ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins by pointing out the problematic nature of ‘taken for granted’ assumptions about the relations of men and women, and utilizes the perspectives of interactionism or Marxism. It deals with the ways in which different agencies serve to reinforce sexual differentiation by processes that mediate the dominant ideological presuppositions of a society differentiated along sex lines. The book concentrates on the ways in which judicial proceedings surrounding divorce serve to reinforce the different obligations of men as husbands and women as wives. It brings together in a systematic way material on the historical development and the operation of British social security provision. The book also deals with aspects of social relationships consistently neglected by sociologists, and ridiculed or denigrated by some. It considers the sexuality dimension of sexual divisions in society.
