BOOK REVIEW Foundational Sociology for the Study of Sex and Gender Gender and Sexuality: Sociological Approaches. By Momin Rahman and Stevi Jackson, Cambridge, UK, Malden, MA, Polity Press, 2010. 246 pp. $24.95 (paperback). ISBN: 9780745633770. Sharon Lamb Published online: 9 September 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Reviewing a textbook is no easy task, especially if one is long out of school, not searching for a new text to use in a course, and when one has an academic “to-do” list a mile long. Yet to a scholar of gender and sexuality, who has had doubts about the underpinnings of work in psychology, who searches for intersecting theories, and who has criticized the positivist leanings in her field, Gender & Sexuality: Sociological Approaches has been amply rewarding. And after reading this new and engaging book, cover to cover, it seems important to say that every respectable feminist psychologist should be aware of the sociological theories that underpin much of our work as well as the new directions that should inform it. Gender & Sexuality would be useful, in parts, as a supplement to introductory psychology of women textbooks, and in its entirety as a primary text for an upper or graduate level gender issues course. Although it is dense and not easy reading, it’ s engaging and contains “learning outcomes” at the ends of chapters, additional resources, and the occasional sidebar called “your world” where students are posed questions about their own lives that may relate to the readings. The straightforward questions posed in these sidebar boxes stand in sharp relief against the intensely intellectual material of the text and yet serve to show students that even incredibly dense theory can be understood through simple and personal questions. The book is divided into four substantive parts, with Part V serving as the conclusion. Part I summarizes the history of sociological thinking on gender and sexuality. The authors begin with a discussion of concepts such as essentialism, gender, and patriarchy while also supplying students with a good history of each term. They describe the foundations of socialism and Marxism as well as different feminisms, beyond the three waves. In the early chapters students will learn the background of radical feminism, political lesbianism, gay liberation, Marxist feminism, “difference” feminism, and the impact of Foucault on feminist theory. The authors write that sociology has overwhelmingly been focused on challenging both biological and psychological determinism. They also raise critical questions with regard to identity and embodi- ment. For example, they conclude that the body as a site of femininity and masculinity has been characterized nega- tively, “focusing on how bodily functions like child-bearing are represented ideologically” (p. 43). They go on to remind us that there currently is a strand of questioning that asks whether we can reduce all embodiment to a product of culture and whether there is a way body physicality does “constrain and structure our abilities, actions and identities” (p. 43). Part II discusses inequalities and social structures and is an important chapter with regard to intersecting oppres- sions, privileges, and international work in the field. The authors begin with a bit of history on social approaches that focus on work, family, and class, describing also how changes in the structure of gender relationships led to a reconceptualization of sexuality and changes in its regula- tion. A critique of the foundational sociologists’ (e.g. Durkheim, Weber, Davis, Parsons) neglect of women is followed by a review of critical approaches. Pertinent to this journal is a discussion of how the phrase “sex roles” which was associated with a static, consensual, and functionalist model was rejected in favor of “sexual divisions” which links gender to divisions of labor. A history of the concept of patriarchy follows with an S. Lamb (*) University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA e-mail: sharon.lamb@umb.edu Sex Roles (2012) 66:146–148 DOI 10.1007/s11199-011-0063-9