Understanding Race Class Gender And Sexuality

This is the first text in the rapidly growing study of the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the United States today. Using clear and accessible language, analysis of case studies, and a progression of questions for critical reflection, the text presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of the interlocking nature of race, class, gender, and sexuality systems of oppression. The framework illustrates that race, class, gender, and sexuality are: socially constructed, historically and globally specific power relations that are simultaneously expressed at the macro/institutional and the micro/individual levels. The analysis presented is complex, addresses the intersections of oppressive systems without rank ordering them, and points toward effective strategies to promote social justice. A leader in the development of race, class, gender, and sexuality scholarship, Weber has carefully devised the pedagogy of the text and the case studies to reflect the knowledge she has gained from almost twenty years of teaching and consulting with faculty and students across the country about the most effective ways to communicate these complex and sometimes emotionally charged ideas in ways that engage diverse audiences.

This anthology examines the social construction of race, class, gender, and sexuality and the institutional bases for these relations. While other texts discuss various forms of stratification and the impact of these on members of marginalized groups, Ore provides a thorough discussion of how such systems of stratification are formed and perpetuated and how forms of stratification are interconnected. The anthology supplies sufficient pedagogical tools to aid the student in understanding how the material relates to her/his own life and how her/his own attitudes, actions, and perspectives may serve to perpetuate a stratified system.

Using arresting case studies of how ordinary people understand the concepts of race, class, and gender, Celine-Marie Pascale shows that the peculiarity of commonsense is that it imposes obviousness—that which we cannot fail to recognize. As a result, how we negotiate the challenges of inequality in the twenty-first century may depend less on what people consciously think about "difference" and more on what we inadvertently assume. Through an analysis of commonsense knowledge, Pascale expertly provides new insights into familiar topics. In addition, by analyzing local practices in the context of established cultural discourses, Pascale shows how the weight of history bears on the present moment, both enabling and constraining possibilities. Pascale tests the boundaries of sociological knowledge and offers new avenues for conceptualizing social change. In 2008, Making Sense of Race, Class and Gender was the recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, of the American Sociological Association Section on Race, Gender, and Class, for "distinguished and significant contribution to the development of the integrative field of race, gender, and class."

Analyzing Inequalities: An Introduction to Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Using the General Social Survey by Catherine E. Harnois is a practical resource for helping students connect sociological issues with real-world data in the context of their first undergraduate sociology courses. This worktext introduces readers to the GSS, one of the most widely analyzed surveys in the U.S.; examines a range of GSS questions related to social inequalities; and demonstrates basic techniques for analyzing this data online. No special software is required–the exercises can be completed using the Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) website at the University of California-Berkeley which is easy to navigate and master. Students will come away with a better understanding of social science research, and will be better positioned to ask and answer the sociological questions that most interest them.

Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Class, Fourth Edition is an anthology of readings that explores the ways these social statuses shape our experiences and impact our life chances in society today. Organized around broad topics (identity, power and privilege, social institutions, etc.), rather than categories of difference (race, gender, class, sexuality), to underscore the idea that social statuses often intersect with one another to produce inequalities and form the bases of our identities in society. The text features readings by leading experts in the field and reflects the many approaches scholars and researchers use to understand issues of diversity, power, and privilege. Included with this title: LMS Cartridge: Import this title′s instructor resources into your school′s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don′t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

Tyler Perry has become a significant figure in media due to his undeniable box office success led by his character Madea and popular TV sitcoms House of Payne and Meet the Browns. Perry built a multimedia empire based largely on his popularity among African American viewers and has become a prominent and dominant cultural storyteller. Along with Perry’s success has come scrutiny by some social critics and Hollywood well-knowns, like Spike Lee, who have started to deconstruct the images in Perry’s films and TV shows suggesting, as Lee did, that Perry has used his power to advance stereotypical depictions of African Americans. The book provides a rich and thorough overview of Tyler Perry’s media works. In so doing, contributors represent and approach their analyses of Perry’s work from a variety of theoretical and methodological angles. The main themes explored in the volume include the representation of (a) Black authenticity and cultural production, (b) class, religion, and spirituality, (c) gender and sexuality, and (d) Black love, romance, and family. Perry’s critical acclaim is also explored.

One primary concern within the study of law has been to understand the law/society relation. Underlying this concern is the belief that law has a distinctly social basis; it both shapes and is shaped by the society in which it operates. This book explores the law/society relation by locating law within the nexus of race/class/gender/sexuality relations in society. Recognizing that inequalities along these lines exist in society raises important questions: What role has law historically played in generating today's inequalities? Is law part of the problem or part of the solution? Can we use law as a strategy to achieve meaningful change? The essays in this new edition of Locating Law demonstrate law's role in a variety of specific contexts, including perpetuating colonialism in Canada, protecting corporations and holding women responsible for sexual violence against them. These analyses are sure to generate discussion and debate and, in the process, enhance our understanding of this important relation between law and society.