Engendering Emotions examines the production and promotion of the idea of sex/gender difference in emotional experience and expression in the contemporary West. Focusing on the psychology of emotions and on the spheres of aggression and war, and love, intimacy and sex, it explores how the idea of emotional difference serves to define and govern relations between men and women. The book draws on diverse theoretical work and recent empirical data to chart new territory in the study of sex/gender differences.
Autorentext
ALAN PETERSEN is Professor of Sociology of Health and Illness, University of Plymouth, UK. He has researched and written extensively on various aspects of biomedicine, public health, risk, the body, the new genetics and gender.
Zusammenfassung
The question of what distinguishes men and women emotionally has been an almost universal topic of interest. This book examines the production of the idea of difference in male and female emotionality in the contemporary West. It questions a number of assumptions about difference, particularly the idea that emotional differences between men and women are 'natural' and universal. The book examines the politics and gender biases of expert, particularly psychological, knowledge of emotion, and shows how such knowledge is used to regulate social relations in spheres such as the military and warfare, love, intimacy and sex, and the workplace. It assesses the impact of a growing concern with 'emotional literacy' and of consumerism in intimate life on constructions of gender and difference. The book charts new territory in the study of gender and emotions and will prove invaluable to students, academics and others interested in this area.
Inhalt
Conceptualising Gender and Emotion Psychology, Gender and Emotion Gender, Emotion and War Love, Intimacy and Sex Gender, 'Emotional Literacy' and the Future References