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This book shows how the 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. Leading the reader through examples drawn from around the world, the author shows how these categories are social constructions; historically formed, ideologically loaded, and subject to change.
List of contents
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
Summary
This book shows how the social constructions of time, space, race, gender and class intersect with each other to produce particular social phenomena. Leading the reader through examples from around the world, the author shows how these categories are social constructions; historically formed, ideologically loaded, and subject to change.
