The Construction of Homosexuality
"At various times, homosexuality has been considered the noblest of loves, a horrible sin, a psychological condition or grounds for torture and execution. David F. Greenberg's careful, encyclopedic and important new book argues that homosexuality is only deviant because society has constructed, or defined, it as deviant. The book takes us over vast terrains of example and detail in the history of homosexuality."—Nicholas B. Dirks, New York Times Book Review\ \ \ In a...
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"At various times, homosexuality has been considered the noblest of loves, a horrible sin, a psychological condition or grounds for torture and execution. David F. Greenberg's careful, encyclopedic and important new book argues that homosexuality is only deviant because society has constructed, or defined, it as deviant. The book takes us over vast terrains of example and detail in the history of homosexuality."—Nicholas B. Dirks, New York Times Book Review Booknews A magisterial study that places homosexuality in a cross-cultural and trans-historical context. Greenberg (sociology, NYU) illuminates and accounts for the influence of social factors on sexual preference, the social organization of sexuality, and the ways that societies have thought about sexuality and tried to control it. His comparative approach seeks to confirm that homosexuality is not a uniform phenomenon across time and that social beliefs about homosexuality stem from identifiable features in societies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Acknowledgments1. Theorizing the Prohibition against HomosexualityPart I. Before Homosexuality2. Homosexual Relations in Kinship-Structured Societies3. Inequality and the State: Homosexual Innovations in Archaic Civilizations4. Early Civilizations: Variations on Homosexual Themes5. Sexual Asceticism in the Ancient World6. FeudalismPart II. The Construction of Modern Homosexuality7. Repression and the Emergence of Subcultures8. The Rise of Market Economies9. The Medicalization of Homosexuality10. Bureaucracy and Homosexuality11. Gay Liberation Epilogue: Under the Sign of Sociology References Index
\ BooknewsA magisterial study that places homosexuality in a cross-cultural and trans-historical context. Greenberg (sociology, NYU) illuminates and accounts for the influence of social factors on sexual preference, the social organization of sexuality, and the ways that societies have thought about sexuality and tried to control it. His comparative approach seeks to confirm that homosexuality is not a uniform phenomenon across time and that social beliefs about homosexuality stem from identifiable features in societies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
