Engendering the Social : Feminist Encounters with Sociological Theory

This edited volume focuses on the problematic engendering of classical and contemporary sociological theory, addressing questions such as: How were the foundations of sociological theory shaped by an implicit masculinity? Did classical sociology simply reflect or actively construct theories of sexual difference? How were alternative accounts of the social suppressed in sociology's founding moments? Feminist interventions in sociology are still seen as marginal to sociological theorizing. This collection challenges this truncated vision of sociological theory. In part one, contributors interrogate the classical canon, exposing the masculinist assumptions that saturate the conceptual scaffolding of sociology. In part two, contributors consider the long-standing and problematic relationship between sociology and feminism, retrieving voices marginalized within or excluded from canonical constructions of sociological theory. In part three, contributors engage with key contemporary debates, explicitly engendering accounts of the social. Engendering the Socialis unique in that it not only critically interrogates sociological theory from a feminist perspective, but also embarks on a politics of reconstruction, working creatively at the interface of feminist and sociological theory to induce a more adequate conceptualisation of the social. This is a key text for undergraduate and postgraduate students in sociology, social theory and feminist theory.

Introduction

Part one: Interrogating the classical canon

Masculinity and the social: Towards a politics of interrogation
Sex and the sociological fathers
Elective affinities

Part two: Contesting the canon: founders, feminists and excluded voices

Feminizing the citizen: British sociology's sleight of hand?
More sociological than the sociologists? Undisciplined and undisciplinary thinking about society and modernity in the nineteenth century
Illegitimate daughters: The complex relationship between feminism and sociology

Part three: Interrogating modern sociology

Gender and the post structural social
Rethinking the revival of social capital and trust in social theory
Situated intersubjectivity
Index.