Gender, Emotion, and the Family - Hardcover

Brody, Leslie

9780674341869: Gender, Emotion, and the Family

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674341864 ISBN 13: 9780674341869

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Do women express their feelings more than men? Popular stereotypes say they do, but in this provocative book, Leslie Brody breaks with conventional wisdom. Integrating a wealth of perspectives and research--biological, sociocultural, developmental--her work explores the nature and extent of gender differences in emotional expression, as well as the endlessly complex question of how such differences come about.

Nurture, far more than nature, emerges here as the stronger force in fashioning gender differences in emotional expression. Brody shows that whether and how men and women express their feelings varies widely from situation to situation and from culture to culture, and depends on a number of particular characteristics including age, ethnicity, cultural background, power, and status.

Especially pertinent is the organization of the family, in which boys and girls elicit and absorb different emotional strategies. Brody also examines the importance of gender roles, whether in the family, the peer group, or the culture at large, as men and women use various patterns of emotional expression to adapt to power and status imbalances.

Lucid and level-headed, Gender, Emotion, and the Family offers an unusually rich and nuanced picture of the great range of male and female emotional styles, and the variety of the human character.

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About the Author:

Leslie Brody is Associate Professor of Psychology at Boston University.

Review:

Gender, Emotion, and the Family focuses on gender differences in the experience and expression of emotion...[Brody] has gathered an amazing amount of data from innumerable studies...[and gives] a balanced account of the effect of environmental variables on the development of emotion. (Lucy Horwitz Boston Book Review)

Finally, an accurate and well-balanced discussion of topics that are on everybody's mind. Brody integrates research on the socialization of violence in boys and of the caretaking role for girls. Both this book and actual scientific research strongly support the role of nurture rather than nature in gender socialization...[A] highly recommended book. (F. Smolucha Choice)

Drawing on a wealth of information, [Leslie Brody] illuminates the ways in which men and women, boys and girls, develop and express emotions in the context of the family...This in-depth research addresses many issues, from power in relationships to the physiological expression of emotion; evidence of contradictory findings is detailed. This is a valuable addition to the ever-changing frontiers of behavior research. (Margaret Cardwell Library Journal)

Beyond the main points about the complexities and contingencies of gender differences and their development, the book contains accounts of many, many fascinating studies and intriguing points of view...Brody ultimately succeeds in articulating a comprehensive, thoughtful, and intellectually rigorous review of the research literature on gender differences in emotional expression, from a feminist empiricist perspective. This is an important book to own...a valuable reference for researchers and professionals. (Contemporary Psychology)

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