In the last decade or so, there has been a shift in the popular and academic discussion of our personal lives. Relationships and not necessarily marriage have gravitated to the center of our relational lives. Many of us feel entitled to seek intimacy, an emotionally depthful social bonding, rather than simply security or companionship from our relationships. Unlike in a marriage-centred culture, intimacy is today pursued in varied relationships, from familial to friends and to romances. And intimacies are being forged in multiple venues, from face-to-face to virtual, cyber contexts.

A new scholarship has addressed this changing terrain of personal life there is today a vast literature on cohabitation, parenthood without marriage, sex and love outside marriage, queer families, cyber intimacies and friendships. However, much theorizing and research has focussed either on the interior, subjective or sociocultural aspects of intimacies, not their interaction.

This volume aims to break new ground: "Intimacies" explores the psychological terrain of intimacy in depthful ways without abandoning its sociohistorical context and the centrality of power dynamics. Drawing on a rich archive that includes the social sciences, feminism, queer studies, and psychoanalysis, the contributors examine:

• changing cultures of intimacy
• fluid and solid attachments and intimacies from hook ups, to sibling bonds, to erotic love
• a politics of intimacy that may involve state enforced hierarchies, class, misrecognition, social exclusion and violence
• embodied experiences of intimacy and dynamics of endings and loss
• a pluralization of intimacies that challenge established ethical hierarchies

This volume aims to define the cutting edge of this emerging field of scholarship and politics. It challenges existing paradigms that assume rigid hierarchical approaches to relational life. "Intimacies" will be of interest for psychoanalysts and for students or scholars in sexualities, gender studies, family studies, feminism studies, queer studies, social class, cultural studies, and philosophy."

In the last decade or so, there has been a shift in the popular and academic discussion of our personal lives. Relationships - and not necessarily marriage - have gravitated to the center of our relational lives. Many of us feel entitled to seek intimacy, an emotionally depthful social bonding, rather than simply security or companionship from our relationships. Unlike in a marriage-centred culture, intimacy is today pursued in varied relationships, from familial to friends and to romances. And intimacies are being forged in multiple venues, from face-to-face to virtual, cyber contexts. A new scholarship has addressed this changing terrain of personal life - there is today a vast literature on cohabitation, parenthood without marriage, sex and love outside marriage, queer families, cyber intimacies and friendships. However, much theorizing and research has focussed either on the interior, subjective or sociocultural aspects of intimacies, not their interaction. This volume aims to break new ground: Intimacies explores the psychological terrain of intimacy in depthful ways without abandoning its sociohistorical context and the centrality of power dynamics. Drawing on a rich archive that includes the social sciences, feminism, queer studies, and psychoanalysis, the contributors examine: changing cultures of intimacy fluid and solid attachments and intimacies from hook ups, to sibling bonds, to erotic love a politics of intimacy that may involve state enforced hierarchies, class, misrecognition, social exclusion and violence embodied experiences of intimacy and dynamics of endings and loss a pluralization of intimacies that challenge established ethical hierarchies This volume aims to define the cutting edge of this emerging field of scholarship and politics. It challenges existing paradigms that assume rigid hierarchical approaches to relational life. Intimacies will be of interest for psychoanalysts and for students or scholars in sexualities, gender studies, family studies, feminism studies, queer studies, social class, cultural studies, and philosophy.

In The Social Construction of Sexuality, Steven Seidman investigates the political and social consequences of privileging certain sexual practices and identities while stigmatising others. Addressing a range of topics from gay and lesbian identities to sex work, Seidman delves into issues of social control that inform popular beliefs and moral standards. The new third edition features three new chapters that focus on the changing cultures of intimacy, the promise and perils of cyber intimacies, and youth struggles to negotiate independence and intimate solidarity.

Steven Seidman examines the implications for social theory and sexual politics of taking difference seriously. He explores the troubles difference can make for the social sciences and for the very people--feminists, queer theorists, postmodernists--who champion difference. This is a wide-ranging and sophisticated discussion of contemporary social theory and sexual politics, focusing on difference, knowledge and power. It also argues persuasively for a pragmatic approach to questions of difference in theory and politics.

This text examines the implications for social theory and sexual politics of taking difference seriously. It explores the trouble difference makes not only for the social sciences, but also for the people - feminists, queer theorists, postmodernists - who champion difference. Seidman asks how social thinkers should conceptualize differences such as gender, race, and sexuality, without reducing them to an inferior status. He looks to the new social knowledges for innovative approaches to difference, while pointing out the conceptual, ethical and political difficulties which can characterize them. This is a wide-ranging discussion of contemporary social theory and sexual politics. In addition, it argues persuasively for a pragmatic approach to difference troubles in theory and politics.

Social Postmodernism offers a transformative political vision and addresses the live questions in identity politics. The postmodern focus on race, sexuality and gender is sharpened by integrating the micro-social concerns of the social movements associated with these issues and macro-institutional and cultural analysis. Social Postmodernism brings together leading theorists to explore further the implications for the discourses of feminism, post-Marxian cultural studies, African-American, Gay, Latino/a and postcolonial studies.

The Postmodern Turn gathers together some of the most important statements of the postmodern approach to human studies. Addressing the postmodern social theory that emphasizes the social role of knowledge, this book abandons the disciplinary boundaries separating the sciences and the humanities. Contributors include well-known theorists in the varied fields of sociology, anthropology, women's and gay studies, philosophy, and history.

The Postmodern Turn gathers together some of the most important statements of the postmodern approach to human studies. Addressing the postmodern social theory that emphasizes the social role of knowledge, this book abandons the disciplinary boundaries separating the sciences and the humanities. Contributors include well-known theorists in the varied fields of sociology, anthropology, women's and gay studies, philosophy, and history.

This volume brings together the major statements by the leading contemporary scholars of cultural analysis on the relation between culture and society. Part One surveys the range of current analytical debate over culture, focusing on the relationship of culture to social structure and power. While individual contributions differ in defining the nature of culture and its relation to society, they are in agreement in assessing the relative autonomy of culture and the centrality of symbolic analysis. Part Two turns to substantive debates, including those over the role of religion, secular ideology, and mass culture and brings to light disputes about the meaning of modernity. The book testifies to the remarkable development in the past two decades of a cultural paradigm for social and political analysis.