Teachers' Work is a highly readable, penetrating and often amusing account of the reality of teachers working lives, as relevant to the profession and its future as it was when first published in 1985. Based on the classic Australian study of the schools and homes of the wealthy and powerful and of ordinary wage-earners described in Making the Difference, Teachers' Work draws on extended interviews with teachers in elite private schools and mainstream government high schools and with the students and parents who attend and patronise them. As well as providing an absorbing account of the life and work of teachers through vivid portraits of people, classrooms and staffrooms, Teachers' Work illuminates the interaction between personal relationships in the classroom and the social structures of gender and class. In generating new ways of thinking about the character and origins of inequality in education, this book gives teachers themselves cause for reflection, offers student-teachers a picture of the real world of teaching, and provides parents with an insight into daily life behind the classroom door. At a time when the power of 'effective teaching' is being widely recognised and national debate focuses on the condition and prospcts of the teaching profession, Teachers' Work is as insightful and rewarding as ever.

Making the Difference draws on a detailed study of the schools and homes of the powerful and the wealthy, and the ordinary wage-earner. It allows children, parents and teachers to speak for themselves and from what they say it develops strikingly new ways of understanding 'educational inequality', how the class and gender systems work, and schools and their social roles. 'Equality of opportunity', co-education, and 'relevant and meaningful curriculum' are all questioned, sympathetically but incisively. Ranging across educational policy from system level to the everyday experience of kids and teachers, from the problems of schooling to the production of class and gender relations, Making the Difference is a path-breaking combination of theory, research and politics. Lucid and controversial, it will have a powerful impact on a wide readership.'This is certainly the most interesting book written about Australian schools in a very long time; it is arguably the most important.'James Blackburn, The Australian Teacher'The authors of this book are to be congratulated on a number of counts. length and great depth which is almost totally free of jargon...No reader can escape the challenge of reflection about what the process of education, or even merely of schooling, should really be achieving.'P.W. Musgrave, Education News 'Making the Difference will serve many a democratic teacher as an excellent rationale for the reform of assessment, curriculum, school organisation and school government. It must be the most persuasive argument yet written for school-based curricula.'Bill Hannan, TTUV News

First published in 1982, Making the Difference has become a classic in the study of education and of Australian society. Hailed on publication as 'certainly the most interesting book written about Australian schools in a very long time [and] arguably the most important', it has since been recognised as one of the 10 most influential works of Australian sociology, 'not just a major argument, and a 'classic' point of reference, [but] an event, an intervention in ways of doing research and speaking to practice, a methodology, a textual style. it was designed to be read by a much wider audience than the standard sociological text, and it has succeeded'. Making the Difference draws on a detailed study of the schools and homes of the powerful and the wealthy, and of ordinary wage-earners. It allows children, parents and teachers to speak for themselves and from what they say it develops strikingly new ways of understanding 'educational inequality', of how the class and gender systems work, and of schools and their social roles. 'Equality of opportunity', co-education, and 'relevant and meaningful curriculum' are all questioned, sympathetically but incisively. Ranging across educational policy from system level to the everyday experience of kids and teachers, from the problems of schooling to the production of class and gender relations, this path-breaking combination of theory, research and politics remains engaging, thought-provoking, and relevant.

Teachers' Work is a highly readable, penetrating and often amusing account of the reality of teachers working lives, as relevant to the profession and its future as it was when first published in 1985. Based on the classic Australian study of the schools and homes of the wealthy and powerful and of ordinary wage-earners described in Making the Difference, Teachers' Work draws on extended interviews with teachers in elite private schools and mainstream government high schools and with the students and parents who attend and patronise them. As well as providing an absorbing account of the life and work of teachers through vivid portraits of people, classrooms and staffrooms, Teachers' Work illuminates the interaction between personal relationships in the classroom and the social structures of gender and class. In generating new ways of thinking about the character and origins of inequality in education, this book gives teachers themselves cause for reflection, offers student-teachers a picture of the real world of teaching, and provides parents with an insight into daily life behind the classroom door. At a time when the power of 'effective teaching' is being widely recognised and national debate focuses on the condition and prospcts of the teaching profession, Teachers' Work is as insightful and rewarding as ever.

Drawing on the findings of the Social Aspects of the Prevention of AIDS (SAPA) project established in 1986, this volume presents new data on the sexual and sociological responses to the AIDS epidemic in Australia, assisting both government and non-government HIW AIDS agencies, federal and state, in policy formulation on gay and bisexual men and in the development of prevention education programmes. In a region heavily hit by the AIDS epidemic, the communities have made significant efforts at preventing the spread of the virus and the SAPA project was devised to assess the effectiveness of these efforts. The research in the SAPA project and its follow-up study, The Triple S or SAPA: Sustaining Safe Sex survey, was carried out using theories and practice of theory from the emerging field of the social construction of sexuality. It adopts a broad perspective confirming analyses carried out in other countries.

This book focuses on the cultural processes at work within the Australian gay communitites, which have made significant efforts at preventing the spread of the HIV virus. Sustaining Safe Sex has clear relevance to work throughout the world.

In this timely new volume, Bob Connell - one of the world's leading authorities on masculinity - helps us to understand these developments, and make sense of the multiplying issues about men and boys. Five years on from the publication of his seminal study, Masculinities, Connell reflects on the growing social scientific research in this area. He assesses its strengths and weaknesses and explores its implications for contemporary problems from boys' education and men's health to international peacemaking.

This is a study of the Australian ruling class - the main companies, the leading political groups and the links and conflicts among them. The author also analyses class inequalities in education, the development of children's ideas about class, the role of the mass media and the way class relations are cemented culturally and psychologically. He introduces his book with a brief discussion of the literature on class theory, and a critical evaluation of Australian writing on class. Professor Connell's major aims are to describe and analyse Australia in the 1970s, to show how class theory is a useful tool in understanding the situation and to develop the theory by working through some practical cases. Apart from its obvious importance for Australian readers, this book should be of interest in other countries, both for comparison and for its original ideas on a number of important issues, such as conflict in the ruling class, and class consciousness in young people.

Sexual politics-from economic equality to anti-gay violence-is a vast area of debate. This exceptional book seeks to integrate gender and sexuality into the mainstream of social and political theory with the aim of challenging and transforming these traditional areas. The book is an original contribution to the theory, setting out for the first time a systematic framework for the social analysis of gender and sexuality. It is written with a clarity and scope that also make it useful as an introductory textbook sexual politics. The book reviews theories of gender from feminism to psychoanalysis, sex role theory, and sociobiology. It maps the structure of gender relations in contemporary life and in history; proposes a new approach to femininity and masculinity; and offers a wide-ranging analysis of sexual politics and the dynamics of change, from working-class feminism to the dilemmas of the "men's movement." Connell has produced a major work of synthesis and scholarship which will be of unique value to students and professionals in sociology, politics, psychology, women's studies, gay studies, and to anyone interested in sexual politics.

This book is an important introductory textbook on sexual politics and an original contribution to the reformulation of social and political theory. In a discussion of, among other issues, psychoanalysis, Marxism and feminist theories, the structure of gender relations, and working class feminism, Connell has produced a major work of synthesis and scholarship which will be of unique value to students and professionals in sociology, politics, women's studies and to anyone interested in the field of sexual politics.

When it was first published over a decade ago, R.W. Connell's ground-breaking text on the nature and construction of masculine identity rapidly became a classic. In Masculinities Connell argues that there is not one masculinity, but many different masculinities, each associated with different positions of power. In a world gender order that continues to privilege men over women, but also raises difficult issues for men and boys, her account is more relevant than ever before. In this new edition, Connell discusses the development of masculinity studies in the ten years since the book's initial publication. She explores global gender relations, new theories, and practical uses of masculinity research. She also addresses the politics of masculinities, and the implications of masculinity research for understanding current world issues. Against the backdrop of an increasingly divided world, dominated by neo-conservative politics, Connell's account highlights a series of compelling questions about the future of human society. Masculinities has been translated into many languages and in 2004 it was voted one of the ten most influential books in Australian sociology. This second edition will be essential reading for students taking courses in gender studies, and a valuable reference for readers across the humanities and social sciences. the fundamental study on masculinity as a formative factor of modern social inequality, and also one of the most important books in the social sciences in recent years'Professor Ilse Lenz, Ruhr University, Bochum

"This book breaks new ground and expands the discourse on masculinities. Connell is an energetic scholar whose eclectic internationalist, sociological, historical, and even psychoanalytic perspectives are important to hear. Probably no other scholar writing on masculinity has such a broad grasp."--Tim Beneke, author of "Proving Manhood

"Connell has provided a much needed nudge to current scholarship on masculinities by showing the way toward larger global theorization. "The Men and the Boys is an outstanding work that will be very well received."--Michael A. Messner, University of Southern California

"Bob Connell is arguably the most influential male social scientist writing about masculinities today. And this colection of essays shows him in top form. Connell is a most adept theorist who can synthesize micro and macro, structural and personal, individual bodies and the body social, and, even more ambitiously, the global and--literally!--the microbial. This is a truly important book."-- Michael Kimmel, author of "Manhood in America and "The Gendered Society

"Bob Connell is the most fertile, astute and influential analyst of the myriad and messy meanings of masculinities on the planet. "The Men and the Boys "boldly extends the scope, depth and power of the foundational work he laid in "Masculinities "to address the most urgent and difficult questions about global gender and injustice of our time. Dare I label it a heroic work?"--Judith Stacey, author of "Brave New Families"

This is an exciting new edition of R.W. Connell's groundbreaking text, which has become a classic work on the nature and construction of masculine identity. In its first edition, "Masculinities "provided one of the most important voices in feminist scholarship by men. Connell argued that there is no such thing as a single concept of masculinity, but, rather, that many different masculinities exist, each associated with different positions of power. In a world in which gender order continues to extend privilege to men over women, but that also raises difficult issues for men and boys, Connell's account is more pertinent than ever.
In the new edition's substantial new introduction and conclusion, Connell discusses the development of masculinity studies in the ten years since the book's initial publication. He explores global gender relations, new theories, and practical uses of masculinity research. Looking to the future, his new concluding chapter addresses the politics of masculinities, and the implications of masculinity research as a way of understanding current world issues. Against the backdrop of an increasingly divided world, one that is presently dominated by neo-conservative politics, Connell's account highlights a series of compelling questions about the future of human society.
This second edition of Connell's classic book will be essential reading for students taking courses on masculinities and gender studies and will be of interest to students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences.