Identity

Abstract

This section explores the construction of both gendered and sexual identities in society, particularly, but not exclusively, those of women, and considers the powerful influences of family, school and work. It draws together the thinking, findings and views of a number of scholars, working in related but different fields, who are not usually seen together in the same text, but whose writings have resonated with my own thinking on this subject: philosophers such as Foucault and Bourdieu, feminist scholars from the 1960s onward and current researchers in the twenty-first century. Of particular interest is Garfinkel’s work and his 1967 study of the transsexual Agnes as well as Clarricoates’ detailed studies in the 1970s of gender identity within working class communities.