Feelings and the Social Transformation of Gender

Abstract

This introductory chapter brings together the different strands of thinking that inform the book: feelings as a dynamic element in social transformation; family models and gender contracts in change; generational transition and transmission; and feminist theories of change. The dynamic between societal change and the psychological reconfiguration of cultural and emotional gender can be seen as an ongoing interchange between gendered identities, gendered subjectivities and sociocultural contexts that generate new life projects. If many in the same generation share such new life projects, they may contribute to social transformation. This perspective on change is discussed against prevalent understandings of social change in current feminist theory: political mobilisation, queering and reconfigurations of gender through new practices.