FEMINIST READINGS WITH EMPHASIS ON
BIOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
IMPORTANT! THE BOOKS PRESENTED BELOW WILL BE CLASSED INTO
THREE SECTIONS PROGRESSING FROM THE LEFT TO THE RIGHT, SIMILAR TO A TIMELINE
CHART OF HISTORY PROGRESSING FROM PAST TO PRESENT. I WANT YOU TO CONSIDER THE
LEFT SIDE OF THE TABLE AS OUR BIOLOGICAL PAST; THE CENTER COLUMN AS THE COMBINATION
OF BIOLOGY AND CULTURE, AND THE LAST COLUMN AS STRICTLY CULTURAL IN INFLUENCE
AS EFFECTING HUMAN BEHAVIOR. SOME BOOKS, OF COURSE, WILL OVERLAP, AND THAT IS
THE GOAL -- TO MEET IN THE CENTER. I ALSO HAVE NOT READ ALL OF THE BOOKS, AND
PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I MAKE AN ERROR IN THE POSTINGS. I HAVE MADE THOSE PLACMENT
DECISIONS ON TITLE AND SYNOPSIS -- WHEN AVAILABLE.
THE GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND THAT HUMAN BEHAVIOR IS A VOYAGE CONNECTING US TO OUR
BIOLGOICAL ROOTS WHILE WE STEP OUTSIDE OUR BIOLOGICAL SHELL AND EXPLORE THE
CULTURAL WORLD OTHERS HAVE CREATED FOR US BEFORE OUR ARRIVAL.
IN OUR PRESENT WORLD, MOSTLY INFLUENCED BY CULTURE, WE MAKE CHOICES
THAT WE CONSIDER TO OUR ADVANTAGE. WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, WE MUST NEVER FOGET
WHERE WE CAME FROM BIOLOGICALLY AND HOW IT EFFECTS THOSE CHOICES.
BIOLOGICAL EMPHASIS | BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL | CULTURAL EMPHASIS |
BIOLOGICAL EMPHASIS (WITH STRONG TIES TO EVOLUTION AND PRIMATE STUDIES)
The
Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, by Matt Ridley, June 1995.
Referring to Lewis Carroll's Red Queen from Through the Looking-Glass, a character
who has to keep running to stay in the same place, Matt Ridley demonstrates
why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal
predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and
culture -- including why men propose marriage, the method behind our maddening
notions of beauty, and the disquieting fact that a woman is more likely to conceive
a child by an adulterous lover than by her husband. Brilliantly written, The
Red Queen offers an extraordinary new way of interpreting the human condition
and how it has evolved.
Sexing
the Brain, by Lesley Rogers (Author) Sept 2002, The question of free will
versus predestination is an old one in theology. It is a commonplace of science
as well, emerging in recent years in claims that human sexuality is an expression
of biological inheritance alone, that sexual orientation is genetically encoded
and thus immutable. In this slender, provocative book, a volume in the series
Maps of the Mind, neuroscientist Lesley Rogers examines the evidence for and
against gene-deterministic views of sex differences, ranging from 19th-century
attempts to prove that women are intellectually inferior because their brains,
on average, weigh 10 percent less than men's ("There is no difference between
the sexes," Rogers observes, "when brain weight is adjusted for body
size") to more recent efforts to isolate a "gay gene." Such research,
Rogers holds, fails to take into account cultural reasons for sex differences
in brain function, which "are manifestations of social values held at a
particular time." Among those values are an apparent educational segregation
that produces boys with superior mathematical and spatial abilities and girls
with superior verbal skills--a differentiation that has no proven biological
basis, just as, Rogers argues, "sexual preference is not likely to depend
on a single gene, a single neurotransmitter, or a single place in the brain."
Rogers's book is certain not to be the last word on the subject, but those who
consider nurture to be at least as important as nature in shaping the self will
find fuel for their arguments in Rogers's antireductionist views
Adaptation
and Natural Selection, by George Christopher Williams (Author) May, 1996,
Biological evolution is a fact--but the many conflicting theories of evolution
remain controversial even today. In 1966, simple Darwinism, which holds that
evolution functions primarily at the level of the individual organism, was threatened
by opposing concepts such as group selection, a popular idea stating that evolution
acts to select entire species rather than individuals. George Williams's famous
argument in favor of the Darwinists struck a powerful blow to those in opposing
camps. His Adaptation and Natural Selection, now a classic of science literature,
is a thorough and convincing essay in defense of Darwinism; its suggestions
for developing effective principles for dealing with the evolution debate and
its relevance to many fields outside biology ensure the timelessness of this
critical work.
Sex
Differences: Developmental and Evolutionary Strategies, by Linda J. Mealey
(Author) April, 2000. Sex differences like age differences are a biological
fact but they are also a sociocultural fact. The purpose of this book is to
bring readers up to date with knoweldge about sex and gender differences. It
aims to establish a framework from which to view sex and gender differences.
This work serves as a graduate-level text for courses in evolutionary biology/psychology
and sexual differences as well as being a eference source for academic professionals
in these disciplines. The book covers universal differences in biology, emotional
expression, behaviour and cognition between males and females - differences
that are long-standing and occur across cultures are eras.
Why
We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, by Randolph M. Nesse,
George C. Williams, Vintage Books USA; (January 1, 1996) Is our tendency to
"fix" our bodies with medicine keeping them from working exactly as
they're supposed to? Two pioneers of the emerging science of Darwinian medicine
argue that illness is part and parcel of the evolutionary system and as such,
may be helping us to evolve towards better adaptation to our environment.
Evolution
of Infectious Disease, by Paul M. Ewald , Oxford University Press; Reprint
edition (October 1, 1996)
This ground-breaking work is the first book to present a Darwinian perspective
on infectious disease. It views disease-producing bacteria and viruses as parasites
and explains the history of disease as a host-parasite relationship, one which
can evolve in many different ways and with radically different effects on the
host population. The author's evolutionary approach is interdisciplinary, drawing
on theory and example from the fields of epidemiology, molecular genetics,biochemistry,
physiology, evolutionary ecology, and the ecology of populations and communities.
Evolutionary
Medicine, by Wenda Trevathan (Editor), James J. McKenna (Editor), Euclid
O. Smith (Editor)
Oxford University Press; 1st edition (May 15, 1999).
Primate
Adaptaqtion and Evolution, by John Fleagle (Author), Academic Press; 2nd
edition (September 11, 1998) John Fleagle has improved on his 1988 text by reconceptualizing
chapters and by bringing new findings in functional and evolutionary approaches
to bear on his synthesis of comparative primate data. The Second Edition provides
a foundation upon which students can develop an understanding of our primate
heritage. It features up-to-date information gained through academic training,
laboratory experience and field research. This beautifully illustrated volume
provides a comprehensive introductory text explaining the many aspects of primate
biology and human evolution.
Key Features
* Provides up-to-date information about many aspects of primate biology and
evolution
* Contains a completely new chapter on primate communities
* Presents totally revised chapters on primate origins, early anthropoids, and
fossil platyrrhines
* Includes an updated glossary, new illustrations, and a revised Classification
of Order Primates
* Succeeds as the best introductory text on primate evolution because it synthesizes
and allows access to primary literature
*Female
Choices: Sexual Behavior of Female Primates, by Meredith F. Small, Cornell
Univ Pr; Reissue edition (October 1995) The importance of female choice in the
evolution and social structure of a species has only emerged in the last 30
some years from the obscurity into which Darwin and other early theorists cast
it. Small (anthopology, Cornell U.) draws on first hand observation of mating
strategies of non-human female primates, revealing them as highly sexual, and
far from passive receptors of male advances. She discusses human behavior in
the final chapter; her insights are readable and often witty. Charmingly illustrated
by the author's sister.
*Sperm
Wars: The Science of Sex, by Robin Baker, DIANE Publishing Co; (January
1999) If you've ever looked upon sperm as a little army of white-coated soldiers
setting off to sack and pillage a barely pregnable fortress . . . well, you'd
be right, according to this fascinating new book. Dr. Robin Baker, who has studied
sperm and cervical mucus in much greater detail than anyone would've thought
necessary, has come to some startling conclusions: that less than 1 percent
of sperm is actually designed to fertilize an egg (the rest are there to block
other men's sperm), and that 4 to 10 percent of all children born to married
couples are in fact the offspring of other men, usually of higher socioeconomic
status, with whom the mother had a short-term relationship.
*Sex,
Evolution, and Behavior: Adaptations for Reproductions, by Martin Daly,
Margo Wilson, Prindle Weber & Schmidt; 2nd edition (March 1983) (From a
reader in Feb, 2001) read this book in a college class. Mind you, I didn't read
most of my college books, but I couldn't put this one down. It gives a clear,
intelligent, remarkably well-documented, fascinating description of how sex
evolved and how that evolution effects the behavior of everything from bacteria
to modern social humans. This book is very accessible to any reasonably educated
reader, regardless of your knowledge of evolutionary biology. And each idea
is punctuated with a fascinating example taken from nature. Why do lightning
bugs flash, and what controls the pattern to their flashing? Why are there two
sexes? Why is a red sports car sexy? You'll learn the (evolutionary biology)
answers to these and countless other intriguing questions. This book is a great
lesson in evolution and a revealing investigation of why aniamls do the things
they do, from an African hamster to... you.
Peacemaking
Among Primates, by Frans De Waal, Harvard Univ Pr; Reprint edition (September
1990) Waal (Wisconsin Regional Primate Center) examines the ways in which aggression
and reconciliation are both necessary, complementary aspects of primate social
relationships; describes these aspects in chimpanzee, rhesus monkey, stumptail
monkeys, bonobos monkeys; points out implications for their human relatives.
Seventy-five photos.
*Plan
and Purpose in Nature, by George C. Williams (Author), Weidenfeld &
Nicolson; (1996) Plan and Purpose in Nature is a brilliant survey of Darwinian
evolution in the natural world.It tells the story not only of the wonderful
adaptations which the process of the natural selection produces throughout nature,but
also the limitations of evolution for the 20th century human beings,which environment
and diet have changed drastically while their biology and psychology have not.
Primate
Communites, by J. G. Fleagle (Editor), Charles Janson (Editor), Kaye Reed
(Editor) , Cambridge University Press; (October 14, 1999) Although the behavior
and ecology of primates has been more thoroughly studied than that of any other
group of mammals, there have been very few attempts to compare the communities
of living primates found in different parts of the world. In Primate Communities,
an international group of experts compares the composition, behavior, and ecology
of primate communities in Africa, Asia, Madagascar, and South America. They
examine the factors underlying the similarities and differences among these
communities, including their phylogenetic history, climate, rainfall, soil type,
forest composition, competition with other vertebrates, and human activities.
As it brings together information about primate communities from around the
world for the very first time, it will quickly become an important source book
for researchers in anthropology, ecology, and conservation, and a readable and
informative text for undergraduate and graduate students studying primate ecology,
primate conservation, or primate behavior.
* Biological
Perspecitves on Aggression, (Progress in Clinical and Biological Research,
Vol. 169), by Kevin J. Flannelly ,Wiley-Liss; (November 1984)
*Anger:
The Misunderstood Emotion, by Carol Tavris (Author) Touchstone Books; Revised
edition (September 15, 1989) "This landmark book" (San Francisco Chronicle)
dispels the common myths about the causes and uses of anger -- for example,
that expressing anger is always good for you, that suppressing anger is always
unhealthy, or that women have special "anger problems" that men do
not. Dr. Carol Tavris expertly examines every facet of that fascinating emotion
-- from genetics to stress to the rage for justice. (Fully revised and updated,
Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion now includes:)* A new consideration of biological
politics: Should testosterone or PMS excuse rotten tempers or aggressive actions?*
The five conditions under which anger is likely to be effective -- and when
it's not.* Strategies for solving specific anger problems -- chronic anger,
dealing with difficult people, repeated family battles, anger after divorce
or victimization, and aggressive children.
*Sexual
Pharmacology, by A. Riley (Editor), Malcolm Peet (Editor), Catherine Wilson
(Editor) Clarendon Pr; (January 1994) This volume provides a detailed and comprehensive
review of current knowledge concerning the effect of drugs on sexual function.
It should raise awareness of such effects which commonly cause distress to patients.
Written by leading figures in the fields of sexual medicine and psychopharmacology,
the drug effects are discussed in the context of current understanding of the
underlying biochemical and physiological basis of sexuality. The book should
be of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, sex therapists, pharmacists
and researchers in field of sexual behaviour, as well as prescribing physicians
and pharmacologists.
*Paternity
in Primates: Genetic Tests and Theories: Implications of Human DNA Fingerprinting,
by R.D. Martin, A.F. Dixson, E.J. Wickings (Editor) S. Karger Publishing; (February
1992)
*Primate
Societies, by Barbara B. Smuts, Dorothy L. Cheney (Editor), Robert M. Seyfarth,
Ric Wrangham, Richard W. Wrangham (Editor), University of Chicago Press; (May
1987) Primate Societies is a synthesis of the most current information on primate
socioecology and its theoretical and empirical significance, spanning the disciplines
of behavioral biology, ecology, anthropology, and psychology. It is a very rich
source of ideas about other taxa
*Parental
Behaviour of Rodents, by R.W. Elwood (Editor), John Wiley & Sons; (April
1983)
*The
Evolution of Primate Behavior, by Alison Jolly, MacMillan Publishing Company.;
2nd edition (January 1985)
*The
Last Ape: Pygmy Chimpanzee Behavior and Ecology, by Takayoshi Kano, Evelyn
Ono Vineberg, Univ Microfilms Intl; (September 1992) Not "last" because
all the others are about to die out, but because they are the most recent of
the apes to be studied thoroughly. Kano (zoology, Primate Research Institute,
Kzota, Japan) recounts his observations and experiences in the Wamba Forest,
Zaire, 1974-85, studying what many believe to be the species most closely related
to humans. He particularly notes how the lifelong sexual and quasi-sexual behavior
among individuals of any age and gender, alleviates the competition and dominance
prevalent among other primates. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland,
Or.
*bn Chimpanzees
of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior, by Jane Goodall, October 1986, Harvard University
Press. (From a reader in 2000). "Jane Goodall has written a wonderful resource
for anyone interested in primate behavior. This book covers every aspect of
chimpanzee behavior from feeding, social structure, individual chimp bios, chimp
warfare, and everything else you could ever want to know. If you're interested
in chimpanzee behavior, then this book is a must read!"
* Chimpanzee
Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes by F. B. M. De Waal, Frans De Waal HarperCollins;
(January 1983) The great apes, like humans, can recognize themselves in mirrors.
They communicate by sound and gesture, form bands along what can only be called
political lines, and sometimes engage in what is very clearly organized warfare.
(Less frequently, too, they practice cannibalism.) In Chimpanzee Politics Frans
de Waal, a longtime student of simian behavior, analyzes the behavior of a captive
tribe of chimpanzees, comparing its actions with those of ape societies in the
wild. What he finds is often not pleasant: chimps seem capable of astonishing
deviousness and savagery, which has obvious implications for the behavior their
human cousins sometimes exhibit
*bn Social
Behavior of Female Vertebrate, Samuel K. Wasser (Editor) Cambridge University
Press; (March 9, 2000). For ages, women have been considered as the emotional
sex. The aim of this book is to investigate this stereotype. A wide range of
emotions, such as anger, pride, shame, sadness, and joy, and emotional expressions,
such as smiling and laughing are covered in the various chapters. The purpose
of each chapter is to show whether sex differences have been found in psychological
research in relation to one of these aspects of emotion, in which situations
these differences were especially strong, and how (the absence of) these differences
can be explained. This book is the first in its field to systematically present
an overview of research and theory on gender differences in emotion.
*Mutual
Aid: a factor of evolution, by Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin, New York University
Press; (1972) (From a reader in Aug., 2002) "This book, which appears to
be about the only surviving scientific text from Kropotkin's work, is very interesting
and insightful. The first two chapters which deal with animals I found most
interesting, because they address the roots of the falsehood of social-darwinism.
Kropotkin then proceeds to move through the different stages of human society
and describes the mutual aid a compassion fetures therein. It is a fantastic
book and I highly recommend it. It is a scientific text, but it has major political
implications and is very accessible."
*The
Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, by Oliver W.
Sacks (explores neurological disorders), Summit Books; (December 1985) In his
most extraordinary book, "one of the great clinical writers of the 20th
century" (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients lost
in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. Oliver
Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals
afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations: patients who
have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who
are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken
with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs
have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny
artistic or mathematical talents.
*Ecological
Aspects of Social Evolution: Birds and Mammals, by Daniel I. Rubenstein,
Richard W. Wrangham, Books on Demand; (January 1, 1986) This ambitious book,
the result of a 1983 symposium on social evolution, presents some of the most
up-to-date information and theories available on how ecological pressures and
social traditions influence social organization. Eighteen groups of birds and
mammals, including humans, are discussed. The chief aim is to examine to what
extent social evolution in diverse taxonomic groups can be understood through
common principles. The topics discussed are complex, but due to the high quality
of the writing and editing, highly understandable. The editors' excellent introductory
and final chapters greatly help the reader in grasping the sometimes difficult
subject matter. A book most large academic libraries should acquire. Nicholas
J. Volkman, Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Stinson Beach, Cal. (Copyright 1986
Reed Business Information, Inc).
*Sexual
Selection, by Malte Andersson, Princeton Univ Pr; (May 27, 1994) Sexual
Selection provides a masterly account of both the complex mathematical theory
and the relevant data.... [It] deserves to be widely read as a definitive summary
of what we know about sexual selection and as a guide to what remains to be
done.
*Sex
and Friendship in Baboons, by Barbara B. Smuts, Aldine de Gruyter; (December
1985) When it first appeared in the mid-1980s, this book transcended the traditional
ethological focus on sexual interactions by analyzing male-female relationships
outside the context of mating in a troop of wild baboons. Barbara Smuts used
long-term friendships between males and females, documented over a two-year
period, to show how social interactions between members of friendly pairs differed
from those of other troop mates. Her findings, now enhanced with data from another
fifteen years of field studies, suggest that the evolution of male reproductive
strategies in baboons can only be understood by considering the relationship
between sex and friendship: female baboons prefer to mate with males who have
previously engaged in friendly interaction with them and their offspring. Smuts
suggests that female choice may promote male investment in other species, and
she explores the relevance of her findings for the evolution of male-female
relationships in humans
Evolution:
The Triumph of an Idea, by Carl Zimmer, Perennial; (October 8, 2002). While
its opponents may sneer that "it's just a theory," evolution has transcended
that label to take its place as one of the most important ideas in human history.
Science journalist Carl Zimmer explores its history and future in Evolution:
The Triumph of an Idea, a companion piece to the epic PBS series of the same
name. The book, lavishly illustrated with photos of our distant cousins, anatomical
diagrams, and timelines, is as beautiful as it is enlightening. While those
closely following the field will find little more here than a well-written summation
of the state of the art in 2001, readers who have watched the evolutionary debates
from a distance will quickly catch up with the details of the principal arguments.
Zimmer's text is fresh and expansive, explaining both the minutiae of comparative
anatomy and the grand scale of geological time with verve and clarity. Following
the trend of turn-of-the-century evolution writers, he treats the religious
beliefs of creationists with respect, while firmly insisting that the scientific
evidence against their position is too compelling to ignore. Touching on biology,
philosophy, theology, politics, and nearly every other field of human thought,
Evolution will inspire its readers with the elegance and importance of Darwin's
simple theory.
BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL
A
Mind of Her Own: The Evolutionary Psychology of Women, by Anne Campbell,
March 2002. Theories of human evolution portray ancestral men as active individuals
who shaped future generations by testosterone-driven competition, creating a
critical gulf between reproductive winners and losers. But what role is left
for women within such evolutionary thinking? Their role has been constricted
to mere consumers of the fruits of male competition accepting the winning male
genes to pass to their children. Allegedly devoid of the need and capacity for
competition amongst themselves, women could be neither winners nor losers in
the reproductive stakes and so could contribute nothing to the genetic variability
that drives selection. But have women really just been bit part actors in the
whole story of evolution? Have they not played their own role in ensuring their
reproductive success? In this accessible book, Anne Campbell challenges this
passive role of women in evolutionary theory.
The
First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They are Changing the World,
by Helen Fisher, Feb. 2000 Rutgers University anthropologist Helen Fisher isn't
afraid of immodest proposals. The woman who demystified four million years'
worth of romance in Anatomy of Love now suggests in The First Sex that evolution
favors women. Citing recent research in biology, sociology, sociobiology, and
anthropology, Fisher makes a strong case for a near future in which the natural
talents of women as thinkers, communicators, and healers, adapted to the age
of information, create a new kind of global leadership in business, medicine,
and education, skewing the power dynamics of sex and relationships towards the
feminine. Women, she says, are contextual thinkers to a far greater degree than
men; this "web thinking," as Fisher dubs it, is an asset in a global
marketplace. Women are far more talented than men at achieving win-win outcomes
in negotiations. On an organizational level, women are less interested in rank
and more interested in relationships and networking, an essential attribute
in a world without borders. In the arena of education, women have a natural
talent for language and self-expression; as healers, they enjoy an emotional
empathy with their charges that can and will redefine doctor-patient relationships.
And, she predicts, in the next century women will reinvent love by asserting
feminine sexuality and creating peer marriages, true partnerships. While Fisher's
future may seem idealized, her science and her sociology make for a well-reasoned
case that the people Simone de Beauvior once defined as "the second sex"
are about to move to the head of the class. --
Gender
and Emotion: Social Psychological Perspectives, by Agneta H. Fischer (Editor),
Keith Oatley (Editor), Antony Manstead (Editor) For ages, women have been considered
as the emotional sex. The aim of this book is to investigate this stereotype.
A wide range of emotions, such as anger, pride, shame, sadness, and joy, and
emotional expressions, such as smiling and laughing are covered in the various
chapters. The purpose of each chapter is to show whether sex differences have
been found in psychological research in relation to one of these aspects of
emotion, in which situations these differences were especially strong, and how
(the absence of) these differences can be explained. This book is the first
in its field to systematically present an overview of research and theory on
gender differences in emotion.
The
Psychology of Sex Differences, Vol. II: Annotated Bibligoraphy, by Eleanor
Emmons MacCoby, Carol Nagy Jacklin, Jan 1987
Feminism
and Evolutionary Biology: Boundaries, Intersections, and Frontiers, by Patricia
Gowaty, January 1, 1997. Standing at the intersection of evolutionary biology
and feminist theory is a large audience interested in the questions one field
raises for the other. Have evolutionary biologists worked largely or strictly
within a masculine paradigm, seeing males as evolving and females as merely
reacting passively or carried along with the tide? Would our view of nature
`red in tooth in claw' be different if women had played a larger role in the
creation of evolutionary theory and through education in its transmission to
younger generations? Is there any such thing as a feminist science or feminist
methodology? For feminists, does any kind of biological determinism undermine
their contention that gender roles purely constructed, not inherent in the human
species? Does the study of animals have anything to say to those preoccupied
with the evolution and behavior of humans? All these questions and many more
are addressed by this book, whose contributing authors include leading scholars
in both feminism and evolutionary biology. Bound to be controversial, this book
is addressed to evolutionary biologists and to feminists and to the large number
of people interested in women's studies.
Male,
Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences, by David C. Geary, December
1998. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia. New approach to the sexes, explaining the
differences between men and women rather than describing them. Covers sexual
selection, paternal investment, evolution and development of the mind, and more.
For researchers and practitioners. Halftone illustrations
Women
in Human Evolution, by Lori D. Hager (Editor), May 23, 1997. Women in Human
Evolution challenges the traditional invisibility of women in human prehistory,
rejecting the conventional relegation of women to the realm of reproduction
in order to ask what else our female ancestors were doing. Raising key questions
about both the existing archaeological evidence and the theoretical models which
influence its interpretation, the contributors discuss the evolutionary models
used to explain gender differences. They suggest reinterpretations of existing
evidence to construct a model of human evolution which places women in a more
central role. Shifting their focus to the nature of the discipline itself, they
ask what impact women paleoanthropologists have had on the field's theoretical
assumptions and what work remains to be done.
The
Woman That Never Evolved, With a New Preface and Bibliographical Updates,
by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, December 1999. Hailed as a ground-breaking synthesis
of feminism and evolutionary theory when first published, The Woman That Never
Evolved is a bold and refreshing answer to contemporary versions of social Darwinism
that shoehorn female nature into narrow stereotypes. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, a leader
in modern primatology, argues that evolutionary theorists' emphasis on sexual
competition among males for access to females overlooks selection pressures
on females themselves. In a vivid account of what female primates themselves
actually do to secure their own reproductive advantage, she demolishes myths
about sexually passive, "coy," compliant, exclusively nurturing females.
Her lucid and compelling account of the great range of behaviors in many species
of primates, in many circumstances, expands the concept of female nature to
include the full range of selection pressures on females, and reminds us of
the true complexity and dynamism of the evolutionary story.
Lucy's
Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Human Evolution, by Alison Jolly, June 2001.
Alison Jolly believes that biologists have an important story to tell about
being human-not the all-too-familiar tale of selfishness, competition, and biology
as destiny but rather one of cooperation and interdependence, from the first
merging of molecules to the rise of a species inextricably linked by language,
culture, and group living. This is the story that unfolds in Lucy's Legacy,
the saga of human evolution as told by a world-renowned primatologist who works
among the female-dominant ringtailed lemurs of Madagascar. We cannot be certain
that Lucy was female-the bones themselves do not tell us. However, we do know,
as Jolly points out in this erudite, funny, and informative book, that the females
who came after Lucy-more adept than their males in verbal facility, sharing
food, forging links between generations, migrating among places and groups,
and devising creative mating strategies-played as crucial a role in the human
evolutionary process as "man" ever did. In a book that takes us from
the first cell to global society, Jolly shows us that to learn where we came
from and where we go next, we need to understand how sex and intelligence, cooperation
and love, emerged from the harsh Darwinian struggle in the past, and how these
natural powers may continue to evolve in the future
The
Decline of Males: The First Look at an Unexpected New World for Men and Women,
by Lionel Tiger, September 2, 2000. Biological anthropologist Lionel Tiger,
best known for developing the concept of male bonding in Men in Groups, offers
what he calls "a chronicle of the decline of men and the ascendancy of
women." If there were a male counterpart to feminism--masculinism?--this
is where it would be found. Profound social changes over the last several decades
are rooted in reproductive technology, which "has given enormous general
power to women that has been translated beyond the family sphere," says
Tiger. This is not an unequivocally positive development, he believes, and it
has led to a slew of problems that include general family breakdown. The book
is occasionally alarmist, yet there is also a freshness to its argument.
Evolution
of Human Sexuality, by Donald Symons, February 1981. (From a reader, Aug.
2001) It's hard to believe this book is over twenty years old, so little has
it dated. One of the very best of its genre. Current writers of thick easy paperbacks
on the subject of human evolution have not matched this book for scholarship,
relevance, or modest wit. Sprinkled with nicely chosen literary references that
not only satisfy literary readers, but serve as an important and neglected source
of data on human sexuality. Professional readers will have professional disputes
and quibbles, but the average woman or man interested in their most basic interests
will find this surprisingly readable academic book a revelation.
Sex,
Time and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, by Leonard
Shlain Viking Press, August 14, 2003. This book sets out to explore why and
when people evolved so far away from other mammals in several key ways, all
of which Dr. Shlain ties to the biological differences between men and women.
As in his excellent prior work The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict
Between Word and Image (which holds that there are links between the ascendancy
of patriarchy and written language and the descent of matriarchal societies
and goddess-based religions), some of the concepts proposed in this book might
seem a bit of a stretch. And they are-whether or not they turn out to be factual.
Shlain contends, for instance, that women essentially invented the concept of
time due to their experience of menses. Whatever conclusions the reader comes
to, the author exposes the underlying gender biases in so many scientific assumptions;
the result is one of those books that cannot help but alter one's perceptions.
A consistently engaging writer, Shlain traces the course of his own evolving
ideas with what might be called a didactic wit: bold statements are first writ
large, then Dr. Shlain reveals how he came upon them, frequently with colorful
anecdotes that show these are questions he's been wrestling with for many years.
It's difficult to tell whether this fascinating thinker will be viewed as the
next Darwin or as a crank, but there's no denying this is an audacious work
in the realm of evolutionary biology.
*Why
Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior, by Bobbi S. Low, Princeton
Univ Pr; (November 1, 2001). Why are men, like other primate males, usually
the aggressors and risk takers? Why do women typically have fewer sexual partners?
Why is killing infants routine in some cultures, but forbidden in others? Why
is incest everywhere taboo? Bobbi Low ranges from ancient Rome to modern America,
from the Amazon to the Arctic, and from single-celled organisms to international
politics to show that these and many other questions about human behavior largely
come down to evolution and sex. More precisely, as she shows in this uniquely
comprehensive and accessible survey of behavioral and evolutionary ecology,
they come down to the basic principle that all organisms evolved to maximize
their reproductive success and seek resources to do so. Low begins by reviewing
the fundamental arguments and assumptions of behavioral ecology: selfish genes,
conflicts of interest, and the tendency for sexes to reproduce through different
behaviors. She explains why in primate species--from chimpanzees and apes to
humans--males seek to spread their genes by devoting extraordinary efforts to
finding mates, while females find it profitable to expend more effort on parenting.
Low illustrates these sexual differences among humans by showing that in places
as diverse as the parishes of nineteenth-century Sweden, the villages of seventeenth-century
China, and the forests of twentieth-century Brazil, men have tended to seek
power and resources, from cattle to money, to attract mates, while women have
sought a secure environment for raising children. She makes it clear, however,
they have not done so simply through individual efforts or in a vacuum, but
that men and women act in complex ways that involve cooperation and coalition
building and that are shaped by culture, technology, tradition, and the availability
of resources. Low also considers how the evolutionary drive to acquire resources
leads to environmental degradation and warfare and asks whether our behavior
could be channeled in more constructive ways
*Good
Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, by
Frans De Waal, Harvard Univ Pr; Reprint edition (October 1997). In Good Natured
Frans de Waal, ethologist and primatologist, asks us to reconsider human morality
in light of moral aspects that can be identified in animals. Within the complex
negotiations of human society, a moral action may involve thoughts and feelings
of guilt, reciprocity, obligation, expectations, rules, or community concern.
De Waal finds these aspects of morality prevalent in other animal societies,
mostly primate, and suggests that the two philosophical camps supporting nature
and nurture may have to be disbanded in order to adequately understand human
morality. A theoretician, de Waal is meticulous in his research, cautious not
to extrapolate too much from his findings, and logically sound in his arguments.
He also writes with precision and a flair for the dramatic, carrying readers
along with graceful ease and vivid examples
*Mother
Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species, by Sarah
Hrdy, Ballantine Books; (September 5, 2000). Mother Nature: A History of Mothers,
Infants, and Natural Selection should be required reading for anyone who happens
to be a human being. In it, Hrdy reveals the motivations behind some of our
most primal and hotly contested behavioral patterns--those concerning gender
roles, mate choice, sex, reproduction, and parenting--and the ideas and institutions
that have grown up around them. She unblinkingly examines and illuminates such
difficult subjects as control of reproductive rights, infanticide, "mother
love," and maternal ambition with its ever-contested companions: child
care and the limits of maternal responsibility. Without ever denying personal
accountability, she points out that many of the patterns of abuse and neglect
that we see in cultures around the world (including, of course, our own) are
neither unpredictable nor maladaptive in evolutionary terms. "Mother"
Nature, as she points out, is not particularly concerned with what we call "morality."
The philosophical and political implications of our own deeply-rooted behaviors
are for us to determine--which can be done all the better with the kind of understanding
gleaned from this exhaustive work. Hrdy's passion for this material is evident,
and she is deeply aware of the personal stake she has here as a woman, a mother,
and a professional. This highly accomplished author relies on her own extensive
research background as well as the works of others in multiple disciplines (anthropology,
primatology, sociobiology, psychology, and even literature). Despite the exhaustive
documentation given to her conclusions (as witness the 140-plus-page notes and
bibliography sections), the book unfolds in an exceptionally lucid, readable,
and often humorous manner. It is a truly compelling read, highly recommended.
*Why
is Sex Fun?, by Jared M. Diamond Basic Books; (November 1998). Many of us
pursue fitness because we want to remain attractive to partners and potential
partners, and we stay healthy so we can continue to have sex with those partners.
But why do people care so much about sex? This book, written by an evolutionary
biologist, explains how all the weird quirks of human sexuality came to be:
sex with no intention of procreation, invisible fertility, sex acts pursued
in private--all common to us, but very different from most other species. Why
Is Sex Fun? asks us to look at ourselves in a brand-new way, and richly rewards
us for doing so.
*Anatomy
of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray, by Helen
Fisher, Ballantine Books; (January 3, 1994). "Captivates the reader, answers
all those puzzling questions that caused your mother (or priest or guidance
counselor or gym teacher) to blame God and/or hormones....Her prediction of
a more open and egalitarian order provides a compelling--and hopeful--vision
for the future."
*Coalitions
and Alliances in Humans and Other Animals, (Oxford Science Publications)
by Alexander H. Harcourt, Fans B. M. De Waal (Editor), Oxford Univ Pr; (April
1992). This book explores in detail how and why animals, including humans, co-operate
with one another in conflicts with other members of their own species, and examines
the difference such help makes to their lives and to the nature of the society
in which they live. This book is intended for zoologists interested in primates;
behavioural ecologists; anthropologists; social psychologists; sociologists;
evolutionary biologists.
*Homicide
(Foundations of Human Behavior), by Martin Daly, Margo Wilson Aldine de Gruyter;
(January 1, 1988). Killing is above all a drastic way of resolving interpersonal
conflicts of interest. To understand why people kill, we need a theory of the
nature of individual self-interests that will explain where and why they conflict.
In this bold and lively, fact-filled book, Martin Daly and Margo Wilson find
such theory in the emerging paradigm of evolutionary psychology, and demonstrate
its utility for understanding homicide.
Just
Like a Woman: How Gender Science is Redefining What Makes Us Females, by
Dianne Hales (Author) Bantam ; Reprint edition (June 6, 2000). The entry of
more and more women into science, writes Dianne Hales, has started a quiet revolution,
a reassessment of accepted notions of what it is to be a woman. "Women
are not the second sex but a separate sex, female to the bone and to the very
cells that make up those bones.... In affirming our femaleness, we are not diminishing
or discrediting our mental ability or essential equality. Rather, we are recognizing
a fundamental source of strength and sustenance."
This "equal but different" stance is crucial to modern gender studies--heretofore,
Hales says, most if not all medical and psychological research was done on men,
and the conclusions recklessly applied to women. Now, science is finding out
that females have their own unique strengths that equip them both for the biological
roles they may choose to embrace as well as the societal roles they have often
been denied. Hales explodes stereotypical notions of physiology and psychology
in this well-researched and liberating book.
*The
Biology of Violence: How Understanding the Brain, Behavior and Environment Can
Break the Vicious Circle of Aggression, Free Press; (February 1, 2002).There
has been a revolution in neuroscience over the last ten years, and, as Debra
Niehoff shows in the first book to examine violence from a complete biological
perspective, now is the right time to consider how we are going to use the achievements
of that revolution to reduce the level of violence in our society. What is this
new perspective that Niehoff presents? Simply that by understanding human biology
we can control violence in our society. The debate over the roles of "nature"
and "nurture" is over. Our genes do affect the likelihood of violence.
And so does our mature brain chemistry. And so does our environment, as well
as the nurturing we get as children and the social life we have with our peers.
Everything affects us, but no one element is the sole determining factor. The
real story that biology has shown us is that we recreate ourselves all the time,
even as adults. Everything is involved in the ongoing process of life.
*Agression
and Violence: Genetic, Neurobiological, and Biosocial Perspectives, by Robert
B. Cairns (Editor), David M. Stoff (Editor) Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc; (September
1996)
*The
Emotional Brain: The Mysterous Underpinnings of Emotional Life, by Joseph
Ledoux (Author), Touchstone Books; Reprint edition (March 27, 1998). Joseph
LeDoux, a professor at the Center for Neural Science at New York University,
has written the most comprehensive examination to date of how systems in the
brain work in response to emotions, particularly fear. Among his fascinating
findings is the work of amygdala structure within the brain. The amygdala mediates
fear and other responses and actually processes information more quickly than
other parts of the brain, allowing a rapid response that can save our lives
before other parts of the brain have had a chance to react. He also offers findings
and theories on how the brain handles--and in many cases, buries--extremely
traumatic experiences. In all, a compelling read about the mysteries of emotions
and the workings of the brain.
*Maladapted
Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology, (Studies in Developmental
Psychology), by Simon Baron-Cohen (Editor), Psychology Pr; (August 1, 1997).
Newly available in paperback, this is the first book to bring together classic
and contemporary readings illustrating the new subdiscipline, evolutionary psychopathology.
Each chapter demonstrates how evolutionary arguments are being brought to bear
on the study of a different psychiatric condition or pathalogical behaviour.
The Maladapted Mind is aimed primarily at advanced students and researchers
in the fields of psychiatry, abnormal psychology, biological anthropology, evolutionary
biology, and cognitive science.
Genes
on the Couch: Explorations in Evolutionary Psychology, by Paul Gilbert (Editor),
Kent G. Bailey (Editor), Brunner-Routledge; 1st edition (December 2000). Genes
on the Couch brings together respected clinicians who have integrated evolutionary
insights into their case conceptualization and therapeutic interventions. Various
psychotherapy schools are represented, and each author provides illustrative
examples of the interventions used. Specific topics addressed include the nature
of evolved mental mechanisms, regulation/dysregulation of internal processes
attachment and kinship in therapy, the importance of internalizing warmth as
a therapeutic goal, kin selection and incest avoidance, co-operation and deception
in social relations, difficulties in working with certain male clients, gender
differences in therapy, and the roles of shame and guilt in treatment.
Altruism
and Aggression: Social and Biological Origins, by Carolyn Zahn-Waxler (Editor),
E. Mark Cummings (Editor), Ronald J. Iannotti (Editor), Cambridge University
Press; Reprint edition (July 26, 1991). In this timely collection, biological
and behavioral scientists address questions emerging from new research about
the origins and interconnections of altruism and aggression within and across
species. They explore the genetic underpinnings of affiliative and aggressive
orientations as well as the biological correlates of these behaviors. They consider
environmental variables--family patterns, childrearing practices--that influence
prosocial and antisocial behaviors. And they examine internal processes such
as empathy, socio-inferential abilities, and cognitive attributions, that regulate
"kindness" and "selfishness." The first section focuses
on biological, sociobiological, and ethological approaches. It explores the
utility of animal models for understanding both human and infrahuman social
behavior. The second section focuses on the development, socialization, and
mediation of altruism and aggression in children. Several concerns underly both
sections. These include the role of attachment processes, separation distress,
reciprocal interchanges, and social play in determining the quantity and quality
of aggressive and affiliative interactions; the function of emotions (e.g. empathy,
guilt, and anger) as instigators of altruism and aggression; and the nature
of sex differences. Several chapters present data on emotions that mediate altruism
and aggression and also on patterns of association between prosocial and antisocial
behaviors. The authors take an ethological perspective, placing special importance
on the need to explore altruism and aggression in the real lives and natural
habitats of humans and other animals.
* Human
Nature: A Critical Reader, by Laura L. Betzig (Editor) Oxford University
Press; (October 1996)
Before Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, the meaning of "human
nature" was anybody's guess. Why do we do what we do? To Darwin and his
followers the answer is unequivocal: procreation and the continuation of the
species represent the essence of human existence. Human Nature collects the
first papers to test Darwinian theories on Homo sapiens. It also includes new
critiques of those classics written both by the authors themselves, and by biologists
who pioneered field studies, comparative studies, and cognitive studies on other
species. It also adds a new introduction which covers current publications on
human anatomy, physiology, emotions, cognition, and interaction. This is the
first book that employs Darwin's theory of life to explain what we do and who
we are.
*Human
Ethology, by Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Aldine de Gruyter; (June 1989). A
comprehensive study of the biological basis of human behavior. Translated, expanded,
and revised from the German edition by Eibl- Eibesfeldt (human ethology, Max
Planck Institute), based on his 20 years studying animal behavior and another
20 applying those studies to humans. Topics include basic concepts and methodology,
aggression, communication, development, asesthetics, and others. He is concerned
with finding a universal grammar of human behavior and with creating new perspectives
on problems in modern society. Well illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Accessible to general readers, essential to scholars. A monument. Annotation
copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
*The
Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior,
by Dean H. Hamer, Peter F.Copeland (Contributor), Simon & Schuster; (October
1994). In July 1993, a scientific event made front-page news: the discovery
that genetics plays a significant role in determining homosexuality. In The
Science of Desire, Dean Hamer -- the scientist behind the groundbreaking study
-- tells the inside story of how the discovery was made and what it means, not
only for our understanding of sexuality, but for human behavior in general.
In this accessible and remarkably clear book, Dean Hamer expands on the account
of his history-making research to explore the scientific, social, and ethical
issues raised by his findings. Dr. Hamer addresses such tough questions as whether
it would be possible or ethical to test in utero for the gay gene; whether genetic
manipulation could or should be used to alter a person's sexuality; and how
a gay gene could have survived evolution. A compelling behind-the-scenes look
at cutting-edge scientific inquiry, as well as a brilliant examination of the
ramifications of genetic research, The Science of Desire is a lasting resource
in the increasingly significant debate over the role that genetics plays in
our lives.
*Sex,
Power, Conflict: Evolutionary and Feminist Perspectives, by David M. Buss
(Editor), Neil M. Malamuth (Editor), Oxford University Press; (April 1996).
Sexual harassment in the workplace, date rape, and domestic violence dominate
the headlines and have recently sparked scholarly debates about the nature of
the sexes. Concurrently, the scientific community is conducting research in
topics of sex and gender issues. Indeed, more research is being done on the
topics of sexual conflict and coercion than at any other time in the history
of the social sciences. Despite this attention, it is clear that these issues
are being addressed from two essentially different perspectives: one is labeled
"feminist", while the other, viewed as antithetical to the feminist
movement, is called "evolutionary psychology", which emphasizes the
history of reproductive strategies in understanding conflict between the sexes.
This book brings together leading experts from both sides of the debate in order
to discover how each could offer insights lacking in the other. The editors'
overall goal is to show how the feminist and evolutionary approaches are complementary
despite their evident differences, then provide an integration and synthesis.
In fact, several of the contributors to this unique volume consider themselves
advocates of both approaches. As a stimulating presentation of the dynamics
of sex, power, and conflict--and a pioneering rapprochement of the diverse tendencies
within the scientific community-- this book will attract a wide audience in
both psychology and women's studies fields.
*The
Evolution of Cooperation, by Robert Axelrod, Basic Books; Reprint edition
(September 1985)
*Yanomamo, the Fierce People, by Napoleon A. Chagnon, International Thomson
Publishing; 2nd edition (January 1977)
*The
Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture, by
Jerome H. Barkow (Editor), Leda Cosmides (Editor), John Tooby (Editor) Oxford
University Press; (August 1992). Although researchers have long been aware that
the species-typical architecture of the human mind is the product of our evolutionary
history, it has only been in the last three decades that advances in such fields
as evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, and paleoanthropology have made
the fact of our evolution illuminating. Converging findings from a variety of
disciplines are leading to the emergence of a fundamentally new view of the
human mind, and with it a new framework for the behavioral and social sciences.
First, with the advent of the cognitive revolution, human nature can finally
be defined precisely as the set of universal, species-typical information-processing
programs that operate beneath the surface of expressed cultural variability.
Second, this collection of cognitive programs evolved in the Pleistocene to
solve the adaptive problems regularly faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors--problems
such as mate selection, language acquisition, cooperation, and sexual infidelity.
Consequently, the traditional view of the mind as a general-purpose computer,
tabula rasa, or passive recipient of culture is being replaced by the view that
the mind resembles an intricate network of functionally specialized computers,
each of which imposes contentful structure on human mental organization and
culture. The Adapted Mind explores this new approach--evolutionary psychology--and
its implications for a new view of culture.
*Evolutionary
Social Psychology, by Jeffry A. Simpson (Editor), Douglas Kenrick (Editor),
Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc; (February 1997).
*The
Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins Oxford Press; (September 1990. Inheriting
the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard
Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world
with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about
organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work
was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build
and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer
many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought
of evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within each of our bodies?
Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters
and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the
perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce
more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology,
he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced
the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans
exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can
try to understand our strings.
Mean
Genes: From Sex to Money to Food, Taming Our Primal Instincts, by Terry
Burnham, Jay Phelan, Penguin Books; (August 28, 2001). Why do we want-and do-so
many things that are bad for us? In Mean Genes Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan
argue that we need to stop looking to Sigmund Freud for answers and start looking
to Charles Darwin. Mean Genes reveals that our struggles for self-improvement
are, in fact, battles against our own genes-genes that helped our distant ancestors
flourish, but are selfish and out of place in the modern world. Using this evolutionary
lens, Mean Genes brilliantly examines the issues that most affect our lives-body
image, money, addiction, violence, and relationships, friendship, love, and
fidelity-and offers steps to help us lead more satisfying lives.
The
Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker , Penguin
Putnam; (September 26, 2002). Our conceptions of human nature affect everything
aspect of our lives, from child-rearing to politics to morality to the arts.
Yet many fear that scientific discoveries about innate patterns of thinking
and feeling may be used to justify inequality, to subvert social change, and
to dissolve personal responsibility. In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explores
the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings.
He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature and
instead have embraced three dogmas: The Blank Slate (the mind has no innate
traits), The Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and
The Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from
biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged
in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them.Pinker
provides calm in the stormy debate by disentangling the political and moral
issues from the scientific ones. He shows that equality, compassion, responsibility,
and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about an innately organized
psyche. Pinker shows that the new sciences of mind, brain, genes, and evolution,
far from being dangerous, are complementing observations about the human condition
made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style
that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: irreverent
wit, lucid exposition, and startling insight on matters great and small.
Evolution
of the Social Contract, by Brian Skyrms (Author), Cambridge University Press;
(June 28, 1996). In this highly readable book, Brian Skyrms, a recognized authority
on game and decision theory, investigates traditional problems of the social
contract in terms of evolutionary dynamics. Game theory is skillfully employed
to offer new interpretations of a wide variety of social phenomena, including
justice, mutual aid, commitment, convention and meaning. The book is not technical
and requires no special background knowledge. As such, it could be enjoyed by
students and professionals in a wide range of disciplines: political science,
philosophy, decision theory, economics and biology.
Unto
Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior, by Elliott Sober,
Elliott Sober, David Sloan Wilson, Harvard Univ Pr; Reprint edition (October
1999) In Unto Others, philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson
bravely attempt to reconcile altruism, both evolutionary and psychological,
with the scientific discoveries that seem to portray nature as red in tooth
and claw. The first half of the book deals with the evolutionary objection to
altruism. For altruistic behavior to be produced by natural selection, it must
be possible for natural selection to act on groups--but conventional wisdom
holds that group selection was conclusively debunked by George Williams in Adaptation
and Natural Selection. Sober and Wilson nevertheless defend group selection,
instructively reviewing the arguments against it and citing important work that
relies on it. They then discuss group selection in human evolution, testing
their conclusions against the anthropological literature. In the second half
of the book, the question is whether any desires are truly altruistic. Sober
and Wilson painstakingly examine psychological evidence and philosophical arguments
for the existence of altruism, ultimately concluding that neither psychology
nor philosophy is likely to decide the question. Fortunately, evolutionary biology
comes to the rescue. Sober and Wilson speculate that creatures with truly altruistic
desires are reproductively fitter than creatures without--altruists, in short,
make better parents than do egoists. Rich in information and insight, Unto Others
is a book that will be seriously considered by biologists, philosophers, anthropologists,
and psychologists alike. The interested amateur may find it difficult in places
but worth the effort overall.
Nature
Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human, by Matt Ridley
(Author) HarperCollins; 1st edition (April 29, 2003). In the follow-up to his
bestseller, Genome, Matt Ridley takes on a centuries-old question: is it nature
or nurture that makes us who we are? Ridley asserts that the question itself
is a "false dichotomy." Using copious examples from human and animal
behavior, he presents the notion that our environment affects the way our genes
express themselves. Ridley writes that the switches controlling our 30,000 or
so genes not only form the structures of our brains but do so in such a way
as to cue off the outside environment in a tidy feedback loop of body and behavior.
In fact, it seems clear that we have genetic "thermostats" that are
turned up and down by environmental factors. He challenges both scientific and
folk concepts, from assumptions of what's malleable in a person to sociobiological
theories based solely on the "selfish gene." Ridley's proof is in
the pudding for such touchy subjects as monogamy, aggression, and parenting,
which we now understand have some genetic controls. Nevertheless, "the
more we understand both our genes and our instincts, the less inevitable they
seem." A consummate popularizer of science, Ridley once again provides
a perfect mix of history, genetics, and sociology for readers hungry to understand
the implications of the human genome sequence
*The
Elementary Structures of Kinship, by Claude Levi-Strauss (Author), Beacon
Press; (June 1, 1971) (From a reader, Jan. 2001) In this large and very dense
work on kinship, Claude Levi-Strauss advances a distinctive approach to the
issues of kinship, one that focuses not on descent (the relation of children
to parents) but on marriage ("alliance" in anthropological jargon),
seen as the exchange of women between groups. In the 1950s and 1960s, Claude
Levi-Strauss's work became an inspiration for a school of "Alliance Theorists"
who challenged the British social anthropological world's then-dominant view
that descent is primary and alliance a secondary means of reproducing the lineage.
Yet Levi-Strauss's analysis of kinship should be of interest to more than just
anthropologists; as the Confucians recognized, kinship is the basic equipment
of humanity and thus its mechanics are worth the attention of all those interested
in understanding humanity.
*Sociobiological
Perspecitves on Human Development, by Kevin Mac Donald (Editor), Kevin B.
MacDonald, Springer Verlag; (April 1988)|
*Nisa:
The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman, by Marjorie Shostak (Photographer),
Harvard Univ Pr; (November 2000). This classic paperback is available once again-
and exclusively-from Harvard University Press. This book is the story of the
life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunter-gatherers from southern
Africa's Kalahari desert. Told in her own words -- earthy, emotional, vivid
-- to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's
collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture,
the story is a fascinating view of a remarkable woman.
*Demonic
Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence, by Dale Peterson), Richard
Wrangham, Mariner Books; (November 14, 1997). If you harbor a sneaking suspicion
that men are a herd of ignoble savages, then this book is for you. Authors Wrangham
and Peterson will confirm your instincts. It turns out that hyperviolent social
behavior is deeply rooted in male human genes and common among our closest male
primate relatives. Rapes, beatings and killings are as much a part of life among
the great apes as they are among us. The authors try to conclude on some upbeat
notes that ring hollow, but their science reveals much about the dark side of
human nature. --
*Uniting
Psychology and Biology: Integrative Perspectives on Human Development, by
Nancy L. Segal (Editor), Glenn E.Weisfeld (Editor), Carol C. Weisfeld (Editor),
Glenn E. Weisfeld Ph. D. (Editor), Carol C. Weisfeld Ph. D. (Editor) American
Psychological Association (APA); (June 1997).
*Survival
of the Prettist: The Science of Beauty, by Nancy Etcoff (Author) (argues
persuasively that looking good has survival value, and that sensitivity to beauty
is a biological adaptation governed by brain circuits shaped by natural selection.),
Anchor; (July 11, 2000. In the latter part of the 20th century, the adage "Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder" has evolved far beyond its original intent
as an admonition against false vanity to become a cultural manifesto used to
explain phenomena as diverse as the art of Andy Warhol and the rise of a multi-billion-dollar
cosmetics industry. But is there something more to human reaction to beauty
than a conditioned response to social cues? Yes, says Harvard Medical School
psychologist Nancy Etcoff. Survival of the Prettiest argues persuasively that
looking good has survival value, and that sensitivity to beauty is a biological
adaptation governed by brain circuits shaped by natural selection. Etcoff synthesizes
a fascinating array of scientific research and cultural analysis in support
of her thesis. Psychologists find that babies stare significantly longer at
the faces adults find appealing, while the mothers of "attractive"
babies display more intense bonding behaviors. The symmetrical face of average
proportions may have become the optimal design because of evolutionary pressures
operating against population extremes. Gentlemen may prefer blondes not so much
for their hair color as for the fairness of their skin--which makes it easier
to detect the flush of sexual excitement. And high heels accentuate a woman's
breasts and buttocks, signaling fertility. Is beauty programmed into our brain
circuits as a proxy for health and youth? In marked contrast to other writers
like Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth), Etcoff argues that it is, noting, "Rather
than denigrate one source of women's power, it would seem far more useful for
feminists to attempt to elevate all sources of women's power."
*Of
Mice and Women: Aspects of Female Agression, by Kaj Bjorkqvist, Pirkko Niemela,
Academic Press; (September 21, 1992) This book is a comprehensive compilation
and discussion of research findings on female aggression from anthropology,
social psychology, animal research, case studies, and representations in literature.
This multidisciplinary approach will address such questions as: 'Are females
less aggressive than males?' 'Is female aggressive behavior perhaps quantitatively,
different than male aggressive behavior?' The book also discusses patterns of
agression, the role of hormones in aggression, cultural differences, and how
human aggression differs from aggression within animal species.
*Ache
Life History: The Ecology and Demography of a Foraging People(Foundations
of Human Behavior), by Kim Hill, H. Magdelena Hurtado, A. Magdalena Hurtado,
Aldine de Gruyter; (January 1996). The Ache, whose life history Hill and Hurtado
recount, are a small, indigenous population of hunters and gatherers living
in the neotropical rainforest of eastern Paraguay. Contact of Ache with outsiders,
including other Indian groups, has been infrequent and hostile during the 400
years since the first arrival of the Spanish. The authors have gained their
confidence over more than a decade in the field. Both in terms of access to
Ache informants and in field data, their research is unique.
*Nomads
of the Long Bow: The Siriono of Eastern Bolivia, by Allan R. Holmberg, Waveland
Press; Reprint edition (December 1985)|
Psychology
and Evolution: The Origins of Mind, by Bruce Bridgeman, Sage Publications;
(February 6, 2003,) In recent years, evolutionary theory has been offering a
framework that more and more psychologists are finding increasingly relevant
to address one critical question: Why? Why do we behave, develop, and interact
the way we do? Psychology and Evolution: The Origins of Mind introduces students
to the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Bruce Bridgeman applies concepts
of evolutionary theory to basic psychological functions to derive new insights
into the roots of human behavior and how that behavior may be viewed as adaptation
to life's significant challenges. Examining courtship, reproduction, child rearing,
family relations, social interaction, and language development, Bridgeman uses
evolutionary theory to help in the search to elucidate the foundations of human
perceptions, experiences, and behaviors.Encouraging thought and discussion,
this engaging volume includes:
Opposing approaches and controversial topics
Greater breadth of coverage on the field of evolutionary psychology
Innovative applications of evolutionary theory to areas that have not previously
been analyzed in this context
End-of-chapter discussion questions with annotated suggestions for further reading
Key terms and concepts highlighted within the text and defined both in context
and in a glossary
Psychology and Evolution presents an innovative application of biological ideas
and data to establish a comprehensive theory of evolutionary psychology-a theory
with the potential to unite all of psychology under a single framework and to
explain the basis of human behavior and experience. Primarily designed as a
course textbook for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in
the social and behavioral sciences, Psychology and Evolution will also appeal
to scholars in the field and educated readers interested in the development
of human behavior.
*Women
of the Forest, by Yolanda Murphy (Author), Robert Murphy. Columbia University
Press; Second Edition edition (April 15, 1985). In the decades since it was
first published, this study of Brazil's Mundurucu´ Indians has been widely
read and has become regarded as a classic. Now, for the second edition, the
authors have written a new chapter that describes their fieldwork during the
year they spent living among the Mundurucu´. details an acute and intriguing
battle of the sexes in which reality squarely contradicts ideology. The Murphy's
full-scale analysis considers the historical, ecological, and cultural setting
in which the Mundurucu´ live, the mythology concerning women, the woman's
work and household life, marriage and child rearing, and the impact of social
change on the female role. The authors give particular attention to sexual antagonism
and the means by which women compensate, in actual practice, for their low public
position. The new chapter gives the reader an idea of the nature of ethnographic
fieldwork as both personal experience and scientific practice. It recounts how
they coped with the language barrier, the practice of bartering rather than
buying, and other day-to-day problems of living in a totally different culture.
Thus, it provides an illuminating background to Mundurucu´ culture before
the reader delves into the rich details of the study itself. At the same time
the chapter helps the reader to learn about anthropological methods of data
gathering.
*Sexual
Selection and the Descent of Man, by Bernard Campbe, Walter de Gruyter,
Inc.; (October 1972)
On Our Minds: How Evolutionary Psychology is Reshaping the Nature
- Versus - Nurture Debate, by Eric M. Gander, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; (January
2004) (In On Our Minds, examines all sides of the public debate between evolutionary
psychologists and their critics. Paying particularly close attention to the
popular science writings of Steven Pinker, Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins,
and Stephen Jay Gould, Gander traces the history of the controversy, succinctly
summarizes the claims and theories of the evolutionary psychologists, dissects
the various arguments deployed by each side, and considers in detail the far-reaching
ramifications-social, cultural, and political-of this debate. Gander's lucid
and highly readable account concludes that evolutionary psychology now holds
the potential to answer our oldest and most profound moral and philosophical
questions, fundamentally changing our self-perception as a species).
*Despotism
and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of History, by Laura L.
Betzig (As prof. Betzig states: this is a book about how things really are:
the end of human life is its reproduction, and positions of strength are exploited
to this end. Power (bluntly, the ability to kill subjects for trivial or no
cause) is essential in the resolution of conflicts of interest to the advantage
of those who hold power. This work demonstrates profusely that self-interest
and its corroborations (nepotism, corruption ...) reign mightily in all societies.
It answers most clearly why power corrupts. It explains the near universality
of despotic governments in hierarchal societies, but also why this kind of government
still exists (open and bare, or hidden) everywhere in the world today.) Aldine
de Gruyter; (January 1986).
*The
Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy is a Necessary as Love and Sex, by David
M. Buss (Author) Free Press; (February 14, 2000) If you think that jealousy
is simply a neurosis or merely a manifestation of insecurity, then reading David
Buss's The Dangerous Passion may change your opinion. Buss asserts that jealousy
is an adaptive behavior, albeit an imperfect one, which helped our human ancestors
cope with reproductive threats. Buss uses examples from insect and primate populations,
as well as Hollywood, to help illustrate the evolutionary concepts discussed.
Building on his previous book, The Evolution of Desire, on the gender differences
in mate selection, Buss argues for a coevolutionary cycle based on concealment
and detection (jealousy) between the genders in their drive to optimize reproductive
success.
Although pathological aspects of jealousy--battering, stalking, and killing--are
argued to be the result of adaptive responses, they are in no way defended as
acceptable or natural behavior. Buss indicates that it is his hope that by understanding
the forces that shaped jealousy we can better cope with its effects--positive
or negative
*Female
Control: Sexual Selection by Cryptic Female Choice, by William G. Eberhard,
John R. Krebs (Editor), T.H. Clutton-Brock (Editor), Princeton Univ Pr; (July
8, 1996) A growing body of evidence has begun to reveal flaws in the traditional
assumption of female passivity and lack of discrimination after copulation has
begun. William Eberhard has compiled an impressive array of research on the
ability of females to shape the outcome of mating. He describes studies of many
different cryptic mechanisms by which a female can accept a male for copulation
but nevertheless reject him as a father. Evidence from various fields indicates
that such selectivity by females may be the norm rather than the exception.
Because most post-copulatory competition between males for paternity is played
out within the bodies of females, female behavior, morphology, and physiology
probably often influence male success in these contests. Eberhard draws examples
from a diversity of organisms, ranging from ctenophores to scorpions, nematodes
to frogs, and crickets to humans. Cryptic female choice establishes a new bridge
between sexual selection theory and reproductive physiology, in particular the
physiological effects of male seminal products on female reproductive processes,
such as sperm transport, oviposition, and remating. Eberhard interweaves his
review of previous studies with speculation on the consequences of this theoretical
development, and indicates promising new directions for future research.
*Genome,
by Matt Ridley, HarperCollins; (October 3, 2000). Science writer Matt Ridley
has found a way to tell someone else's story without being accused of plagiarism.
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters delves deep within your
body (and, to be fair, Ridley's too) looking for dirt dug up by the Human Genome
Project. Each chapter pries one gene out of its chromosome and focuses on its
role in our development and adult life, but also goes further, exploring the
implications of genetic research and our quickly changing social attitudes toward
this information. Genome shies away from the "tedious biochemical middle
managers" that only a nerd could love and instead goes for the A-material:
genes associated with cancer, intelligence, sex (of course), and more. Readers
unfamiliar with the jargon of genetic research needn't fear; Ridley provides
a quick, clear guide to the few words and concepts he must use to translate
hard science into English. His writing is informal, relaxed, and playful, guiding
the reader so effortlessly through our 23 chromosomes that by the end we wish
we had more. He believes that the Human Genome Project will be as world-changing
as the splitting of the atom; if so, he is helping us prepare for exciting times--the
hope of a cure for cancer contrasts starkly with the horrors of newly empowered
eugenicists. Anyone interested in the future of the body should get a head start
with the clever, engrossing Genome.
*Darwin,
Sex, and Status: Biological Approaches to Mind and Culture, by Jerome H.
Barkow, Univ of Toronto Pr; (October 1989). (From a reader, March 1992) Dr.
Jerome Barkow has shown us a glimpse of the future in this hugely interesting
yet also highly manageable introduction to evolutionary psychology. Although
newer, more research-oriented work has emerged since its publication (such as
The Adapted Mind and the textbook Evolutionary Psychology) Darwin, Sex and Status
still stands as a wonderful example of how the social sciences might be unified
under the rubric of evolution. Dr. Barkow achieves the goal of practically any
scientific work - to render the arcane and complicated comprehensible. He does
this through his thorough understanding of evolutionary principles as well as
his comfort in psychology and anthropology. His relaxed manner of writing and
straightforward style make otherwise difficult to grasp concepts seem perfectly
obvious. And make no mistake, this tome is brimming with interesting and complex
ideas. Of course, the case for an evolutionary psychology is strengthened when
seemingly incompatible fields (like psychology and anthropology) can be made
to fall into place by an overarching theory like that of evolution. This type
of work is tricky and demands masterful knowledge over a great many different
fields to make it convincing. Here professor Barkow is in his element and demonstrates
the power of working from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book is roughly
divided up into three parts - a necessary discussion of evolutionary principles,
a section on human psychology and lastly a treatment of social structure and
anthropology. Taken together they stand as a robust statement about the psychology,
social structure and culture of our species. As an added bonus, Dr. Barkow has
provided a lengthy list of as yet untested hypotheses which are stated in such
a way as to make them extraordinarily approachable from empirical methods. If
you want to know more about evolutionary psychology or simply would like to
see what a more synthetic peek at our psychology and culture would look like
or even if you just would like to be simultaneously titillated and entertained,
Darwin Sex, and Status is a great place to start.
*The
Meme Machine, by Susan Blackmore, Richard Dawkins, Oxford Press; (May 2000)
What is a meme? First coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 study The Selfish
Gene, a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one
person to another by imitation: stories, fashions, inventions, recipes, songs,
and ways of plowing a field, throwing a baseball, or making a sculpture. It
is also one of the most important--and controversial--concepts to emerge since
Darwin's Origin of the Species. Here, Blackmore boldly asserts: "Just as
the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection,
so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection."
Indeed, The Meme Machine shows that once our distant ancestors acquired the
crucial ability to imitate, a second kind of natural selection began: a survival
of the fittest among competing ideas and behaviors. Those that proved most adaptive--making
tools, for example, or using language--survived and flourished, replicating
themselves in as many minds as possible. These memes then passed themselves
on from generation to generation by helping to ensure that the genes of those
who acquired them also survived and reproduced. Applying this theory to many
aspects of human life, Blackmore brilliantly explains why we live in cities,
why we talk so much, why we can't stop thinking, why we behave altruistically,
how we choose our mates, and much more. With controversial implications for
our religious beliefs, our free will, and our very sense of "self",
this provocative book will be must reading any general reader or student interested
in psychology, biology, or anthropology.
*Virus
of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, by Richard Brodie, Integral Press;
(March 2004). If you've ever wondered how and why people become robotically
enslaved by advertising, religion, sexual fantasy, and cults, wonder no more.
It's all because of "mind viruses," or "memes," and those
who understand how to plant them into other's minds. This is the first truly
accessible book about memes and how they make the world go 'round. Of course,
like all good memes, the ideas in Brodie's book are double-edged swords. They
can vaccinate against the effects of cognitive viruses, but could also be used
by those seeking power to gain it even more effectively. If you don't want to
be left behind in the coevolutionary arms race between infection and protection,
read about memes
*Thought
Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society, by Aaron Lynch, Basic Books;
(January 1999) Why do certain ideas become popular? The naive view is that it's
because they're true, or at least justified. This fascinating book, influenced
by evolutionary biology and epidemiology, is the first full-scale examination
of some of the other reasons. Consider Aaron Lynch's example of optimism--it
may not be true or warranted, but it tends to prevail because optimists tend
to have more children to pass along their outlook to. Sometimes, Lynch points
out, there is a paradoxical but predictable expansion-contraction pattern to
the social spread of ideas. If nothing else, lobbyists need to look into this
stuff to see which side their bread is really buttered on. Warning: this book
is densely written. But it's worth the wade.
*The
Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Natue, by Geoffrey
Miller, (From a reader: It's a dizzyingly ambitious project, which would be
impossibly vague without the ingenuity and irreverence that Miller brings to
bear on it. Steeped in popular culture, the book mixes theories of runaway selection,
fitness indicators, and sensory bias with explanations of why men tip more than
women and how female choice shaped (quite literally) the penis. It also extols
the sagacity of Mary Poppins. Indeed, Miller allows ideas to cascade at such
a torrent that the steam given off can run the risk of being mistaken for hot
air). Anchor; (April 17, 2001)
*The
Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience, and Behavior, by David C.
Rowe (Author), Guilford Press; (August 2, 1995)
Behavioral Genetics: The Clash of Culture and Biology, by Ronald A. Carson (Editor),
Mark A. Rothstein (Editor), Floyd E. Bloom, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; 1st edition
(June 15, 1999) The authors discuss a broad range of topics, including the ethical
questions arising from gene therapy and screening, molecular research in psychiatry,
and the legal ramifications and social consequences of behavioral genetic information.
Throughout, they focus on two basic concerns: the quality of the science behind
behavioral genetic claims and the need to formulate an appropriate, ethically
defensible response when the science turns out to be good.
Human
Universals, by Donald E Brown, January 1, 1991. This book explores physical
and behavioral characteristics that can be considered universal among all cultures,
all people. It presents cases demonstrating universals, looks at the history
of the study of universals, and presents an interesting study of a hypothetical
tribe, The Universal People.
CULTURAL EMPHASIS
A
Vindication of the Rights of Woma, by Mary Wollstonecraft, July 3, 1996.
The first classic work of feminist thought, Wollstonecraft's Vindication gathered
many of its lessons on the equality and responsibilities of women from the age
of Revolutions.
The
Subjection of Women, by John Stuart Mill, April 24, 1997. Influential essay
by great English philosopher argues for equality in all legal, political, social
and domestic relations between men and woman. Carefully reasoned and clearly
expressed with great logic and consistency, the work remains a landmark in the
struggle for human rights.
The
Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, Anna Quindlen (Introduction), September
2001. The book that changed the consciousness of a country-and the world. Landmark,
groundbreaking, classic-these adjectives barely describe the earthshaking and
long-lasting effects of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. This is the book
that defined "the problem that has no name," that launched the Second
Wave of the feminist movement, and has been awakening women and men with its
insights into social relations, which still remain fresh, ever since. A national
bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold.
A
Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf, Mary Gordon, December 1989. Surprisingly,
this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible
works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet
conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women
in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of
William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic
state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded
that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income
and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism.
Women:
An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier, April 1999.
* Science
and Gender: A Critique of Biology and its Theories on Women, by Ruth Bleier,
January 1997.
*Myths
of Gender: Biological Theries about Women and Men, by Anne Fausto-Sterling,
2nd Revision edition, September 1992. By carefully examining the biological,
genetic, evolutionary, and psychological evidence, a noted biologist finds a
shocking lack of substance behind ideas about biologically-based sex differences.
Sexing
the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, by Anne Fausto-Sterling,
November 22, 2000. Anyone who has been following the new brain science in the
popular press--and even those whose casual reading includes journals along the
lines of Psychoneuroendocrinology--will be fascinated by the puckish observations
of Brown University biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling, whose provocative and erudite
essays easily establish the cultural biases underlying current scientific thought
on gender. She goes on to critique the science itself, exposing inconsistencies
in the literature and weaknesses in the rhetorical and theoretical structures
that support new research. "One of the major claims I make in this book,"
she explains, "is that labeling someone a man or a woman is a social decision.
We may use scientific knowledge to help us make the decision, but only our beliefs
about gender--not science--can define our sex. Furthermore, our beliefs about
gender affect what kinds of knowledge scientists produce about sex in the first
place." Whether discussing genital surgery on intersex infants or the amorous
lives of lab rats, the author is unfailingly clear and convincing, and manages
to impart humor to subjects as seemingly unpromising as neuroanatomy and the
structure of proteins
Gendering
World Politicsby J. Ann Tickner, Columbia University Press, May 2001. Expanding
on the issues she originally explored in her classic work, Gender in International
Relations, J. Ann Tickner focuses her distinctively feminist approach on new
issues of the international relations agenda since the end of the Cold War,
such as ethnic conflict and other new security issues, globalizations, democratization,
and human rights. As in her previous work, these topics are placed in the context
of brief reviews of more traditional approaches to the same issues. She also
looks at the considerable feminist work that has been published on these topics
since the previous book came out. Tickner highlights the misunderstandings that
exist between mainstream and feminist approaches, and explores how these debates
developed in the new environment of postCold War international relations. Acclaim
for Tickner´s Gender in International Relations: "For all who seek
new ways to think about and understand world politics"
Gender in International Realations, by J. Ann Tickner, April, 1992. Tickner--an
established scholar in international relations and a well-informed and thoughtful
feminist--rethinks from a feminist point of view virtually every conventional
category used by theorists and practictioners of international relations: the
state, the international system, security, rationalism, citizenship, and more.
Maternal
Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace, by Sara Reddick, Jan. 1995. Philosopher,
mother, and feminist Sara Ruddick examines the discipline of mothering, showing
for the first time how the day-to-day work of raising children gives rise to
distinctive ways of thinking.
War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa, by Joshua S.
Goldstein, Oct 2001. Gender roles are nowhere more prominent than in war. Yet
contentious debates, and the scattering of scholarship across academic disciplines,
have obscured understanding of how gender affects war and vice versa. In this
authoritative and lively review of our state of knowledge, Joshua Goldstein
assesses the possible explanations for the near-total exclusion of women from
combat forces, through history and cross cultures. topics covered include the
history of women who did fight and fought well, the complex role of testosterone
in men's social behaviors, and the construction of masculinity and femininity
in the shadow of war. Goldstein concludes that killing in war does not come
naturally for either gender, and that gender norms often shape men, women, and
children to the needs of the war system. Illustrated with photographs, drawings,
and graphics, and drawing from scholarship spanning six academic disciplines,
War and Gender translates and synthesizes our latest understanding of gender
roles in war. Joshua Goldstein Professor of International Relations at the American
University. He is the author of Three Way Street (University of Chicago Press,
1990), a best-selling textbook, International Relations 4/e (addison Wesley,
2001), and many articles on international relations. The National Science Foundation
has funded some of his recent research. In addition, he is the recipient of
a MacArthur Foundation grant, and awards from the International Studies Association
and the American Jewish Congress. He has appeared frequently in national and
international print and broadcast media.
Gender
Politics in Global Goverance, by Mary K. Meyer (Ed.), Elisabeth Prugl (Ed.),
Jan 1999. From the grassroots to the global, women's movements worldwide are
taking on new arenas, new goals and strategies, and in some cases a whole new
vocabulary. International organizations, nonstate actors, regimes and norms,
and a host of globalizing forces offer women and their representatives new opportunities
and obstacles. This volume draws together a wide range of exciting new research
that looks at the gendered nature of the institutions, practices, and discourses
of global governance. The contributors describe the spaces women have carved
out in international organizations, the strategies women's movements have employed
to influence international politics, and the ways in which movement activism
has contested gendered rules in global governance. Out of a stimulating diversity
of approaches, the common goal of empowering women resounds.
A
Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue, by Wendy Shalit, Jan. 2000.
The 23-year-old author first heard of "modestyniks"--Orthodox Jewish
women who withhold physical contact from men until marriage--while a freshman
at Williams College. She was initially fascinated by the way in which they cleave
to old ideals, especially amid a sexually saturated contemporary world. But
more so, Wendy Shalit was aghast at how modestyniks are dismissed as sick, delusional,
or repressed by the secular community. "Why," asks the author, "is
sexual modesty so threatening to some that they can only respond to it with
charges of abuse or delusion?" In her thoughtful three-part essay, the
author reveals an impressive reading list as she probes the cultural history
of sexual modesty for women and considers whether this virtue may be beneficial
in today's world--if not an antidote to misogyny. In an age when women are embarrassed
by sexual inexperience, when sex education is introduced as early as primary
school, and when women suffer more than ever from eating disorders, stalking,
sexual harassment, and date rape, Shalit believes a return to modesty may place
women on equal footing with men. She yearns for a time when conservatives can
believe the claims of feminists and feminists can differentiate between patriarchy
and misogyny and share in the dialectic of female sexuality.
Feminism
Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, by Chandra
Talpede Mohanty, March 2003. Chandra Talpade Mohanty is Professor of Women's
Studies at Hamilton College and Core Faculty at the Union Institute and University
in Cincinnati. She is coeditor of Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic
Futures and Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism.
Colonize
This! Young Women of Color on today's Feminism (live Girl Series), by Daisy
Hernandez, Bushra Rehman, Aug. 2002. It has been decades since women of color
first turned feminism upside down, exposing the '70s feminist movement as exclusive,
white, and unaware of the concerns and issues of women of color from around
the globe. Now a new generation of brilliant, outspoken women of color is speaking
to the concerns of a new feminism, and to their place in it. Daisy Hernandez
of Ms. magazine and poet Bushra Rehman have collected a diverse, lively group
of emerging writers who speak to their experience-to the strength and rigidity
of community and religion, to borders and divisions, both internal and external-and
address issues that take feminism into the twenty-first century. One writer
describes herself as a "mixed brown girl, Sri-Lankan and New England mill-town
white trash," and clearly delineates the organizing differences between
whites and women of color: "We do not kick ass the way the white girls
do, in meetings of NOW or riot grrl. For us, it's all about family." A
Korean-American woman struggles to create her own identity in a traditional
community: "Yam-ja-neh means nice, sweet, compliant. I've heard it used
many times by my parents' friends who don't know shit about me." An Arab-American
feminist deconstructs the "quaint vision" of Middle-Eastern women
with which most Americans feel comfortable. This impressive array of first-person
accounts adds a much-needed fresh dimension to the ongoing dialogue between
race and gender, and gives voice to the women who are creating and shaping the
feminism of the future.
The
Two sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together, (Family and Public Policy),
by Eleanor E. MacCoby, March 1998. How does being male or female shape us? And
what, aside from obvious anatomical differences, does being male or female mean?
In this book, the distinguished psychologist Eleanor Maccoby explores how individuals
express their sexual identity at successive periods of their lives. A book about
sex in the broadest sense, The Two Sexes seeks to tell us how our development
from infancy through adolescence and into adulthood is affected by gender.
Childhood
Gender Segregation: Causes and Consequences: New Direction for Child and
Adolescent Development, by Campbell Leaper, November 15, 1994. At around three
years of age, children begin to show a preference for same-sex peer affiliations.
This gender segregation occurs in all cultures where children's social groups
are large enought to allow choice, and it appears to have important influences
on children's development. Different peer group environments may lead to the
development of different psychological preferences and skills. They may also
foster later gender differences in academic achievement and intimacy. The contirbutors
to this volume of New Directions for Child Development examine both the possible
developmental precursors and consequences of gender segregation, implicationg
social, emotional, physiological, and cognitive factors in the emergence and
maintenance of individuals' preferences for same-sex peer groups. This is the
65th issue of the journal series New Directions for Child Development.
Domestic
Tranquility: A Brief Against Feminism, by F. Carolyn Graglia, October 1998.
The principal targets of feminist fire in the on-going "gender wars"
are not men but traditional wives and mothers, says a lawyer-turned-housewife
in a powerful critique of contemporary feminism. With a profound understanding
of the quandary of modern women, Carolyn Graglia shows that the cultural assault
on marriage, motherhood, and traditional sexuality, rooted in the pursuit of
economic and political power, has robbed women of their surest source of fulfillment.
Mrs. Graglia traces the origins of modern feminism to the post-war exaltation
of marketplace achievement, which bred dissatisfaction with women's domestic
roles. In a masterly analysis of seminal feminist texts, she reveals a conscious
campaign of ostracism of the housewife as a childish "parasite". Turning
to the feminist understanding of sexuality, now pervasive in our culture, she
shows how it has distorted and impoverished sex by stripping it of its true
significance. Finally, after exposing feminism's totalitarian impulse and its
contribution to the "tangle of pathologies" that have left marriage
and family life in tatters, she argues for a renewed appreciation of the transforming
experience of motherhood and the value of the domestic vocation.
Who
Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women, by Christina Hoff-Sommers,
May 1, 1995. Sommers demonstrates that the radical feminists have demeaned the
very women whose cause the supposedly champion. By viewing women who do not
agree with their agenda as somehow inferior in their states of conciousness
than are the radical feminists, they in effect relegate the majority of women
to the staus of naive fools who do not know what's best for them. The gender
feminists are elitists who know better than , eg, religious women who live a
traditional religious lifestyle, or women who, out of their concern for the
children they are raising, choose to stay at home. Quite frankly, it's scary.
These feminists would almost subject dissenters to the "cause" to
re-education camps famous for their employment by the Chinese during the cultural
revolution.
Backlash:
the Underclared War Against American Women, by Susan Faludi, September 6,
1992. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Faludi
lays out a two-fold thesis in this aggressive work: First, despite the opinions
of pop-psychologists and the mainstream media, career-minded women are generally
not husband-starved loners on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Secondly, such
beliefs are nothing more than anti-feminist propaganda pumped out by conservative
research organizations with clear-cut ulterior motives. This backlash against
the women's movement, she writes, "stands the truth boldly on its head
and proclaims that the very steps that have elevated women's positions have
actually led to their downfall." Meticulously researched, Faludi's contribution
to this tumultuous debate is monumental and it earned the 1991 National Book
Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction.
The
Second Sex, by Simone De Beauvoir, December 17, 1989. In The Second Sex,
Simone de Beauvoir posed questions many men, and women, had yet to ponder when
the book was released in 1953. "One wonders if women still exist, if they
will always exist, whether or not it is desirable that they should ...,"
she says in this comprehensive treatise on women. She weaves together history,
philosophy, economics, biology, and a host of other disciplines to show women's
place in the world and to postulate on the power of sexuality. This is a powerful
piece of writing in a time before "feminism" was even a phrase, much
less a movement.
Stiffed:
The Betrayal of the American Male, by Susan Faludi, October 1, 2000. Susan
Faludi, author of the feminist bestseller Backlash, has done it again with an
exhaustive report on the betrayals felt by working men throughout the United
States. American men are angry and discontented, she argues in Stiffed, because
their sense of what it is to be a man has been destroyed by everything from
corporate downsizing and the shrinking military of the post cold war era to
the increase in local sports teams leaving town. Whether she's interviewing
the teenage male members of Southern California's infamous Spur Posse (who collected
"points" for every female they had sex with), Cleveland football fans
shaken by the departure of the Browns football team, militia movement activists,
or Sylvester Stallone, Faludi seems stuck on the idea that American men today
are man-boys, unable to completely grow up because they never received the nurturing
they needed, and now constantly disappointed by life. Yet while many of the
men Faludi interviews have real problems--bad luck and sad, troubled lives--somehow
Stiffed still seems a bit whiny. Faludi's "travels through a postwar male
realm" are a fascinating slice of male American life "under siege"
at the end of the 20th century, even if she does finally leave us like the men
she talked to--still wondering just what went wrong.
The
Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege, by Herb
Goldberg, January 2000. (From a reader, Dec. 2002) This book was originally
written in 1976, and is considered one of the classics of the men's rights movement.
In it, psychologist Dr. Herb Goldberg takes years of clinical experience, and
concludes that men, far from being the privileged sex, are actually out of touch
with their bodies and emotions, and unhealthily dependent on women. Further,
too many men are on a destructive course that leads to mental illness, alcoholism
and death. Each chapter in this fascinating book ends with a list of guidelines
that the man should study to examine himself.
Sex-Ploytation:
How Women Use Their Bodies to Extort Money from Men, by Matthew Fitzgerald,
June 1999. This is a book about male-female relationships that deals with contemperary
female duplicity in our modern society and refutes the false feminist propaganda
about equal rights. The text takes off where The Manipulted Man by Esther Vilar
left off 27 years ago when it was first published and points out How Women Use
Their Bodies To Extort Money From Men.
The
War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men, by Christina
Hoff Sommers, June 12, 2001. Sommers eviscerates feminist scholarship by Harvard's
Carol Gilligan, the American Association of University Women, and others. Hers
is feisty, muscular prose and fans of Who Stole Feminism? will delight in it.
"There have always been societies that favored boys over girls," she
writes. "Ours may be the first to deliberately throw the gender switch.
If we continue on our present course, boys will, indeed, be tomorrow's second
sex." That rhetoric may err on the side of alarmism, but Sommers' ideas
are full of common sense. She essentially urges parents and educators to let
boys be boys, even though their "very masculinity turns out to be politically
incorrect." The War on Boys is sure to set off a fiery controversy, just
as Sommers' previous book did--but it should also find a big audience of readers
who become fans.
The
Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
by Barbara G. Walker (Author) Harper SanFrancisco; 1st edition, November 30,
1983. This fascinating, scholarly hodgepodge spotlights the feminist underpinnings
of myth, religion, and culture. Before being lionized as zaftig Norse angels
who guided strong warriors to Valhalla, Valkyries may have offered rebirth through
cannibalization. "Little Red Riding Hood" was based on Diana, goddess
of the hunt. Marriage was once considered a sin, not a sacred union: St. Bernard
once proclaimed "it was easier for a man to bring the dead back to life
than to live with a woman without endangering his soul." A few of the other
topics expounded upon are the Milky Way, Cinderella, the moon, and males giving
birth. While some of the references put a cranky feminist spin on words that
might in context have different meaning--St. Paul's oft-quoted "better
to marry than to burn," for example--much in this vast tome will dazzle
dabblers and intellectuals alike.
When
God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone Harcourt, May 1978. Documents the ancient
worship of the great creator Mother Goddess under a diversity of names and details
the rewriting of myths, the recasting of rituals and religious doctrines, and
the transformation of the Goddess into a wanton, depraved figure by invading
patriarchal tribes.
The
Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, 2nd edition,
by Monica Sjoo, May 1, 1987. This long-awaited reference book is an important
addition for students studying women's ancient history and the roots of religion.
Sjoo and Mor describe the great spiral of cultural movement that began ``in
the beginning . . .with a very female sea,'' and continued into Neolithic times.
They show how our brains have been emptied of women's cultural history, and
then they begin to piece together, detail by detail, that history. This does
not lend itself to cover-to-cover reading, but it is a worthy book to discover
while researching the roots of religion and/or the history of women as creators
of culture. Readers will get a varied taste of world symbols, obscure myths,
dazzling images, and formidable goddesses which will allow them to see connections
that they might otherwise miss in current culture. The black-and-white illustrations
include sketches, photographs, and reproductions of Goddess sites worldwide
and ancient artifacts and culture. While libraries with women's studies' collections
and schools in which students study cultural history will need this book, it
is also an engaging book to browse through, and belongs on the shelves of any
library.Lucia Bettler, formerly of Waltrip High School, Houston Independent
School District
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The
Great Goddess: Reverence of the Divine Feminine for the Paleolithic, by
Jean Markale, January 2000. A study of the primordial figure of the Great Goddess
and her continued worship through time as shown by the myths, shrines, and sanctuaries
around the world that honor this powerful symbol of creation. * A noted historian
on pre-Christian societies provides an extensive worldwide listing of sites
and sanctuaries associated with goddess worship. * Explores goddess worship
in cultures around the world, including Native American, Egyptian, Indian, and
Oriental civilizations. * Demonstrates that although her worship has sometimes
been forced underground it has never disappeared. In ancient Babylon she was
Anat, in Egypt, Isis and Hathor, Dana in Celtic Ireland, Rhea and Demeter in
Greece, and in India, Anapurna the Provider. She is the Great Goddess, the Goddess
of Beginnings, the symbol of Earth and the giver of life, the Vast Mother, who
represents all the powers and mysteries of creation for early humanity. Shifting
her solar association onto masculine deities and blackening those of her symbols
that, like the serpent, could not be assimilated, patriarchal societies forced
the preeminent power of the feminine into an obscure and subservient position.
Yet, as shown by noted scholar Jean Markale, the Goddess did not simply disappear
when her position was usurped, and the power she represents has been the source
of continuous religious devotion from ancient times through the Middle Ages
up to the present day. In looking at the plethora of myths, sites, and sanctuaries
devoted to this powerful figure, The Great Goddess provides abundant evidence
of the extraordinary permanence of her worship--even at the heart of those religions
that tried to destroy her.
*The
Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality by Sandra
Lipsitz, May 1993. In this book, a leading theorist on sex and gender discusses
how hidden assumptions embedded in our cultural discourses, social institutions,
and individual psyches perpetuate male power and oppress women and sexual minorities.
Sandra Lipsitz Bem argues that these assumptions, which she calls the lenses
of gender, shape not only perceptions of social reality but also its more material
aspects-like unequal pay and inadequate daycare. Her penetrating and articulate
examination of these hidden cultural lenses enables us to look at them rather
than through them and to better understand recent debates on gender and sexuality.
*Women's
Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind, by Mary Belenky,
Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger, 10th edition, January 1997. Drawn from the
voices of women of varied backgrounds, Women's Ways of Knowing reveals the unique
perspectives from which women view reality and draw conclusions about truth,
knowledge, and authority. An intellectual and political Our Bodies, Ourselves,
this book has had significant impact on debates about learning and gender, and
will continue to have resonance throughout the fields of education and psychology
for years to come.
Choosing
the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status, by Robert H. Frank,
Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (February 1987). (From a reader, June
2004). Frank offers empirical evidence that people organize themselves into
status hierarchies - that high status is an advantage and low status is a hardship.
The animal kingdom at large does this, too, and that explains why this book
is found in the bibliographies of books like Robert Wright's "The Moral
Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology"
and Stephen Pinker's "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.
In the emerging hybrid field of Evolutionary Psychology, Frank's contributions
on status are significant. The value of having hierarchical status is reinforced
in the study of sexual selection of the highly social mammals, including humans.
*Women
and Anger, (Springer Series: Focus on Women, Vol. 15), by Sandra P., Phd
Thomas (Editor Springer Pub Co); (May 1993). University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Focus on Women, Volume 15. Results of a large-scale, comprehensive, empirical
investigation of the experience of anger in women. Subjects ranged from 25 to
66 years old, in a variety of occupations. For psychologists, nurses, social
workers. 13 U.S. contributors.
Children of Different Worlds: The Formation of Social Behavior, by Beatrice
Blyth Whiting, Carolyn Pope Edwards
Harvard Univ Pr; Reprint edition (October 1992)
*Violent
Transactions: The Limits of Personality, by Anne Campbell, John J. Gibbs
(Editor) Blackwell Publishers; (December 1986).
Violent Crime, Violent Criminals (Sage Focus Editions, Vol. 101), by Neil Alan
Weiner, Marvin E. Wolfgang (Editor) Sage Publications; (April 1989). Research
into causes and correlates of violent criminal behaviour has escalated and become
more refined in the past few years. The contributors to this volume present
both summaries of existing work and reports of original research and bring the
reader up to date on the status of research on such topics as measuring violent
behaviour, individual criminal careers, gender, race and crime, and gang violence.
*Adolescent
Risk Taking, by Nancy J. Bell (Editor), Robert W. Bell (Editor) Sage Publications;
(January 14, 1993). With a focus on adolescents, this volume explores such questions
as: whether similarities exist between different types of risk taking, such
as mountain climbing and criminal behaviour; whether an examination of risk-taking
behaviour will shed light on problem behaviours such as unprotected sex; and
whether there are positive aspects to adolescent risk taking. MWith contributions
from psychology, sociology, medicine and public policy, the volume uses risk
taking as a framework to study many dangerous, and often life-threatening, adolescent
behaviours. Following a review of research, topics discussed include theories
of risky choice, the use of rational choice theory in predicting heightened
risk taking, sociobiological factors and intervention programmes.
*Competition:
A Feminist Taboo, by Valerie Miner (Editor), Helen E. Longino (Editor),
Neill Irvin Painter, The Feminist Press at CUNY; (June 1987). Radical literary
histories of the tumultuous Thirties commonly emphasize the prevalent masculinist
ideology that informed political and aesthetic practices then. In contrast,
this volume excavates the stories, poems, and reportage of women writers whose
work originally appeared in now-defunct Left journals. The pieces, ranging from
accounts of labor organizing to examinations of racism and the economics of
housework, reflect the diversity of women's concerns on the Left prior to "second-wave"
feminism. This essential collection should inspire a critical reevaluation of
the recent literary and political past informed by the feminist strategies of
that period and our own. Mollie Brodsky, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
* Atlas
of World CulturesAtlas of World Cultures, by George Peter Murdock, Univ
of Pittsburgh Pr (Txt); (June 1981)
*The
Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a clinical Disorder, by Adrian
Raine (Author), Academic Press; Reprint edition (April 1, 1997). This lauded
bestseller, now available in paperback, takes an uncompromising look at how
we define psychopathology and makes the argument that criminal behavior can
and perhaps should be considered a disorder. Presenting sociological, genetic,
neurochemical, brain-imaging, and psychophysiological evidence, it discusses
the basis for criminal behavior and suggests, contrary to popular belief, that
such behavior may be more biologically determined than previously thought.
*The
Psychology of Gender: Advances Through Meta-Analysis, by Marcia C. Linn
(Editor), Janet S. Hyde (Editor) Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; (June 1986).
*Understanding
and Preventing Violence, by Albert J. Reiss (Editor), Jeffrey A. Roth (Editor),
National Academy Press; 6th edition (January 1996). Integrates biological, psychosocial
and social science perspectives in an assessment primarily of criminal, interpersonal
violence (plus contributing factors such as alcohol, drugs, firearms, family
violence), filling gaps left by previous studies which tended to focus on specific
issues (urban riots, violence in the media). Tables and graphs help to clarify
this daunting subject; appendices include The Development of an Individual Potential
for Violence, and Measuring and Counting Violent Crimes and Their Consequences.
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
*Fears,
Phobias, and Rituals: Panic, Anxiety, and Their Disorders, by Isaac Meer
Marks, Oxford Press; (May 1987). This book draws on fields as diverse as biochemistry,
physiology, pharmacology, psychology, psychiatry, and ethology, to form a fascinating
synthesis of information on the nature of fear and of panic and anxiety disorders.
Dr. Marks offers both a detailed discussion of the clinical aspects of fear-related
syndromes and a broad exploration of the sources and mechanisms of fear and
defensive behavior. Dealing first with normal fear, he establishes a firm, scientific
basis for understanding it. He then presents a thorough analysis of the development,
symptoms and treatment of fear-related syndromes. Phobic and obsessive-compulsive
disorders are examined in detail. The book is illustrated with examples of fear
and defensive behavior in other living organisms. By drawing provocative analogies
between animal and human behavior, it sheds new light on the origins of fears,
phobias, and obsessive-compulsive problems, as well as on their treatment by
drugs and psychological means. Clinical psychologists, ethologists, and anyone
interested in the mechanisms of behavior will be fascinated by this authoritative
study. The text is intriguing and informative, and the bibliography of over
2,100 entries makes it an invaluable reference.
*Impulsivity
and Agression, by Eric Hollander (Editor), Dan J. Stein (Editor), John Wiley
& Sons; 1st edition (January 15, 1995)
*Anger
and Agression: An Essay on Emotion (Springer Series in Social Psychology),
by James R. Averill, Springer Verlag; (December 1982)
Message Within: The Role of Subjective Experience in Social Cognition and Behavior,
by Herbert Bless (Editor), Joseph P. Forgas (Editor) Psychology Pr; (May 9,
2000). This provocative book provides the first comprehensive and informative
overview of the role of various subjective experiences in social cognition and
behavior, and argues that the study of such experiences may be one of the key
unifying themes of social psychology. Based on recent theoretical and empirical
developments in the discipline, this select group of leading international researchers
surveys extensive evidence and shows that subjective experiences play a key
role in most aspects of social cognition and social behavior. The book contains
five main sections, discussing the role of subjective experiences in social
information processing (Part 1), their influence on memory (Part 2) and their
role in intergroup contexts (Part 3). The role of affective experiences in social
thinking and behavior is analyzed (Part 4), and the influence of subjective
experiences on the development and change of attitudes and stereotypes is also
addressed (Part 5).
Understanding
Cultures Through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese
(Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, No. 8), by Anna Wierzbicka,
Oxford University Press; (September 1997). In this groundbreaking book, Wierzbicka
demonstrates that every language has its "key concepts" and that these
key concepts reflect the core values of the culture. Further, she argues that
within a culture-independent analytical framework one can study, compare, and
even explain cultures to outsiders through their key concepts. The framework
Wierzbicka proposes is the well-known "natural semantic metalanguage"
that she developed with her colleagues. For this study, Wierzbicka focuses on
four languages and cultures: Japanese, Australian English, Polish, and Russian.
She identifies "culture laden" words in each of these languages; these
words are, in a sense, "untranslatable." She shows, however, that
the words can be "explained" by means of the semantic metalanguage's
hypothetical semantic primitives such as someone, something, do, happen, want,
say, know, think, good, bad, etc.
*bn In
a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development, by Carol
Gilligan, March, Harvard University Press. Carol Gilligan believes that psychology
has persistently and systematically misunderstood women. Repeatedly, developmental
theories have been built on observations of men's lives. Here, Gilligan attempts
to correct psychology's misperceptions and refocus its view of female personality.
The result reshapes our understanding of human experience.
*bn Childhood
social Development: Contemporary Perspectives, Harry McGurk (Editor), May
1992, Taylor & Francis, Inc.
*We've
All Got Scars: What Boys and Girls Learn in Elementary School, by Raphaela
Best
Indiana University Press; Reprint edition (February 1989)
*Raising
their voices: The Politics of Girls' Anger, by Lyn Mikel Brown, Harvard
Univ Pr; Reprint edition (October 1999). Girls in our culture learn early to
be self-effacing and pleasant, greeting the arrival of adolescence with an accommodating
smile. Right? Perhaps not. In Raising Their Voices, author Lyn Mikel Brown,
with Carol Gilligan (of the groundbreaking book on girls' psychology Meeting
at the Crossroads), confronts the image of "passivity, depression, negative
body-image and eating disorders, low self-esteem, and indirect expressions of
feelings" perpetuated by recent psychological and sociological research
on teen girls. In a year of meeting with groups of girls in two Maine communities--one
primarily working-class, one middle- and upper-middle-class--Brown engages the
young women in discussions about their relationships, their feelings, and the
expectations they have begun to sense around being female. The book, liberally
seasoned with the girls' rowdy, clever, conflicted talk, reveals a vast difference
between the role-stereotype pressure on working-class girls and their middle-
class counterparts, and offers the news that all girls do not simply acquiesce
to the constrictions of American culture, nor, if given the right support, do
they need to. Brown exhorts adults, particularly women, to allow girls their
voices, and to suggest to them, as she does, "the possibility, even under
the most oppressive of conditions, for creative refusal and resistance."
This book offers valuable insight and tools for the parents, teachers, and mentors
of young women
*The
origin of Values (Sociology and Economics), by Michael Hechter, Lynn Nadel,
Richard E. Michod (Editor), Aldine de Gruyter; (January 1993)
*Sexual
Bullying: Gender Conflict and Pupil Culture in Secondary Schools, by Neil
Duncan, Routledge, (September 1999). Bullying is one of the most destructive
but common social practices that young people experience in schools, and one
of the most difficult for teachers to manage successfully. Sexual bullying is
even more difficult to deal with. This book draws together theories on gender,
adolescent behaviour and schooling to examine social interactions in four comprehensive
schools. Research from group and individual interviews with the pupils, case-studies
and classroom-practitioner observations over a seven-year period underpin the
findings within the book.
*Conflict
Talk: Sociolinguistic Investigations of Arguments in Conversations, by Allen
D. Grimshaw (Editor), Cambridge University Press; (April 19, 1990). Studies
of language use in social contexts have multiplied in recent decades, yet relatively
little attention has been paid to the important area of conflict talk. The eleven
studies in this volume fulfil this need, using analytic and interpretative perspectives
to examine the disputes of adults and of children. Most of the studies are based
on audio or sound-image records of naturally occurring discourse arising in
a variety of contexts. These range from street to school, from courtroom to
hospital, and from home to workplace. Allen Grimshaw has provided a short introductory
chapter and extensive theoretical conclusion to the studies, which come from
a variety of disciplines: the authors comprise anthropologists, linguists, sociologists,
a lawyer and a psychologist. The book will appeal to researchers and advanced
students in all of these areas, and also to counsellors, legal professionals,
and negotiators.
*Sociological
Studies of Child Development, by Patricia A. Adler, Peter Adler (Editor),
Nancy Mandell (Editor), JAI Press; (September 1986).
*Interpersonal
Relations: Family, Peers, Friends (Contributions to Human Development, Vol.
18) , by J.A. Meacham (Editor), S. Karger Publishing; (August 1987).
*Children
of Different Worlds: The Formation of Social Behavior, by Beatrice Blyth
Whiting, Carolyn Pope Edwards, Harvard Univ Pr; Reprint edition (October 1992).
*Adolescent
Relations With Mothers, Fathers, and Friends, and Freinds, by James Ypuniss,
James Youniss, Jacqueline Smollar (Contributor), University of Chicago Press;
Reprint edition (March 1987). After interviews with teenagers, Youniss and Smollar
find that, though adolescents seek independence from the parent-child bond,
they do not abandon the relationship.
*Clinical
Management of Gender Indentity Disorders in Children and Adults, (Clinical
Practice, No 14), by Ray Blanchard, Betty W. Steiner (Editor), Amer Psychiatric
Pr; (September 1990). Ten contributions examine the various syndromes of gender
identity disturbance in males and females. Case studies are provided as well
as descriptions of different treatment approaches and their effectiveness. No
index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
*He-Said-She-Said:
Talk as Social Organization Among Black Children, by Marjorie Harness Goodwin,
Indiana University Press; (March 1991).
*The
"Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality, by Richard Green,
Yale Univ Pr; (February 1, 1987). Psychiatrist Green presents the findings of
his 15-year study of two groups of boys, one "feminine" and the other
conventionally "masculine" in attitude and behavior. Three-fourths
of the first group reported being homosexual or bisexual when interviewed in
adolescence or young adulthood, while only a single member of the second group
reported such orientation. Green recognizes the dangers implicit in a "
`recipe' approach to preparing a developmental model of homosexual orientation"
and offers instead a complex and multi-factored theory drawing on his clinical
experience and statistical analysis. He is not concerned with "preventing"
the development of homosexuality but in reducing the anxiety of those frequently
stigmatized. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries. James
Michael MacLeod, Richmond, Va.
*Sexual
Practices: The Story of Human Sexuality, by Edgar Gregersen, Franklin Watts,
Incorporated; (September 1983). (From a reader, Feb, 2002) I was fortunate enough
to have Dr. Gregersen as a professor when I was an undergraduate. His book provides
an excellent introduction to how to think about sexual behavior as an anthropologist,
or any scientist, should. The book is informative, easy to read, and well-researched.
Highly recommended.
*Language
and Social Identity, by John J. Gumperz (Editor), Cambridge University Press;
2nd edition (January 20, 1983). Throughout Western society there are now strong
pressures for social and racial integration but, in spite of these, recent experience
has shown that greater intergroup contact can actually reinforce social distinctions
and ethnic stereotypes. The studies collected here examine, from a broad sociological
perspective, the sorts of face-to-face verbal exchange that are characteristic
of industrial societies, and the volume as a whole pointedly demonstrates the
role played by communicative phenomena in establishing and reinforcing social
identity. The method of analysis that has been adopted enables the authors to
reveal and examine a centrally important but hitherto little discussed conversational
mechanism: the subconscious processes of inference that result from situational
factors, social presuppositions and discourse conventions. The theory of conversation
and the method of analysis that inform the author's approach are discussed in
the first two chapters, and the case studies themselves examine interviews,
counselling sessions and similar formal exchanges involving contacts between
a wide range of different speakers: South Asians, West Indians and native English
speakers in Britain; English natives and Chinese in South-East Asia; Afro-Americans,
Asians and native English speakers in the United States; and English and French
speakers in Canada. The volume will be of importance to linguists, anthropologists,
psychologists, and others with a professional interest in communication, and
its findings will have far-reaching applications in industrial and community
relations and in educational practice.
*Childhood
Gender Segregation: Causes and Consequences: New Directions for child and Adolescent
Development, by Campbell Leaper (Author), Jossey-Bass; (November 15, 1994).
At around three years of age, children begin to show a preference for same-sex
peer affiliations. This gender segregation occurs in all cultures where children's
social groups are large enought to allow choice, and it appears to have important
influences on children's development. Different peer group environments may
lead to the development of different psychological preferences and skills. They
may also foster later gender differences in academic achievement and intimacy.
The contirbutors to this volume of New Directions for Child Development examine
both the possible developmental precursors and consequences of gender segregation,
implicationg social, emotional, physiological, and cognitive factors in the
emergence and maintenance of individuals' preferences for same-sex peer groups.
This is the 65th issue of the journal series New Directions for Child Development.
*Moving
into Adolescence: The Impact of Pubertal Change and School Context (Social
Institutions and Social Change), by Roberta G. Simmons, Dale A. Blyth, Aldine
de Gruyter; (June 1987)
*Children's
Social Networks and Social Supports, by Deborah Belle (Editor) John Wiley
& Sons; (March 1989). This new work integrates emerging ideas on children's
social networks and supports with developmental theory and research. Researchers
and clinicians, armed with new methodological tools, synthesize theoretical
and clinical work and suggest implications for supportive interventions for
children. The periods from infancy to adolescence are covered, considering social
networks inside and outside of the child's household, institutional connections,
and even pets.
Women
and Gender in Early Modern Europe, by Merry E. Wiesner (Author),Cambridge
University Press; 2nd edition, (July 3, 2000). This is a major new edition of
a stimulating and authoritative book. Merry Wiesner has updated and expanded
her prize-winning study; she has added new sections on topics such as sexuality,
masculinity, the impact of colonialism, and women's role as consumers. Other
themes investigated include the female life cycle, literacy, women's economic
role, artistic creation, female piety--and witchcraft--and the relationship
between gender and power. Accessible, engrossing, and lively, this book will
be of central importance for those interested in gender history, early modern
Europe, and comparative history.
*When
Battered Women Kill, by Angela Browne (Author) Free Press; (March 10, 1989).
Browne is a psychologist at the University of New Hampshire's Family Violence
Research Center. Her book is the culmination of six years devoted to in-depth
interviewing of 250 brutalized wives, including 42 whose despair drove them
to kill their husbands. The author's professional objectivity does not lessen
the dramatic impact of the many accounts she includes of women repeatedly beaten
by their spouses. More than 1.5 million women seek medical treatment each year
because of assault by a male partner, but the few who kill to escape this torture
are judged harshly and sentenced to prison. This is an important book that should
force public action to help victims and victimizersboth of whom are equally
unable to help themselves. Prentice Hall Book Club main selection. Copyright
1987 Reed Business Information, Inc
A
History of Women in the West: Silences of the Middle Ages, by Georges Duby
(Editor), Michelle Perrot (Editor), Christiane Klapisch-Zuber (Editor), Pauline
Schmitt Pantel (Editor) Belknap Pr; Reprint edition (April 25, 2000). This five-volume
work addresses the history of women from the ancients to the 1980s. Editors
George Duby et al. state that this series of books "is the product of a
revolutionAan ongoing, far-reaching revolution in the relations between men
and women in Western societies." It therefore focuses on the western European
experience with some attention to North America and "is intended to be
not so much a history of women as a history of the relation between the sexes"
because that is "the crux of the problem, the source of women's identity
and otherness." Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A
History of Women in the West: Emerging Feminism from Revolution to World War,
by Georges Duby (Editor), Michelle Perrot (Editor), Genevieve Fraisse (Editor),
Pauline Schmitt Pantel (Editor) Belknap Pr; Reprint edition (April 25, 2000).
This five-volume work addresses the history of women from the ancients to the
1980s. Editors George Duby et al. state that this series of books "is the
product of a revolutionAan ongoing, far-reaching revolution in the relations
between men and women in Western societies." It therefore focuses on the
western European experience with some attention to North America and "is
intended to be not so much a history of women as a history of the relation between
the sexes" because that is "the crux of the problem, the source of
women's identity and otherness." Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
A
History of Women in the West: Toward a Cultural Identity in the Twentieth Century
(Vol. 5), by Georges Duby (Editor), Michelle Perrot (Editor), Pauline Schmitt
Pantel (Editor), Francoise Thebaud (Editor) Belknap Pr; Reprint edition (April
25, 2000). This five-volume work addresses the history of women from the ancients
to the 1980s. Editors George Duby et al. state that this series of books "is
the product of a revolutionAan ongoing, far-reaching revolution in the relations
between men and women in Western societies." It therefore focuses on the
western European experience with some attention to North America and "is
intended to be not so much a history of women as a history of the relation between
the sexes" because that is "the crux of the problem, the source of
women's identity and otherness."
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
*Pupil
Power: Deviance and Gender in School, by Lynn Davies Taylor & Francis;
(July 1984).
*Violence
Against Wives: A Case Against the Patriarchy, by R. Emerson Dobash, Russell
P. Dobash Free Press, Reprint edition (August 1983)
*Nonverbal
Sex Differences: Accuracy of Communication and Expressive Style, by Judith
A. Hall, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; Reprint edition (February 1990). This is the
first thorough review and analysis of the extensive research literature on nonverbal
sex differences among infants, children, and adults. Judith A. Hall summarizes
and explores data on nonverbal skill and style differences, including the sending
and judging of nonverbal cues of emotion, facial expression, gaze, interpersonal
distance, touch, body movement, and nonverbal speech characteristics. Popular
authors and scholars alike have advanced the argument that women's low social
status has accounted for their nonverbal skills and expressive style. Hall pays
particular attention to examining this "oppressive hypothesis". Explanations
for nonverbal sex differences surely have much to do with cultural expectations
and social learning processes, she argues, but to unravel the exact causal influences
is a complex task, one that has hardly begun.
*Gender
and Emotion: Social Psychological Perspectives, by Agneta H. Fischer (Editor)
Cambridge University Press; (March 9, 2000). For ages, women have been considered
as the emotional sex. The aim of this book is to investigate this stereotype.
A wide range of emotions, such as anger, pride, shame, sadness, and joy, and
emotional expressions, such as smiling and laughing are covered in the various
chapters. The purpose of each chapter is to show whether sex differences have
been found in psychological research in relation to one of these aspects of
emotion, in which situations these differences were especially strong, and how
(the absence of) these differences can be explained. This book is the first
in its field to systematically present an overview of research and theory on
gender differences in emotion.
*Sugar
and Spice: Sexuality and Adolescent Girls, by Sue Lees, Penguin USA (Paper);
(November 1993)
*Entitlement
and the Affectional Bond: Justice in Close Relationships (Critical Issues
in Social Justice), by Melvin J. Lerner, Gerold Mikula (Editor), Plenum Pr;
(November 1994)
*Resistance
Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Postwar Britian, by Stuart Hall, Tony
Jefferson
Routledge; (January 1995). (From a reader, July 2001) This book is a must read
for students of fashion, subculture, identity, and pop culture. Although the
style of writing and some of the conclusions read as somewhat "old-fashioned",
it was ground-breaking work at the time, one of the first serious scholarly
treatments of youth and pop culture. More importantly, many of its arguments
are still very relevant and need to be reconsidered in contemporary literature.
The collection also discusses many styles which are all but forgotten to a younger
audience and the variety British styles in the 60s is an education in itself
for people who often think of past decades as having a particular "look".
Excellent sociological analysis blended with ethnographic description.
*The
Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, by
Karl Polanyi, Amereon Ltd; (June 1999). (From a reader, Dec. 2002) IN this book
written in late 1940s, Polanyi argues that free-market policies advocated by
liberal economists were pushing human society to a breaking points -- he implies
that the world wars were the results of these policies. According to Polanyi,
these liberal theorists did not understand that the market has always been a
human institution, inextricably tied to the social fabric. Their policies are
distrastrous for the world because their theories assumed that human beings
act solely for financial motives, Polanyi argued. Only the society's reaction
to protect itself against the abuses of the market -- the second prong of what
Polanyi calls the "Double Movement" -- was the damage of liberalization
mitigated. \All this probably sounds obvious today, but I assume that it was
quite revolutionary when Polanyi wrote it. So this book is worth reading as
intellectual history. I wouldn't recommend it as economic history per se because
Polanyi has a habit of glossing over the historical evidences that he uses to
make his argument, and his rhetoric sounds over-heated to me at times. Perhaps
this reflects his background as a journalist. It made me think that he was overreaching
even though I am quite sympathetic to his arguments
*Society
and the Adolescent Self-Image, by Morris Rosenberg, Univ Pr of New England;
Revised edition (December 1, 1989)
*Fairness
in Children: A Social-Cognitive Approach to the Study of Moral Development,
by Michael Siegal, Academic Press; (July 1997)
*The
Battered Woman Syndrome, by Lenore E. A Walker, Springer Pub Co; 2nd edition
(January 2000). Contains the latest research on the impact of exposure to violence
on children, marital rape, child abuse, personality characteristics of different
types of batterers, new psychotherapy models for batterers and their victims,
and more. For therapists. Previous edition: c1984.
The
Batterer: A Psychological Profile, by Donald G., Phd Dutton, Susan K. Golant
(Contributor)
Basic Books; (April 1997). Drawing on his pathbreaking studies of more than
700 abusive men-as well as therapy with hundreds more-psychologist Donald G.
Dutton here paints a dramatic and startling portrait of the man who assaults
his intimate partner, such as admitted abusers like lawyer Joel Steinberg, sports
celebrity 0. J. Simpson, and choreographer Peter Martins. With dramatic case
histories that shed light on the dark secrets of spousal abuse, and with its
singular focus on the personality of the abuser, rather than that of the victim,
The Batterer provides the missing link to show how men can harm the women they
love and how we can begin to put an end to violence behind closed doors.
*Patterns
of Culture, by Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead (Preface), Mariner Books; Reissue
edition (June 26, 1989) Benedict puts forward her famous thesis that a people's
culture is an integrated whole, a "personality writ large." For more
than a generation, this pioneering book has been an indispensable introduction
to the field of anthropology. Here, in her study of three sharply contrasting
cultures, Benedict puts forward her famous thesis that a people's culture is
an integrated whole, a "personality writ large." Includes a preface
from Margaret Mead.
*The
Girls in the Gang, by Anne Campbell, Blackwell Publishers; 2nd edition (May
1991). (From a reader, March 2000) This book was reprinted in 1991 and was a
bit dated even then, as it contained little new information (the first edition
was published in 1984.) Still, in her profiles of three very different women
and the gangs they associate with, Campbell draws a clear picture of the limited
choices available to inner-city women. Should be read in tandem with Gini Sikes's
"8-Ball Chicks" for an updated view of contemporary gang girls.
8 Ball Chicks, by Gini Sikes (Author) ..." The cover may be gaudy, but
this account of girl gangbangers is down-to-earth and refreshingly free of melodrama."
Anchor; (January 20, 1998). "TJ had never killed anyone before, but then
who knew for sure? Sticking a pump shotgun out of a moving car and blasting
into a crowd--you could never really tell which bodies fell because of you,
whose life you were accountable for..." The cover may be gaudy, but this
account of girl gangbangers is down-to-earth and refreshingly free of melodrama.
In order to write 8 Ball Chicks journalist Gini Sikes spent a year hanging out
with girl gangs in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. As Salon writes,
"Sikes's analysis is sparse and not particularly illuminating ('Without
an effective national policy for youth, kids fell through the cracks in droves'),
but she's got a good ear and the sense to step back and let her subjects seize
the microphone most of the time." -
One
of the Guys: Girls, Gangs, and Gender, by Jody Miller ( she challenges the
common belief that girls do not join gangs or participate in gang-related crime.
She explores the differences between male and female gang involvement, offering
an explanation for these differences based on predominant gender norms which
even "deviant" youth do not escape.) Oxford University Press; (October
2000)
*The
Evolution of Parental Care, by T. H. Clutton-Brock (Author), Princeton Univ
Pr; (March 1, 1991). Synthesizing studies of parental care in a wide variety
of animals, this book is the first attempt to provide general answers to the
following important questions: Why does the extent of parental care vary so
widely between species? Why do only females care for eggs and young in some
animals, only males in others, and both parents in a few? To what extent is
parental care adjusted to variation in its benefits to offspring and its costs
to parents? How do parents divide their resources between their sons and daughters?
In this book separate chapters examine the evolution of variation in egg and
neonate size, of viviparity and other forms of bearing, and of differences in
the duration of incubation, gestation, and lactation. The book reviews theoretical
and empirical predictions concerning the evolution of parental care and examines
the extent to which these are supported by empirical evidence. The author examines
the distribution of parental care among offspring, reviews the empirical evidence
that parents invest to different extents in their sons and daughters, and discusses
the degree to which parents manipulate the sex ratio of their progeny in relation
to the availability of resources.
*A
General Theory of CrimeA General Theory of Crime, by Michael R. Gottfredson,
Travis Hirschi, Michael R. Gottfred, Stanford Univ Pr; (May 1990)
*Too
Many Women? The Sex Ratio Question, by Paul F. Secord, Marcia Guttentag
(Author), Sage Publications; (March 1, 1983)
*Women,
Sexuality, and Social Control, by Jeanne and Petersen, Anne C. Brooks-Gunn
(Editor), A. C. Peterson (Editor), Plenum Pub Corp; (July 1983)
*Women,
Sexuality, and Social Controll, by Carol Smart, Barry Smart, Routledge Kegan
& Paul; (October 1978)
*Sisters
in Crime: The Rise of the Female Criminal, by Freda Adler Waveland Press;
(May 1985)
*Women
and the Law: The Social Historical Perspective, by D. Kelly Weisberg (Editor)
Schenkman Books; (December 1982)
Hard
Bargains: The Politics of Sex, by Linda Hirshman, Jane Larson. Oxford Press;
(November 1999) For coauthors Linda Hirshman and Jane Larson, sex is a matter
of political negotiation. Focusing on heterosexual practice in four specific
forms--rape, fornication, adultery, and prostitution--they trace the history
and law of sexual regulation in the West from the ancients to the present day.
In the final section, they lay out their "prescription for a new sexual
order," proposing "that the touchstone for political legitimacy requires
the recognition that women are political players, that adult heterosexuality
is a political relationship, and that the goal of sexual politics is neither
to be the handmaid of an antique morality nor the umpire in a free-for-all between
unequal players." This is a wide-ranging, dense, and well-written book,
blending political theory, historical detail, cultural critique, and sexology
in discussing how our notions of sex have been formed and why we should acknowledge
sex as thoroughly political--not just in the public realm, but in each individual
sexual encounter. Hard Bargains provides an erudite and involving exploration
of the classic feminist political adage: the personal is political.
*Women,
Crime and Poverty, by Pat Carlen, Open Univ Pr; (November 1988). Comprises
39 case studies of female offenders in Great Britain. Accessible to lay readers
while possessing scholarly substance. Published by Open University in the UK.
(Is it only an accident that the pick-purse, depicted in the act on the book's
cover, so closely resembles Margaret Thatcher?) Annot
*Economic
Realities and the Female Offender, by Jane R. Chapman, Lexington Books;
(June 1980)
*The
Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime, by Meda Chesney-Lind (Author),
Lisa Pasko, Sage Publications; 2 nd edition (July 17, 2003). Scholarship in
criminology over the last few decades has often left little room for research
and theory on how female offenders are perceived and handled in the criminal
justice system. In truth, one out of every four juveniles arrested is female
and the population of women in prison has tripled in the past decade. Co-authored
by Meda Chesney-Lind, one of the pioneers in the development of the feminist
theoretical perspective in criminology, the subject matter of The Female Offender:
Girls, Women and Crime, Second Edition redresses the balance by providing critical
insight into these issues.
*Girls,
Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice, by Meda Chesney-Lind, Randall G. Shelden,
Wadsworth Publishing; 2nd edition (July 16, 1997). Filling a tremendous gap
in criminological literature, Girls, Delinquency, and Juvenile Justice focuses
on the special problems delinquent girls face within our criminal justice system
... and exposes the system's failed attempts to apply male-oriented theories
to the delinquency of females. Authors Meda Chesney-Lind and Randall G. Shelden
include the relevance of classic theories of delinquency to female juveniles;
an impressive amount of historical data and numerous contemporary studies to
show that, often, mainstream theories and approaches don't work with female
juveniles; and ten in-depth interviews with delinquent girls who share their
experiences in the criminal justice system. In addition to greater theoretical
development, this second edition has been thoroughly updated with a separate
chapter on girls in gangs; important new statistics; and more information on
the use of drugs and alcohol, drug-addicted babies, the impact of the newest
legislation, and the relative success of alternative programs to incarceration.
A volume in the Wadsworth Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Series.
*Gender-Related
Differences: Origins and Outcomes, by Katharine Blick Hoyenga, Kermit T.
Hoyenga, Pearson Allyn & Bacon; 1 edition (February 15, 1993). A feminist
study with a broad view of those differences between people that are related
to gender. Examines how a combination of genes, sex hormones, developmental
history, and current cultural and interpersonal environments combine to effect
the final outcome of sex differences. Considers the epistemology and science
of gender research and gender-related knowledge, the biological covariates,
and the environmental factors. Finishes by illustrating the application of the
findings to two specific topics: mating and spatial tasks. Includes an extensive
and well designed bibliography. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland,
Or.
*Steet
Woman (Women in the Political Economy Series), by Eleanor M. Miller (Street
Woman offers a challenging alternative to recent sociological studies that view
the "women's movement" as directly linked to the increasing participation
of women in property crime. Miller shows that this increase in crime is a response
to sustained poverty. Thus, many sociologists are out of touch with the typical
female criminal in this country on both a demographic and personal level).Temple
Univ Press; Reprint edition (August 1987)
*Compelled
to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered, Black Women, by Beth E. Richie
Routledge; (November 1995). While African Americans consider how to accommodate
participation in the feminist and black nationalist movements, Richie has taken
on one of the most contested issues within the community: African American women
battered by African American men.
*Crime
in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life, by Robert J. Sampson,
John H. Laub, Harvard Univ Pr; (April 1995)
The
Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society, by David
Garland (The U.S. and the U.K. have become nations of stringent social control,
from surveillance to curtailment of civil liberties. "The culture of control"
charts the evolution of this approach to law and order). University of Chicago
Press; Reprint edition (September 2002) (...thesis that falling crime rates
are accompanied paradoxically by expanded imprisonment, curtailment of civil
liberties and stigmatization of a largely minority underclass by closely addressing
subtle gradations of class and race relations)
[Special note from WA Spriggs: The following book is a perfect example of the
"masculine," "realpolitik" philosophy of D&C = Dominantion
and Control which is permeating the American political landscape from 2002,
and is still going here in 2005) It also is a perfect example of what the authors
are teaching us in the book above, The Culture of Control and the book below,
Social Dominance. Crime and Human Nature represents the dark side of biosocial
science]
*Crime
and Human Nature, by James Q. Wilson, Richard J. Herrnstein, Free Press;
(June 1998). (Over the past ten years, neoconservatism has become a force in
criminology. Wilson, the leading advocate of this right-ward move, and Herrnstein,
who is noted for his work on I.Q., race, and meritocracy, have written what
should become the major source on this important development in criminology.)
Social
Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression,by Jim
Sidanius, Felicia Pratto, Cambridge Univ. Pr., May 2001.(This volume focuses
on two questions: Why do people from one social group oppress and discriminate
against people from other groups? And why is this oppression so difficult to
eliminate? The answers to these questions are formed using the conceptual framework
of social dominance theory. Social dominance theory argues that the major forms
of intergroup conflict, such as racism, classism and patriarchy, are all basically
derived from the basic human predisposition to form and maintain hierarchial
and group-based systems of social organization. In essence, social dominance
theory presumes that, beneath major and sometimes profound differences between
different human societies there is also a basic grammar of social power shared
by all societies in common).
*Human
Development: An Interactional Perspective, by David Magnusson, Vernon L.
Allen (Editor),Academic Press; (December 1983).
*A
Treatise on the Family (enlarged edition), by Gary Stanley Becker Harvard
Univ Pr; (October 1993) (A reader from Mahwah NJ -- Becker's work on the economics
of the family is unique. He poses the existence of a marriage market where people
shop for spouses. Becker reasons that polygamy is good for women because increased
demand improves their bargaining position. Becker also looks at children as
a type of investment- like a business decision to buy a new machine. Many will
find his arguments distrubing, however his reasoning is flawless.)
*The
Psychology of Jealousy and Envy, by Peter Salovey (Editor), Guilford Press;
(February 15, 1991). ``THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JEALOUSY AND ENVY is must reading for
anyone in the close-relationships field, but will be of interest to anyone at
all who has ever experienced these emotions or who has been the victim of them
in someone else. The book is full of interesting insights....Anyone and everyone
will stand to gain from this book not only from an academic standpoint, but
from the very practical standpoint of understanding experiences they confront
in their everyday close relationships.''
*Divorce
and Separation: Context, Causes, and Consequences, by George Levinger (Editor),
Oliver C. Moles, Basic Books; (April 1979).
*Marriage,
Divorce, Remarriage (Social Trends in the United States, by Andrew J. Cherlin
Harvard Univ Pr; (November 1992).
*Women
and Men: An Anthropologist;s View, by Ernestine Friedl, Waveland Press;
(January 1984)
*Infanticide
and Parental Care (Ettore Majorana Intgernational Life Science Series) ,by
Stefano Parmigiani (Editor), Frederick S. Vom Saal (Editor), Taylor & Francis;
(June 1, 1994). Infanticide is an extremely complex behavioral pattern that
occurs throughout the animal kingdom and it must be considered not only in isolation
but also from the viewpoint of an animal's care of its young. The concept of
infanticide is considered in different mammals such as humans, primates, pinnipeds,
lions, dwarf mongooses and prairie dogs and in non-mammals including insects
and birds. This book also views the topic in different environmental conditions
such as the natural habitat of an animal and animals kept in laboratory conditions.
*Love
and Sex: Cross-Cultrual Perspectives, by Elaine Hatfield (Author), Richard
L. Rapson (Author),Pearson Allyn & Bacon; 1 edition (October 19, 1995).
Targeting an area of research that has long been dominated by "Western"
scientists, Elaine Hatfield and Richard L. Rapson tell a new and updated story
of love and sex in the modern world
Copyright, Evolution's Voyage, 1995 - 2011