Chafetz, Janet

Among the gender theorists, Janet Saltzman Chafetz (b. 1942) has not only been a commentator on existing approaches (Chafetz 1988), she has also sought to develop a scientific theory of gender dynamics (Chafetz 1984, 1990). Before entering sociology, Chaftez majored in modern European intellectual history, receiving her BA at Cornell University (1963) and MA at the University of Connecticut (1965). This study of history gave Chafetz a sense of the long duration of social processes as she pursued the study of sociology at the University of Texas, receiving her PhD in 1968. She was influenced by Marxist ideas on class, conflict, and change, as well as by feminist anthropologists writing in the 1970s and 1980s. In pursuing her doctoral work, she specialized in social stratification ...