Susan M. Alexander

Stylish Hard Bodies: Branded Masculinity in Men's Health Magazine

This article examines a postmodern construct of masculinity in which male identity is based on consumption, a traditional role for women, rather than production. Data for this qualitative content analysis were drawn from a sample of Mens Health magazine. Analysis of the front covers, stories and features, an advice column, and advertisements reveals a construct that I identify as “branded masculinity.” Branded masculinity is rooted in consumer capitalism wherein corporate profit can be enhanced by generating insecurity about ones body and ones consumer choices and then offering a solution through a particular corporate brand. The form of branded masculinity found in Mens Health constructs muscles combined with a fashion sense and the appearance of financial success as the necessary characteristics for a real man today.

Social Justice and the Teaching of Sociology

Abstract The academic public that I encounter at my lectures always show surprise when I speak intimately and deeply about the classroom. That public seemed particularly surprised when I said that I was working on a collection of essays about teaching. This surprise is a sad reminder of the way teaching is seen as a duller, less valuable aspect of the academic professions. This perspective on teaching is a common one.

Straightlaced: How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up:

courses. Instead of preparing a list of discussion questions, I use the video to elicit questions from the students that they can then use as a basis for presentations or papers. Poto Mitan has also served as the focal point for a debate assignment on sweatshops. If buttressed by readings, it can be a centerpiece of a module on gender, globalization, and poverty in any relevant course. A major criticism is that the movie is ahistorical. This means that it does not even raise the fundamental question: How did Haiti become poor? A former slave colony that in a successful rebellion overthrew its white French masters, Haiti became the first black republic in January 1, 1804 (Knight 2000). But independence came at a steep price. From the very outset, the country was mired in debt because France demanded payment for her loss of “property.” After American occupation, which lasted from 1915 to 1934, Haiti became a pawn in Cold War global politics. Its proximity to Cuba made it vulnerable to U.S. interference in national politics, which resulted in leaders who did not care for their own people (Jackson 2010; Kidder 2010). An explanation of the role of Haitian women during this period, however brief, would have helped students understand the history of Haitian feminism. Poto Mitan ends on a note of hope. Women fight for justice on the streets and in their homes. They organize for improved labor rights and improved health care. Despite their dire conditions, they do not give up; some become entrepreneurs through microcredit schemes. In an interview, a Haitian woman speaks directly to the viewers, asking activists in the developed countries to organize against unjust policies that their governments perpetuate. Poto Mitan helped the privileged students whom I teach realize that global citizenship entails a responsibility for activism. They said that it made them realize that leading a life of privilege and wealth should not mean a life steeped in ignorance and oblivion. Poto Mitan made them want to get involved and help out. Songs of protest resound at the close, reminding us of the indomitability of women’s spirit all over the world.

Book Review: Readings in Social Theory: The Classical Tradition to Post-ModernismReadings in Social Theory: The Classical Tradition to Post-ModernismFarganisJamesNew York:McGraw Hill. 2004.4th ed. 450 pp.

aligned with Sideman’s in that it focuses more on the chronology of thought. Zeitlin’s (2000) Ideology and the Development of Sociological Theory develops more carefully the connection between sociology and the enlightenment, but is primarily “classical”; it ends with a discussion of Durkheim and Mannheim. I have used compilations of readings such as those put together by Bailey and Gayle (2003) or Farganis (2003), but I find that most undergraduates are not as excited as I to read parts of the sacred sociological canon in their original (albeit emaciated) form. Instructors must then take the responsibility for telling the “story” of theory themselves or must supplement with more engaging reads, such as Hurst’s slim (2000) Living Theory: The Application of Classical Social Theory to Contemporary Life. Parts of Contested Knowledge read better than others. Sections on Comte and Marx, for example, contain redundancies. Critiques of some theories are more thorough than others; I was quite surprised that the only major criticism of Parson’s functionalism was that it was a thin veneer of a legitimation of American liberalism. I will not, however, criticize Seidman for the theories and theorists he has omitted. Any overview this concise has to be accompanied by painful decisions regarding coverage. What is included is a reflection of Seidman’s decisionmaking process. The book is engaging, cogent, and stands on its own. What is most powerful about the approach is its engaging story, something about which students can get excited. Maybe someday we will provide Seidman with the happy ending.

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Part 1 Constructing categories of difference: what is race? what is sex? what is social class? what is sexual orientation?. Part 2 Framework essay: experiencing difference. Part 3 framework essay - the meaning of difference law and politics the economy science popular culture language.