This text is intended as a broad introduction to the many types of inequality– economics, status, political power, sex and gender, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity– in U.S. society and in a global setting. Gender; Men; Masculinity; Work, Relationships; Sexuality. For anyone interested in understanding men and their roles in society.

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In this collection, one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of masculinity studies explores the historical construction of American and British masculinities. Tracing the emergence of American and British masculinities, the forms they have taken, and their development over time, Michael S. Kimmel analyzes the various ways that the ideology of masculinity—the cultural meaning of manhood—has been shaped by the course of historical events, and, in turn, how ideas about masculinity have also served to shape those historical events. He also considers newly emerging voices of previously marginalized groups such as women, the working class, people of color, gay men, and lesbians to explore the marginalized and de-centered notions of masculinity and the political processes and dynamics that have enabled this marginalization to occur....

Thoroughly updated and revised, the third edition of The Gendered Society explores current thinking about gender, both inside academia and in our everyday lives. Michael S. Kimmel challenges the claim that gender is limited to women's experiences--his compelling and balanced study of gender includes both masculine and feminine perspectives. Part 1 examines the latest work in biology, anthropology, psychology, and sociology; Part 2 provides an original analysis of the gendered worlds of family, education, and work; and Part 3 explores gender interactions, including friendship and love, sexuality, and violence.

Kimmel makes three bold and persuasive statements about gender. First, he demonstrates that gender differences are often extremely exaggerated; in fact, he argues that men and women have much more in common than we think they do. Kimmel also challenges the pop psychologists who suggest that gender difference is the cause of inequality between the sexes; instead, he reveals that the reverse is true--gender inequality itself is the cause of the differences between men and women. Finally, he illustrates that gender is not merely an element of individual identity, but a socially constructed institutional phenomenon.

A new chapter on media examines the portrayal of gender in one of the most powerful--and provocative--social institutions. Of particular interest to students, Kimmel's analysis of this dynamic, image-driven industry makes the study of gender relevant in an immediate and tangible way.

Essential reading for both students and scholars, The Gendered Society is an authoritative, incisive, and lively statement about contemporary gender relations from one of the country's foremost thinkers on the subject. Kimmel's companion text, The Gendered Society Reader, Third Edition (OUP, 2008), provides a perfect complement for classroom use....

For more than 40 years, Lillian Rubin's work has stood as a model for the integration of the psychological and the sociological in studies of class, male-female relationships and friendships, women and aging, the sexual revolution, and the contemporary crisis of the American family. Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working-Class Family and her other famous books have been enormously influential. This book new brings together, for the first time, articles and book excerpts that reflect Rubin's revolutionary style and her distinct analytic contributions....