03.08.06
The Sociology of Gender: Second Post (Irritations)
This book is interesting, but there are things about it that bug me. For some reason Kramer likes to discuss iniquities between men and women without really giving any depth. For example, she states that employers often choose to hire men over women because they think that men are more likely to be more devoted to their jobs, but she doesn’t say what the reasons for this perception are (or even really that there are reasons). This makes it seem very strange that this seemingly completely unfounded perception exists, when in fact, there are reasons. They still aren’t fair perceptions, but they do exist and should be discussed to achieve some balance in the discussion and portrayal of the issue.
Her frequent dismissal of other feminist viewpoints is also a bit frustrating. She may not agree with them, but she is writing a textbook and therefore should at least respect them on the surface. Students should be encouraged to think and have the right to follow other viewpoints if they so choose!
I’m just finding it a little frustrating that this is clearly a textbook and not an actual thesis or collection of papers, but it is really too general to be of much use even *as* a textbook. I would like it to have more real information to back up generalizations and more cited works or something so that I could have a better direction to follow in finding more information on topics that catch my interest. Even the list of references in the back lacks any notes that might tell me what any of the resources are about! Lacking actual comments or something they could at least be organized by chapter or include page numbers of where in the book they are referenced. It just isn’t very useful as is.