The Gendered Society - Softcover

Kimmel, Michael S.

3.86

274 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195149750 ISBN 13: 9780195149753

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2003

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Thoroughly updated and revised, the second edition of The Gendered Society explores current thinking about gender, both inside academia and in our everyday lives. Part I examines the latest work in biology, anthropology, psychology, and sociology; Part II provides an original analysis of the gendered worlds of family, education, and work; and Part III focuses on the gendered interactions of friendship and love, sexuality, and violence. As a result of his research, author Michael S. Kimmel makes three claims about gender. First, he argues that the differences between men and women are not as great as we often imagine, and that in fact women and men have far more in common with one another than we think they do. Second, he challenges the notions of the many pop psychologists who suggest that gender difference is the cause of the dramatic observable inequality between the sexes. Instead, Kimmel reveals that the reverse is true: gender inequality is the cause of the differences between women and men. Third, he argues that gender is not simply an aspect of individual identity but is also an institutional phenomenon, embedded in the organizations and institutions in which we interact daily. Kimmel concludes with a brief epilogue looking ahead to gender relations in the new century. The second edition includes a new chapter, "The Gendered Body," and a sharper critique of biological differences. The Gendered Society, 2/e, is a well-reasoned, authoritative, and keenly animated statement about contemporary gender relations, written by one of the country's foremost thinkers on the subject. It is an essential text for both scholars and students alike. Kimmel's companion book, The Gendered Society Reader, 2/e, (OUP, 2003), provides a perfect complement for classroom use.

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About the Author:

Michael S. Kimmel is at State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Review:

"I was sold on this book as soon as I saw the topical outline of the chapters! Finally, a gender textbook that took gender seriously--and that transcended the 'sociology of women' that was the field's first attempt at analyzing gender."--Lynn Appleton, Florida Atlantic University

"The text's strengths are its easy-to-read prose and clear explanations of complex theory, making the text highly engaging and easy to employ in introductory level courses."--Abby Ferber, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

"This is a superb book, well-written, and characterized by current and relevant scholarship. It is one of the most objective books on the topic, and will be appreciated and, I predict, enjoyed by undergraduate students. The underlying themes that gender is constructed, and that gender differences are in large part due to gender inequalities are well-argued and cogently presented. The book is comprehensive in scope and incisive in argumentation."--Dudley Poston, Texas A&M University

(on the first edition) "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, City University of New York Graduate Center

"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."--Lillian B. Rubin, author of The Transcendent Child

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