1st Edition

Representations Social Constructions of Gender

By Rhoda Unger Copyright 1989
    326 Pages
    by Routledge

    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    Developed from an edited series of journal articles into a larger collection with a clear identity and emphasis all its own-one need only browse through the Table of Contents. "The divided lives of women in literature ," "Case studies of agency and communion in women's lives," "A sense of humor," "Dialogue with Guatemalan Indian women," "Coping with rape," "Earliest memories: Sex differences and the meaning of experience," "Women's explanations for job changes," "Androgyny and the life cycle: The Bacchae of Euripides" -these are but a few of the topics represented in this diverse and interesting collection. What, then, binds these essays together? First and foremost, this is a book of stories about women, about the conflicts, choices, and opportunities that are present in the lives of women, both real and imagined.

    Foreword

    Introduction

    PART I: Women's Consciousness: Public and Private Images
     Sex in Psychological Paradigms--from Behavior to Cognition Rhoda Kesler Unger The Divided Lives of Women in Literature Katherine V. Pope

    E. Nesbit's Forty-First Year: Her Life, Times, and Symbolizations of Personality Growth Ravenna Helson

    Telling Our Mother's Story: Changing Daughters' Perceptions of Their Mothers in a Women's Studies Course Karen G. Howe

    Case Studies of Agency and Communion in Women's Lives Abigail J. Stewart and Janet E. Malley

    A Case of Feminist Transformation: A Constructivist-Developmental Perspective Diedrick Snoek

    Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Sex Role Stereotypes as Expectations for Behavior Shelagh M.J. Towson, Mark P. Zanna, and Glenda MacDonald

    PART II: The Construction of Women (and Men)
    Personal Construct Theory and Stimulus Sex and Subject Sex Differences Susan Z. Volentine and Stanley L. Brodsky Conceptual and Methodological Sources of Controversies about Androgyny Mary Anne Sedney

    A Sense of Humor Leigh Marlowe

    Humor in Conversational Context: Beyond Biases in the Study of Gender and Humor Mary Crawford

    Dialogue with Guatemalan Indian Women: Critical Perspectives on Constructing Collaborative Research M. Brinton Lykes

    Coping with Rape: Critical Perspectives on Consciousness Michelle Fine

    PART III: Innovative Strategies for Examining Social Constructs
    Explorations in Feminist Ideology: Surprising Consistencies and Unexamined Conflicts Rhoda K. Unger Taking the Traditional Route: Some Covert Costs of Traditional Decisions for the Married Career Woman Audrey Sanders, Janice M. Steil, and Janet Weinglass

    Perceptions of Daily Life Scripts and Their Effects on College Women's Desires for Children Irene Hanson Frieze, Scott Bailey, Patricia Mamula, and Mira Moss

    Earliest Memories: Sex Differences and the Meaning of Experience Adria E. Schwartz

    She Has Her Reasons: Women's Explanations for Job Changes Marianne LaFrance

    PART IV: Dichotomizing Sex and Gender: The Use of Fiction
     Initiative Taking as a Determinant of Role-Reciprocal Organization Bertram A. John and Lori E. Sussman Androgyny and the Life Cycle: The Bacchae of Euripides Nancy Datan

    The Pier Glass and the Candle: Reality, Perception, and Gender in the Fiction of George Eliot Joan E. Hartman

    Imaging Feminist Visions: Comments on a Bibliography Michelle Fine, Louise Kidder, and Joanne Boell

    The Social Construction of Gender: The Turn to Fiction Sondra Farganis 

    Biographies of Authors

    Biography

    RHODA UNGER received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Harvard University in 1966, but has worked in the area of the psychology of sex and gender since the early 1970s. She is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Honors Program at Montclair State College and has also served several terms as coordinator of women's studies.