The Gendered Society - Hardcover

Kimmel, Michael S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195125878 ISBN 13: 9780195125870

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

They say that we come from different planets (men from Mars, women from Venus), that we have different brain chemistries and hormones, and that we listen, speak, and even define our morals differently. How is it then that men and women live together, take the same classes in school, eat the same food, read the same books, and receive grades according to the same criteria? In The Gendered Society, Michael S. Kimmel examines our basic beliefs about gender, arguing that men and women are more alike than we have ever imagined.
Kimmel begins his discussion by observing that all cultures share the notion that men and women are different, and that the logical extension of this assumption is that gender differences cause the obvious inequalities between the sexes. In fact, he asserts that the reverse is true--gender inequality causes the differences between men and women. Gender is not simply a quality inherent in each individual--it is deeply embedded in society's fundamental institutions: the family, school, and the workplace. The issues surrounding gender are complex, and in order to clarify them, the author has included a review of the existing literature in related disciplines such as biology, anthropology, psychology and sociology. Finally, with an eye towards the future, Kimmel offers readers a glimpse at gender relations in the next millennium.
Well-written, well-reasoned and authoritative, The Gendered Society provides a thorough overview of the current thinking about gender while persuasively arguing that it is time to reevaluate what we thought we knew about men and women.

About this title

About the Author

Michael S. Kimmel is a Professor of Sociology at State University of New York, Stony Brook. Author of the highly acclaimed Manhood in America: A Cultural History, he lives in New York City.

Review

"Comprehensive, current, and accessible...This is a book that you will want on your own shelf as a ready reference, but, more important, one that you will want your students to read for its compassion...Michael Kimmel has written a book in which we can all take great pride and comfort." --Beth
B. Hess, Gender and Society

"At last! A summary work of decades of recent scholarship on gender which sifts through the huge amount of accumulated data, judiciously weighs the evidence and brings immense clarity and insight to the major areas of contention. I cannot imagine anyone who would not profit from reading this
scrupulous, comprehensive, incisive book."--Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History, Graduate Center, CUNY, and author of Left Out: The Politics of Exclusion

"The Gendered Society is a compendium of knowledge, theory, and fact about gender that is by far the best and most comprehensive book on the subject. In refreshingly jargon-free prose, Kimmel offers a penetrating and subtle examination of how the gender difference and inequality that are so
much a part of everyday life are socially structured and maintained in both our public and our personal lives. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the often invisible ways in which our gendered society frames our lives and exerts authority over not just who we become
and how we live, but what we feel."--Lillian B. Rubin, author of The Transcendent Child

"In this important and lively book, Michael Kimmel explodes myths about the 'natural' bases of gender distinctions in society. Through careful analysis and thorough research he shows how stereotyping infects our major social institutions , the culture and interpersonal relationships in
everyday life. A major antidote to pop psychologists who claim men and women come from different planets and 'don't understand' each other."--Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, and author of Deceptive Distinctions

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195125878
• ISBN 13: 9780195125870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336