Introduction to Gender: Social Science Perspectives

This exciting new textbook introduces readers to gender debates and topical issues within the social sciences.

Introduction to Gender Studies offers an integrated approach, including commentary and analysis from women's studies, feminist works, and critical studies of masculinity. It is logically organised by introducing the subject of gender, before focusing on the debates within eight different disciplines. It concludes by examining interdisciplinary discussions of topical issues such as family, sex and sexuality, violence and resistance, work and leisure, health and illness, and education.

This book is suitable for all students studying gender at an introductory level, either on its own or as part of a wider subject area.

Introduction to Gender offers a broad, multidisciplinary introduction to the themes and debates within gender studies, interweaving theory with application. Comprehensive and highly topical in its scope it explores gender through the disciplines of history, sociology, social policy, anthropology, psychology, politics, pedagogy and geography. The authors also interrogate the gendered aspects of 8 issues including health and illness, work and leisure, and culture and media to provide a truly interdisciplinary insight into the role of gender in every aspect of life. 

Each chapter highlights the importance of studies on masculinity alongside a substantial body of feminist work, offering a genuinely integrated and cutting-edge investigation of gender studies.

Main Features

• A logical thematic structure provides a clear exploration of each debate without losing sight of the interconnections between disciplines. The book is divided into three sections; Part I providing an introduction to the gendered approach, Part II exploring each of the 8 disciplines one-by-one and Part III offering a more complex discussion of gender within 8 topical issues including sex and sexuality, and violence and resistance.
• World in Focus and international case studies offer a broad global perspective on gender studies
• A broad array of in-text features and student exercises, including Controversies, Critical Look and Stop and Think, allow the reader to engage in the debates and revise the material covered
• Hotlinks throughout the text make explicit connections between chapters, highlighting the interconnections between disciplines, and allowing the reader to follow the path of particular issues and debates between topics

Introduction to Gender is an essential introductory textbook for Gender Studies across the disciplinary spectrum, particularly in Sociology, Women’s Studies and Men’s Studies, as well as more broadly across the Social Sciences and humanities.

Jennifer Marchbank is Director of Explorations in Arts and Social Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Canada

Gayle Letherby is Professor of Sociology in the School of Law and Social Science at the University of Plymouth

Contributing Authors:

Gill Valentine and Nicola Wood, Department of Geography, University of Leeds

Katherine Johnson, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton

Lorraine Nencel, Department of Social Research Methodology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

"This is an innovative and exciting new textbook which manages to be both scholarly and accessible, looking at gender in interesting and thought-provoking ways, across a range of disciplines and issues. Wide in scope, but also very thorough, it is suitable for those interested in gender across the social sciences and humanities"

Victoria Robinson, University of Sheffield

"A superb introduction to the study of gender providing a comprehensive and accessible overview of key debates from a social science perspective. For students encountering the academic analysis of gender for the first time, this text will prove an invaluable resource"

Rachel Alsop, University of Hull