Summary
Contents
Subject index
Embodying Gender provides students and academics with a critical overview of body concepts in both sociology and in feminism. Previously, sociologists have attempted to gender the body and feminists have attempted to embody gender but Alexandra Howson's accessible new text draws these two literatures together, pointing to ways of integrating feminist perspectives on the body into sociological theory.Surveying all the key concepts in the field, this book introduces us to an extensive range of 'narratives of embodiment' and presents a full analysis of the most important texts in new feminist theories of the body.Key questions covered include: o What can sociology say about the body?o What impact has the body made on sociology?o What conceptual frameworks are used to address the body? How do these relate to issues of gender and embodied experience?o How do feminist conceptual tools sit within sociological analysis?Written in a clear, accessible style, Embodying Gender is an invaluable text for undergraduate students, postgraduates and academics in the fields of women's and gender studies and sociology, and is particularly relevant to those specialising in sociology of the body, feminist theory and social theory.
Introduction
Introduction
It is claimed that the discipline of sociology has led the way in ‘bringing the body (back) in’ (Frank, 1990) to social and political analysis. John O'Neill's Five Bodies and Bryan S. Turner's The Body and Society offered distinct explanations for the body's neglect within sociological (and other social scientific) scholarship and social theory and presented sustained analyses of perspectives and approaches that could serve the aim of developing a sociological understanding of the human body. The body is now a central and distinct arena of theoretical debate and empirical research within sociology and is increasingly the focus of interdisciplinary scholarship across cultural studies and feminist theory. However, while cultural studies are more likely to engage with sociology, feminist theory has been more disinclined ...
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