ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the central discourses of sexuality that dominate contemporary social theory and the social sciences. These approaches can be grouped under five broad headings; psychoanalytic, Foucaultian, feminist, sociological, and queer theory, the author makes no claim in this analysis to discuss all the significant themes raised by the discourses or theories. He seeks to portray the contributions of particular theorists in general terms, to suggest some central questions that the analysis of sexuality raises for social theory. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, initiated a trend in twentieth-century thought that attributed primary place to human sexuality in the organization of culture and society. A member of the Frankfurt School, Herbert Marcuse developed a radical political interpretation of Freud that had a significant impact upon those working in the social sciences and humanities, as well as student activists and sexual liberationists.
