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Formations of Class & Gender
Becoming Respectable
- Beverley Skeggs - Lancaster University, UK
June 1997 | 200 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Explanations of how identity is constructed are fundamental to contemporary debates in feminism and social theory. In this important addition to the literature, Beverley Skeggs demonstrates that class needs to be featured more prominently in theoretical accounts of gender, identity, and power. Class has been marginalized in feminist and cultural theory and it has become increasingly difficult to teach, research, or speak about class. Formations of Class and Gender identifies the neglect of class issues in favor of gender issues, and shows how class and gender must be fused together to produce an accurate representation of power relations in modern society.
In a sustained examination of the production of knowledge, detailed ethnographic research is used to explain how ôrealö women modify and reformulate our understanding of class, subjectivity, and sexuality. A critical examination of cultural representationùinformed by recent feminist theory and the work of Pierre BourdieuùFormations of Class and Gender is an articulate demonstration of how to translate theory into practice.
Engaged with theoretical and methodological issues, this will be the standard referenced ethnography on class and gender. It will be required reading for students and researchers in womenÆs studies and sociology.
Introduction: Processes, Frameworks and Motivations
Respectable Knowledge: Experience and Interpretation
Historical Legacies: Respectability and Responsibility
Developing and Monitoring a Caring Self
(Dis)Identifications of Class: On Not Being Working Class
Ambivalent Femininities
Becoming Respectably Heterosexual
Refusing Recognition: Feminisms
Conclusions