This monograph explores the full context of sex-selective abortion (SSA) in India by examining the historical forces, political movements, government policies, and gender regimes that shape this reproductive practice. Using qualitative research methods within a feminist methodology, including in-depth interviews with service providers and professionals in New Delhi and a content analysis of Indian newspapers, the study engages the following areas of analysis: the social structures and determinants of SSA in India, the potential for women’s agency in SSA, and the representations of SSA and SSA-seeking women in the Indian media. This research expands the discourse and analysis of SSA by facilitating a nuanced and multilayered exploration of a profoundly contextual, personal, and gendered reproductive issue by grounding data and interpretation in the lived experiences of research participants with systems-wide knowledge of SSA. Further, the feminist theory-informed analysis moves away from normative victimhood frameworks. Lastly, the book contributes to the understudied area of media discourse analysis on the intersections of gender and SSA in national news coverage.

This book contributes to the emerging field of men’s health studies, delving into how men incorporate, adapt, negotiate, or reject health care practices to perform masculinities in social interactions. By moving beyond the simplistic association between men, masculinity and the adoption of ‘risky’ or ‘unhealthy’ practices, this book draws from recent critical perspectives on the study of men’s health, seeking to challenge and problematize the relationship between masculinities and health. The text presents original empirical findings derived from qualitative and digital research examining the different ways in which men (re)negotiate their masculinities after the onset of a chronic illness, focusing on diabetes as a strategic case study. Living with a chronic illness implies that those gender practices that are usually taken for granted suddenly become unachievable and impose a reconfiguration of the masculine self, as well as a negotiation of the very meaning of masculinity. The volume aims to critically examine this interactive process of (re)negotiation, while also reflecting on men, masculinities and their health on a more general level. This book serves as a valuable resource for students and scholars in social sciences working on the intersection of gender and health, as well as for health professionals seeking a deeper understanding of the connection between men, gender and health.

This book adopts a cultural sociology of materiality to explore the hallmark of the female athlete: the ponytail. Studying a wealth of news articles about ponytails in sports and society, Broch uncovers this hairstyle’s polyvocality and argues that it is a total social phenomenon. By separating his approach from the cultural studies tradition, Broch highlights how hair is imbued with codes, narratives, and myth that allow its wearers to understand, maneuver, and criticize social gender relations in deeply personal ways. Using multiple theories about hair, bodies, myths, and icons, he creates a multidimensional method to show how icons are imitated and used. As women navigate their practical lives, health issues, and gendered expectations, the ponytail materializes their dynamic maneuvering of cultural and social environments. Sporting a ponytail—itself an embodiment of movement—is filled with a performativity of social movements: a cultural kinetics that is never apolitical.

Teilhabeforschung untersucht die Lebenslagen von Menschen mit Beeinträchtigungen und Behinderungen unter den normativen Perspektiven von Inklusion und gleichberechtigter Teilhabe. Sie berücksichtigt, dass sich die deutschsprachige Forschung zum komplexen Phänomen der Beeinträchtigung und Behinderung über die Jahre stark ausdifferenziert hat und mittlerweile unterschiedliche Disziplinen und Fachgebiete umfasst. Das vorliegende Buch trägt der Notwendigkeit Rechnung, Teilhabeforschung pluralistisch, inter- und transdisziplinär zu konturieren. Es bündelt unterschiedliche theoretische Perspektiven, empirische Methoden und anwendungsorientierte Projekte aus den folgenden Disziplinen und Forschungsfeldern: Bildungs- und Erziehungswissenschaften, Rechtswissenschaften, Rehabilitationswissenschaften, Soziologie, Psychologie, Soziale Arbeit und Disability Studies.

Dieser Band versammelt Studien zu den gesellschaftlichen, kulturellen, rechtlichen, medialen, religiösen, ethischen und medizinischen Aspekten des Spannungsverhältnisses von Existenz und Nichtexistenz. Vormals als eindeutig empfundene Grenzziehungen verlieren ihre Konturen.