Table Of ContentMaking Societies
Sociology for a New Century
A PINE FORGE PRESS SERIES
Edited by Charles Ragin, Wendy Griswold, and Larry Griffin
Sociology for a New Century brings the best current scholarship to today's
students in a series of short texts authored by leaders of a new generation of
social scientists. Each book addresses its subject from a comparative, historical,
and global perspective and, in doing so, connects social science to the wider
concerns of students seeking to make sense of our dramatically changing world.
• An Invitation to Environmental Sociology Michael M. Bell
• Global Inequalities York W. Bradshaw and Michael Wallace
• Schools and Societies Steven Brint
• Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings, and Social Structures
Bruce Carruthers and Sarah Babb
• How Societies Change Daniel Chirot
• Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World
Stephen Cornell and Douglas Hartmann
• The Sociology of Childhood William A. Corsaro
• Cultures and Societies in a Changing World Wendy Griswold
• Crime and Disrepute JohnHagan
• Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective
Lester R. Kurtz
• Waves of Democracy: Social Movements and Political Change
John Markoff
• Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, Second Edition
Philip McMichael
• Aging, Social Inequality, and Public Policy Fred C. Pampel
• Constructing Social Research Charles C. Ragin
• Women and Men at Work Barbara Reskin and Irene Padavic
• Making Societies: The Historical Construction of Our World
William G. Roy
• Cities in a World Economy, Second Edition Saskia Sassen
• Gender, Family, and Social Movements Suzanne Staggenborg
• Law/Society: Origins, Interactions, and Change John Sutton
Making Societies
The Historical Construction
of Our World
William G. Roy
University of California, Los Angeles
PINE FORGE PRESS
Thousand Oaks, California · London · New Delhi
Copyright © 2001 by Pine Forge Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book maybe reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
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Library of Congress Catabging-in-Publication Data
Roy, William G., 1946
Making societies: The historical construction of our world /
by William G. Roy.
p. cm. — (Sociology for a new century)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7619-8662-6 (pbk.: alk paper)
1. Knowledge, Sociology of. 2. Space and time. 3. Social groups.
4. Social classes. I. Title. II. Series.
HM651.R68 2001
306.4'2—dc21 00-012057
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
01 02 03 04 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquiring Editor: Steve Rutter
Editorial Assistant: Ann Makarias
Production Editor: Denise Santoyo
Editorial Assistant: Cindy Bear
Designer/Typesetter: Janelle LeMaster
To Alice,
for constructing an
enchanted reality
Contents
Illustrations: Figures and Table I ix
About the Author and Publisher I xi
Foreword / xiii
Preface / xv
1 Constructing Historical Reality / 1
What Is Intelligence and Why Does It Matter? / 2
The Social Construction of Reality / 5
The Process of Social Construction / 18
Dominant Institutions and Power / 22
Intersections / 24
Conclusion / 28
2 Time / 30
Linear and Cyclical Time / 30
The History of Time / 32
Time as Quantity and Commodity / 45
Conclusion / 46
3 Space (coauthored with Patricia Ahmed) / 48
Space as a Thing / 49
The Earliest Known Conceptions of Space / 50
Non-Anglo-European Conceptions of Space / 51
Early Anglo-European Conceptions of Space / 55
Toward a Contemporary Anglo-European Understanding
of Space / 61
Intersections / 69
Conclusion / 72
4 Race / 74
The Paradox of Race / 75
What Is Race? / 76
Preracial Categories / 81
From Preracial to Racial Categories / 84
Whiteness / 96
Reflexivity / 101
Intersections / 104
Conclusion / 108
5 Gender / 110
Is Anatomy Destiny? / 111
Sex and Gender / 112
The Logic of the Category / 113
The History of Bodies / 116
Changing Gender in Anglo-European Society /
Masculinity / 128
Homosexual and Homosocial Relations / 140
Intersections / 143
Conclusion / 152
6 Class / 156
The Meaning of Class / 157
The Origins of Class-Based Societies / 164
Feudalism / 167
Capitalism / 170
Property / 172
Cultural Boundaries / 176
Conclusion / 183
7 Intersections Small and Large / 185
The Home / 185
Cities / 189
Nation / 192
Conclusion / 197
References / 201
Glossary/Index / 211
Illustrations
Figures
FIGURE l.l Boundaries and Gradients 15
FIGURE 2.1 Black Figured Lekythos (Oil Flask), 500-490 B.C.E. 34
FIGURE 2.2 The Aztec Calendar 36
FIGURE 3.1 Two Projections of the World 58
FIGURE 3.2 The T-O Map, 7th Century A.D. 60
FIGURE 4.1 "Scientific" Drawing of Head Shapes 91
FIGURE 4.2 Nonverbal Army Intelligence Test 93
FIGURE 4.3 Political Cartoon Equating Blacks and Irish
in Harper's Weekly (1876) 99
FIGURE 5.1 Munitions Factory, Bridgeport, Connecticut,
in Harper's Weekly (about 1880) 121
FIGURE 5.2 Boy Scouts to the Rescue (in Punch 1909) 139
FIGURE 5.3 Timetable of the Lowell Mills 145
FIGURE 5.4 Rosie the Riveter 147
FIGURE 5.5 Public and Private Life in 1890
(Harper's New Monthly Magazine) 149-150
FIGURE 6.1 A Tenant Renews His Vows 168
Table
TABLE l.l. The Category of Family in Anglo-European Culture 17
