Talking Difference: On Gender and Language: 7 (Gender and Psychology series) - Softcover

Crawford, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803988281 ISBN 13: 9780803988286

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

`I love the warmth and wit in this book, but I say this in no way to detract from the seriousness of its subject matter and its incisive treatment by Mary Crawford... this is a great book and an important book which articulates current critical thinking about research around gender and language. Mary Crawford writes brilliantly, powerfully and lucidly... I thoroughly recommend it′ - British Psychological Society Psychology of Women Section Newsletter

This refreshing re-evaluation of current wisdom - both academic and popular - about men′s and women′s language critically assesses the abundant social science research of recent years and its representation in the mass media. Exploring a wide range of topics, from talk shows to self-help books, Mary Crawford offers a new understanding of the role of language practices in both maintaining - and disrupting - gender inequality.

The book addresses such provocative questions as: Why has the study of gender and language so often focused on the limitations of women′s talk? How do academic practices constrain our understanding of how gender relations are re-created and maintained in language use? Why do assertiveness texts usually ignore indirect modes of speech such as humour and storytelling?

About this title

About the Author

Mary Crawford is Professor of Psychology and Graduate Director of Women′s Studies, University of South Carolina. She is co-author (with Rhoda Unger) of Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology (Second Edition, 1995).

From the Back Cover

` Talking Difference provides an excellent critical review of a good selection of the research in language and gender published over the last 20 years, including a substantial amount from the area of psychology... I found this an exhilarating book, written with energy and wit. Crawford maintains a consistently critical approach, identifying contradictions and ambiguities in popular theories of gender difference, and exposing conceptual and methodological weaknesses in language and gender research. The volume is well-structured and readable; it will prove very valuable in undergraduate and beginning postgraduate courses in language and gender or in women's studies, as well as offering much which should interest students of communication studies and social psychology' - Language in Society`The alternative [to the essentialist] approach Crawford proposes is the social constructionist view... Crawford's analysis of conversational humor is particularly eye-opening... Talking Difference is not only a great read but also an acute criticism of current research and a very important contribution to feminist theory' - Journal of Pragmatics

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803988281
• ISBN 13: 9780803988286
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224