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Making Societies
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Making Societies
The Historical Construction of Our World



January 2001 | 240 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

The only book written for undergraduates about the social construction of reality that is also historical and comparative. In addition, it includes chapters on the social construction of time and space, as well as the more traditional chapters on race, class, and gender.

This book shows how these social constructions of time, space, race, gender and class intersect with each other to produce particular social phenomena that are enduring and significant for our society. No other book for undergraduate teaching has ever done this … this is a real first!

"If the goal of this series is to broaden the students'' vision, no book is more ambitious toward attaining that goal than Making Societies. Roy helps students question the most ''natural'' of categories: time, space, gender, race, and class. Leading them through examples drawn from around the world, he shows how these categories are social constructions; historically formed, ideologically loaded, and subject to change. This may be profoundly unsettling, for students will be encouraged to question not only what they know but also the conceptual frameworks they use when they claim to understand anything. As Series Editors, it is our belief that this provocation will open new ways of thinking about the social world, how it is, and how it might be."
—Wendy Griswold, Series Editor, Northwestern University, from the foreword

"I love the organizing concept of the social construction of reality and using a cross-cultural historical comparative approach to analyzing key themes: space, time, race, gender, and class. I particularly like the focus on space and time first because it illustrates how deeply embedded the social construction of reality is."
—Joanne Defiore, University of Washington, Bothel

"The book is intellectually strong; it is driven by ideas and engages important processes of social life."
—Lisa Brush, University of Pittsburgh

Contributor to the SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award

Find out more at www.sagepub.com/sociologyaward


 
Illustrations: Figures and Table
 
About the Author and Publisher
 
Foreword
 
Preface
 
1. Constructing Historical Reality
What Is Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?

 
The Social Construction of Reality

 
The Process of Social Construction

 
Dominant Institutions and Power

 
Intersections

 
Conclusion

 
 
2. Time
Linear and Cyclical Time

 
The History of Time

 
Time as Quantity and Commodity

 
Conclusion

 
 
3. Space (coauthored with Patricia Ahmed)
Space as a Thing

 
The Earliest Known Conceptions of Space

 
Non-Anglo-European Conceptions of Space

 
Early Anglo-European Conceptions of Space

 
Toward a Contemporary Anglo-European Understanding of Space

 
Intersections

 
Conclusion

 
 
4. Race
The Paradox of Race

 
What Is Race?

 
Preracial Categories

 
From Preracial to Racial Categories

 
Whiteness

 
Reflexivity

 
Intersections

 
Conclusion

 
 
5. Gender
Is Anatomy Destiny?

 
Sex and Gender

 
The Logic of the Category

 
The History of Bodies

 
Changing Gender in Anglo-European Society

 
Masculinity

 
Homosexual and Homosocial Relations

 
Intersections

 
Conclusion

 
 
6. Class
The Meaning of Class

 
The Origins of Class-Based Societies

 
Feudalism

 
Capitalism

 
Property

 
Cultural Boundaries

 
Conclusion

 
 
7. Intersections Small and Large
The Home

 
Cities

 
Nation

 
Conclusion

 
 
References
 
Glossary/Index

Too advanced for an introductory course.

Dr ROGER GUY
Soci Soc Work Crim Just Dept, University of North Carolina - Pembroke
January 11, 2012

Course not offered because of budget cuts

Kenneth Wilson
Sociology Dept, East Carolina University
September 26, 2011

Sage College Publishing

You can purchase or sample this product on our Sage College Publishing site:

Go To College Site

This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.