Summary
Contents
Subject index
The Eighth Edition of this classic text provides a basic introduction to the field of social psychology. Taking a critical symbolic interactionist approach, Social Psychology helps students understand the very nature of how individuals do things together in today's society. The book has been significantly revised taking into consideration a number of recent turns in the field, such as: the increased sense that American social psychology is deeply embedded in world culture; that postmodernism has much to offer the sudy of the social world; and that new theories on sexuality, identity, deviance and the body provide a fascinating viewpoint on a person within society.
Sexuality and Identity
Sexuality and Identity
In Chapters 1 and 7, we have argued that every human being, upon birth, in American culture at least, is placed within a specific, biologically determined sex class: male or female. Gender expectations are then fitted to this classification scheme—expectations involving sexual desire and sexual pleasure. A personal sexual identity is formed out of these interpretations. The gendered identity is an interactional production. Butler (1993a) reminds us, however, that there are no firm differences between male and female, between femininity and masculinity. Although we live in a gendered social order that enforces heterosexuality, there is no true, naturalized sexuality. In this chapter, working outward from Butler's arguments, we examine the topics of sexual identity, sexual activity, and sexual expression. We ...
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