Harriet Bradley

Gender issues continue to be a prominent concern of academics and policy-makers, and increasingly arise in various forms to be debated in the public sphere and popular media. But what exactly do we mean by gender? How can we best understand gender differences? How are current gender relations changing? What new paths are ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ taking? What would it be like to live in a society in which differences of gender were transcended? In this new edition of her popular and highly lauded book, Harriet Bradley provides an introduction to the concept of gender and the different theoretical approaches which have developed within gender studies. Utilizing life narratives, she investigates processes of gendering in three important spheres of contemporary social life: production, reproduction and consumption. The book highlights the centrality of gender in everyday life and shows how thinking about gender is influenced by changing political contexts. As well as updating the discussion with the latest scholarship, political concerns and economic data, the new edition pays closer attention to intersectionality and hybrid identities, as well as exploring the complexities of contemporary relations of masculinity and femininity in the light of new feminist activities. This lively and accessible book will be of interest to students across the social sciences, as well as anyone interested in contemporary relations between women and men.

Gender

Gender issues have become an increasingly prominent concern of academics and policy-makers. Although the death of feminism has often been pronounced, feminist ideas still permeate modern thinking. But what exactly do we mean by gender? How can we best understand gender differences? How are current gender relations changing? Are we facing a crisis of masculinity? Is social life being feminized? What would it be like to live in a society in which differences of gender were transcended? In this lively and accessible book Harriet Bradley provides an introduction to the concept of gender and the different theoretical approaches which have developed within gender studies. Using life narratives, she explores contemporary relations of masculinity and femininity and investigates processes of gendering in three important spheres of contemporary social life: production, reproduction and consumption. The book highlights the centrality of gender in everyday life and shows how thinking about gender is influenced by changing political contexts, considering the options for a transformative politics of gender. This book will be of interest to students across the social sciences, as well as anyone interested in contemporary relations between women and men.

Ann-Marie Bathmaker

Nicola Ingram

Jessie Abrahams

Anthony Hoare

Richard Waller

This book explores higher education, social class and social mobility from the point of view of those most intimately involved: the undergraduate students. It is based on a project which followed a cohort of young undergraduate students at Bristol's two universities in the UK through from their first year of study for the following three years, when most of them were about to enter the labour market or further study. The students were paired by university, by subject of study and by class background, so that the fortunes of middle-class and working-class students could be compared. Narrative data gathered over three years are located in the context of a hierarchical and stratified higher education system, in order to consider the potential of higher education as a vehicle of social mobility.

Harriet Bradley

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