization The process Urbanization The process of
whereby religion and its Socialism A political doctrine people moving from rural areas to
institutions lose social significance. that aims to establish social and live in towns and cities, and the
economic equality. Socialists argue social changes accompanying that.
Self-estrangement The sense that if the economy was under The world is increasingly urban.
of alienation from oneself, either the control of the majority of the
through a negative view of self or population, a more equitable social Values Ideas or beliefs about
a sense that one’s labor belongs structure would be created. the worth of a thing, process, or
to another person or organization. behavior. A person’s values govern
State An organized authority the way they behave; a society’s
Sexism Prejudice, discrimination, that has legitimate control over values dictate what is important
or stereotyping of people because a territory, and a monopoly of the or not important, and what is
of their male or female sex. use of force within its territory. acceptable or unacceptable.

344

INDEX

Main page references are in bold. Bellah, Robert N. 118, 207, 336 legitimation crisis 286–87
Bello, Walden 338 marriage as labor contract 316
A Benjamin, Walter 334 and Marxism 18, 107, 134, 145, 221,
Berger, Peter L. 278, 336
Adorno, Theodor W. 59, 139, 247, 287, Bernstein, Basil 292 307
335 Blauner, Robert 212, 213, 232–33 medieval 223
Blumer, Herbert 335 monopoly and de-skilling 226–31
Agnew, Robert 262 Bourdieu, Pierre 14, 65, 76–79, 195, neo-liberalism 277
Alexander, Jeffrey 175, 204–09 and patriarchy 98
alienation 40–45, 87, 122, 123, 155, 186, 208, 213, 219, 288, 289 and pecuniary emulation 218–19
Bowles, Samuel 253, 288–89 pre-industrial past, disruption by
213, 228–230, 232–33, 236, 239, Braverman, Harry 212, 213, 226–31,
242, 259, 293, 297 return to 337
and Marxism 155, 232, 238, 319 243 Protestant work ethic 41–42,
and religion 256, 257 Bryman, Alan 103, 126–27
of self 188 Burawoy, Michael 213, 231, 244–45 220–23, 258
Althusser, Louis 335–36 bureaucracy 40–45 pursuit of profit 221–22, 231
Anderson, Benedict 175, 202–03 rational modernity 38–45
Anderson, Elijah 65, 82–83 and political oligarchy 260 and religion see religion
anomie 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 188, 252, 253 Butler, Judith 19, 54, 56–61, 297, 317, and self-interest 21, 30–31
and strain theory 262–63 social class and de-skilling 230–31
Appadurai, Arjun 135, 166–69 329 workforce oppression 47
asabiyyah (solidarity) 20 world-system theory 144–45
Atkinson, Will 138 C see also consumerism; work and

B Calvin, John 222, 223 consumerism
Campbell, Colin 212, 213, 219, 223, Caraway, Teri Lynn 213, 248–49
Barthes, Roland 235 Cardoso, Fernando Henrique 336–37
Bates, Inge 293 234–35 Casanova, Pablo González 336
Baudrillard, Jean 126, 175, 189, capitalism 174–75 Castells, Manuel 135, 152–55
Chicago School 102, 104, 105, 128, 164,
196–99, 235 and alienation of self 188
Bauman, Zygmunt 105, 134, 136–43, and cognitive justice 150–51 334
commodities and value 198 Chodorow, Nancy 337–38
155, 222 and competition 33 Cicourel, Aaron 282
Beck, Ulrich and consumer desire 235 civic spirit 21
cultural hegemony 178–79 civilizing process 180–81
chaos of love 297, 320–23 and dehumanization 42–43 class
risk society 134, 135, 156–61 digital technology 152–55
Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth 297, emotional labor 236–43 class structure, leveling of 186–87
and gentrification 128–31 conflict 28–31
320–23 hierarchy 93 consciousness 30, 64
Becker, Howard S 252, 253, 280–85 historical materialism 29–31 and cultural hegemony 178–79
Bell, Daniel 212, 213, 224–25, 234 and individualism 21, 43–45, 94, cultural reproduction and education

321–22, 337 292–93
industrious and leisure classes and de-skilling 230–31
exploitation 66–67
216–17, 219 and feminism 95, 338
and gender 339
habitus 76–79
identification 181

INDEX 345

inequality 84–87 cultural hegemony 178–79 deviance
leisure, and capitalism 216–17, 219 cultural identity 200–01 labeling theory 282–83, 284
and Marxism 28–31, 64, 315, 316 cultural reproduction and education stigma 190–95
and pecuniary emulation 218–19 strain theory/anomie 262–63
and queer theory 331 292–93
stratification 336 cultural sociology 204–09 Disney 126–27, 199
see also culture and identity culture, independent nature of Disneyization 126–27
climate change 148–49 division of labor 13, 19, 33, 35–37, 102,
Cobb, Jonathan 64, 84, 87 207–08
cognitive justice 150–51 culture industry 182–87 212, 238, 243, 248, 293, 300, 301
Cohen, Stanley 253, 266, 290 culture and reality, lack of gap domestic violence 98–99
colonialism 94, 95 Du Bois, W.E.B. 64, 65, 68–73, 82
and Orientalism 80–81 between 186–87 Dunne, Gillian 311
and world-system theory 144–45 culture and social order 174–75 Durkheim, Émile 13, 19, 24, 31, 33,
communication systems 110–11, development of self 176–77
emotional labor 236–43 34–37, 44, 77, 102, 206, 207, 209,
152–55 “false needs,” government imposition 220, 252, 253, 262
communitarianism 112–19
community 12, 13, 20, 21, 108–09, of 185–86 E
gender performativity 56–61
112–19, 124–25 gender roles across different cultures education
neo-tribalism 291 communitarian school 118
and society 32–33 298–99 compulsory heterosexuality 308
competition, and capitalism 33 globalization and modernity 166–69 and cultural reproduction 292–93
compulsory heterosexuality 308 nationalism and imagined de-skilling 229
Comte, Auguste 18, 22–25, 29, 35, 36 hidden curriculum 288–89
confession 302–03 communities 202–03 liquid modernity 141
Connell, R.W. 65, 88–89 sacred nature of 207 and Marxism 293
conspicuous consumption 214–19 secularization 279 “separate but equal” schools, US 70
consumerism simulacra 196–99 standardization of 123
and advertising industry 235 stigma 190–95
conspicuous consumption 214–19 structure 44–45, 208–09 efficiency 31, 40–45, 122–23, 221, 228–31
consumer credit 143 structure of feeling 189 Elias, Norbert 174, 180–81
and gentrification 131 symbolic interactionism 192 Elster, Jon 337
globalization and modernity 168 virtual and actual social identity 193 emotional labor 236–43
and liquid modernity 141–42 working-class integration 184–85 Engels, Friedrich 18, 64, 66–67, 134,
and self-identity 142, 143, 201 see also class
see also capitalism; work and 212, 256, 315
D Enlightenment, the 12, 21, 23, 24, 54,
consumerism
Cooley, Charles H. 176, 334 Darwin, Charles 35, 217 64, 139–40
Cooley, Michael 231 de Beauvoir, Simone 58, 59, 306, 317 environment
Crenshaw, Kimberlé 92–93 de Sousa Santos, Boaventura 134,
crime 282–85 climate change and Giddens’ paradox
150–51 148–49
criminal personality 335 de-skilling 226–31
strain theory/anomie 262–63 Deagan, Mary Jo 192 and neo-liberalism 277
culture and identity Declaration of Independence, US risk assessment 160, 161
alienation of self 188 waste and conspicuous consumption
civilizing process 180–81 26–27
cultural capital and class habitus 78, Delphy, Christine 296, 297, 312–17, 217–18
epistemologies of the South 150–51
79 331 ethnomethodology 50–51
cultural exchange, and globalization democracy, and political oligarchy 260 etiquette, and civilizing process 181
Devasahayam, Theresa 238 Etzioni, Amitai 21, 103, 112–19, 188
170–71

346 INDEX

F women’s liberation movement 299 cosmopolitanism and risk 161
see also gender; patriarchy; sexuality and culture see culture and identity
families and intimacies 296–97 Ferguson, Adam 18, 21 digital technology 152–55
chaos of love 320–23 Feuerbach, Ludwig 256 downsizing of firms 141
children in contemporary society 323 Finch, Janet 315 epistemologies of the South 150–51
communitarianism 117–18, 119 Firestone, Shulamith 338 feminization of work 248–49
compulsory heterosexuality 304–09 Foucault, Michel financial risk 161
confessions and truth 302–03 governmentality 252–53, 270–77 gender well-being 249
family roles 296–97 power/resistance 15, 19, 52–55, 267 global cities 164–65
gay parenthood 311 sexuality 19, 302–03 globalization 170–71
gender roles across different cultures will to truth 58–59, 296, 297, 302–03 globalization and modernity 166–69
298–99 Frankfurt School 31, 44, 232, 247 glocalization 146–47
housework as alienation 318–19 French Revolution, effects of 24–25 hyper-globalism 171
and industrialization 300 Fromm, Erich 174, 188 liquid modernity 136–43
interpersonal relationships 297 functionalism 34–37, 267, 296 mobilities 162
marriage and divorce rates 323 Furedi, Frank 303 neo-nationalism 163
marriage as “healthy” 325 network society 152–55
material feminism 312–17 G and patriarchy 317
men as breadwinners, women as post-industrialism 153
carers 301 G-7 formation 150 risk society 156–61
nuclear family 300, 301, 311, 320–21 Garfinkel, Harold 19, 50–51 skeptics 171
postmodernism 310–11 gender solid modernity, move from 138–40
queer theory 326–31 terrorism risk 161
same-sex relationships 311, 324 cultural reproduction and education transformationalist 171
social construction of sexuality 292–93 world-system theory 144–45
324–25 see also modern living
socialization of children and inequalities and emotional labor glocalization 146–47
stabilization of adults 300–01 242–43 Goffman, Erving
therapy culture 303 institutionalization 252, 253, 264–69
performativity 56–61 stigma 174, 190–95
Featherstone, Mike 200 queer theory 58, 61, 297, 309, 310, Goldthorpe, John 337
feminism Gouldner, Alvin 285
311, 317 326–31 governmentality 270–77
and class 95, 338 roles across different cultures 298–99 Gramsci, Antonio 174, 175, 178–79,
and communitarianism 119 see also feminism; sexuality
compulsory heterosexuality 304–09 gentrification and urban life 128–31 252
feminist psychology 337–38, 339 Gerth, Hans Heinrich 19, 44 Green, Gill 195
feminization of work 248–49 ghetto, iconic 82–83 Grosz, Elizabeth 330, 339
“first-wave” 97–98 Giddens, Anthony 44, 135, 148–49, grounded theory 335
housework as alienation 318–19
and intersectionality 90–95 195, 311, 322 H
and Marxism 92, 97–98, 319 Giddens’ paradox 148–49
material feminism 312–17 Gilroy, Paul 65, 75 Habermas, Jürgen 253, 259, 286–87
and queer theory 329, 331 Gintis, Herbert 253, 288–89 habitus 76–79
and religion 258 Glassner, Barry 158, 335 Halberstam, Judith 328, 331
“second wave” 26, 58, 65, 92, 98 global warming 148–49, 160 Hall, Stuart 175, 200–01
and slimming and dieting 275 Haraway, Donna 338
and social justice 26–27 see also environment
“third wave” 98 global world 15, 134–35

climate change and Giddens paradox
148–49

cognitive justice 150–51

INDEX 347

health and medicine, iatrogenesis 261 cultural reproduction and education Luckmann, Thomas 278, 336
Hegel, Georg 29, 111, 246, 256 292–93 Luhmann, Niklas 103, 110–11
Lutz, Helma 92
dialectic view of history 29 education and the hidden curriculum
hegemonic masculinity 88–89 288–89 M
Held, David 135, 170–71
hidden curriculum 288–89 female domestic duties 316 McCrone, David 135, 162
Hochschild, Arlie Russell 213, 236–43 governmentality 270–77 McDonaldization 120–23
hooks, bell 65, 89, 90–95 iatrogenesis 261 McGrew, Anthony 135
housework as alienation 318–19 individualism and society 253 McRobbie, Angela 290, 339
hyper-reality 199 institutionalization 264–69 Maffesoli, Michel 253, 291
labeling theory 280–85 management
I legitimation crisis 286–87
moral panic theory 290 empowerment, and worker
iatrogenesis 261 neo-tribalism 291 productivity 230
Ibn Khaldun 18, 20 oligarchy 260
Ichijo, Atsuko 163 religion 254–59 workers’ consent, managing 244–45
Illich, Ivan 253, 261 secularization 252–53, 278–79 Mannheim, Karl 181, 335
imagined communities 202–03 surveillance and control 54 Marcuse, Herbert 175, 182–87, 247
imperialism see colonialism intersectionality 90–95 Marron, Donncha 143
individualism Martineau, Harriet 18–19, 25, 26–27,
JKL
and capitalism 21, 43–45, 94, 321–22, 64–65
337 Jackson, Philip W. 288 Marx, Karl 13, 14, 22, 28–31, 40, 41, 45,
Jacobs, Jane 102, 103, 108–09
and communitarianism 114, 116, job satisfaction, and workplace “games” 64, 138, 144, 189, 220, 228, 254–59
118–19 see also Marxism
245 Marxism
and institutionalization 268–69 knowledge and alienation 155, 232, 238, 319
institutions 253 and capitalism 18, 44, 107, 134, 145,
and social interaction 239–40 actor–network theory (ANT) 338 184, 221, 307
industrial relations, workers’ consent, as “law of three stages” 24 and class 28–31, 64, 66–67, 315, 316
and power 55 and economics 25, 31, 178, 179, 286
managing 244–45 sociology of 335 and feminism 92, 97–98, 319
Industrial Revolution 12, 13, 15, 66, 196 Kracauer, Siegfried 334 and religion 252, 253, 254–59, 279
industrialization 102–03 Kristeva, Julia 337 see also Frankfurt School; Marx, Karl
labeling theory 280–85 material culture 246–47
automation and alienation 232–33 Lasch, Christopher 310, 337 material feminism 312–17
class exploitation 66–67 Latour, Bruno 247, 338 materialism, historical 29–30
and de-skilling 226–31 Lefebvre, Henri 103, 106–07 Matza, David 285
division of labor 33, 36–37, 293, legitimation crisis 286–87 Mead, G.H. 174, 176–77, 201
leisure classes, and capitalism 216–17, Mead, Margaret 13, 58, 296, 297,
300, 301 298–99
and families and intimacies 300 219 media
female unpaid labor 315 Lemert, Edwin 283 and class conflict 187
and sexuality 329 Lemke, Thomas 272 and consumerism 235
inequalities see social inequalities Leonard, Diana 316, 323 and globalization 168
Inglis, David 150 liquid modernity 136–43 moral panic theory 290
innovation, technological see Lockwood, David 336 public anxieties, feeding on 160
love, chaos of 320–23 mental life of the metropolis 104–05
technological innovation Löwy, Michael 337
institutions 14–15, 37, 252–53

anomie/strain theory 262–63
causal analysis 338–39

348 INDEX

meritocracy, and cultural reproduction OPQ rational modernity 38–45
292 rational-choice theory 337
Oakley, Ann 296, 318–19 rationalization 40–45, 228–31
Merton, Robert K. 252, 253, 262–63 oligarchy 260
Michels, Robert 252, 260 Orientalism 80–81 and McDonaldization 120–23
Miller, Daniel 213, 246–47 Park, Robert E. 102, 334 and social control 240–41
mobilities 162 Parsons, Talcott 44, 50, 111, 207, 296, sociological imagination 46–49
modern living 134–35 Raz, Aviad 243
300–01 reality
bureaucracy restrictions 42–43, 45, Pateman, Carole 316 hyper-reality 199
139 patriarchy 96–99 and simulacra 196–99
social construction of 336
civic engagement 125 domestic violence 98–99 religion
communication systems 110–11 and gender equality 65 and identity politics 339
communitarianism 112–19 and global world 317 and Marxism 252, 253, 254–59, 279
Disneyization 126–27 hegemonic masculinity 88–89 political use of religious symbolism
emotional labor 127 and lesbianism, political 308–09
gentrification and urban life 128–31 and material feminism 312–17 336
globalization and modernity 166–69 rules of 94, 95 Protestant work ethic 41–42,
liquid modernity 136–43 and slimming and dieting 275
McDonaldization 120–23 see also feminism 220–23, 258
rational modernity 38–45 pecuniary emulation, and class 218–19 and secularization 252–53, 278–79
right to the city 106–07 Perrow, Charles 158 and social inequalities 257–58, 259
sidewalks, importance of 109 Peterson, Richard 219 sociology of 338
social capital 124–25 phenomenological sociology 335, 336 Rich, Adrienne 296, 304–09
see also global world; urbanization Pickett, Kate 65 Richardson, Diane 306, 331
Modood, Tariq 339 positivism 22–25, 36, 40, 44 right to the city 106–07
moral panic theory 290 post-industrialism 224–25 risk society 156–61
morality postmodern family 310–11 Ritzer, George 103, 120–23, 127
and communitarianism 117, 118, 119 poverty, relative 74 Robertson, Roland 134, 146–47
moral entrepreneurs 283–84 power, political and social, sociological Romantic ethic 234–35
and religion 256–57 Rosa, Hartmut 339
Morgan, David 300 imagination 46–49 Rose, Nikolas 277
multiculturalism 200–01 power/resistance 52–55 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 29, 302
multinational urban culture, and global Protestant work ethic 41–42, 220–23, Rubin, Gayle 299
Rubio, Fernando Dominguez 247
cities 165 258
Putnam, Robert D. 20, 103, 115, 124–25 S
N queer theory 58, 61, 297, 309, 310, 311,

317, 326–31

nationalism R Said, Edward 65, 80–81
and imagined communities Saint-Simon, Henri de 13, 18, 23, 24
202–03 race and ethnicity 68–73 Sassatelli, Roberta 234
neo-nationalism 163 racism 64–65, 75, 92–93 Sassen, Saskia 134, 164–65
Savage, Mike 219
Neale, Bren 320 iconic ghetto 82–83 Schütz, Alfred 335
neo-liberalism 277 radicalism, and religion 258–59 Scull, Andrew T. 266
neo-nationalism 163 secularization 252–53, 278–79
neo-tribalism 291
network society 152–55 and Protestant work ethic 223
nuclear family 300, 301, 311, 320–21 Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky 309