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Since the 1940s, there has been an explosion of writings, both scientific and nonscientific, about the question of 'identity' and what it means to be an individual in today's world. This book examines sociological perspectives on identity in order to illuminate the perennial problem of defining the human person, and to pose an alternative definition of identity based on it being socially constructed. Beginning with a review of previous studies of identity, the authors present a set of propositions for organizing the wide range of uses of the term, and for arriving at an adequate definition of it. Identity is then analysed in two contexts: gender identity, linked to present bodies; and prenatal and postmortem identities, linked to future and past bodies. Whereas gender identity reveals the powerful but breakable link between body type and identity, prenatal and postmortem identities illustrate the symbolic reality and partial independence of identity from any corporeal existence. This is an innovative and insightful study which will appeal to all those concerned with understanding the nature of human identity

The relationship between sexuality and politics has always been an underlying assumption of the avant-garde. In recent East German avant-garde literature, the notion of authorship as production has become associated with technological rationality and the patriarchal socialist state. The ensuing crisis of the traditional male author has thus led necessarily to a radicalization of subjectivity and to the politics of gender. A comparison of two contemporary texts, one by a female author, one by a male, shows that the crisis of authorship assumes two distinctly different forms when differences in gender are taken into account. The East German authors Heiner Müller and Christa Wolf have exhibited remarkably similar literary and political developments. Two of their most recent texts, Mülller's Hamletmachine and Wolf's No Place. Nowhere, both address the problematic of traditional male authorship and the disintegration of a preconceived literary gender identity. Yet, these two texts exemplify very different assumptions about the relationship between authorship and the literary tradition. Müller's text suggests the imprisonment of the male author within a petrified system of tradition and images, and hence the necessity of deconstruction. Wolf's text manifests a process of creating a new form of female-identified authorship and the possibility of redefining the tradition of literature and its future.

Four dimensions of group consciousness that figure prominently in relative deprivation & resource mobilization/solidarity theories of social movements were measured in 3 national cross-section sample surveys during the 1970s by the Instit for Social Research. These dimensions -- identification, discontent, withdrawal of legitimacy, & collective orientation -- were applied to the gender consciousness of women. In all but one dimension, women's gender consciousness was comparatively weak. It was not as pronounced as the group consciousness of other subordinate categories, nor was it demonstrated to be distinctly subordinate because men expressed similar views. A structural interpretation of this comparative weakness is offered. Women did become more group conscious between 1972 & 1983, particularly with regard to discontent about the relative political power of men & women, & their views about the legitimacy of gender disparities. 2 Tables, 2 Figures, 37 References. AA

A recent study by Yates, Leehey, and Shisslak (1983) noted the dramatic increase of serious runners in the previous decade, and the authors argued on the basis of their research that serious runners shared important character, adaptive, and background qualities with anorexics. This paper extends and refines the researchers' analysis of their findings by examining the possible origins of these obsessions in gender-related problems of identity and role adjustment in American society. Of primary interest are why, when, and how such obsessions develop and what they mean in relation to gender, achievement, and success in America.

The relationships among gender, personality traits, & symptoms of depression are examined using data from questionnaires administered to 360 residents of the Oklahoma City, Okla, metropolitan area. Although women report more symptoms of depression than men, gender is not a statistically significant predictor when personality traits are included in the analysis. Low masculinity, high femininity, having a child in the home, & single status predict depression for men. Youth, low education, low masculinity, & single status predict depression for women. Contrary to reports by some researchers of the superiority of androgyny as a model of mental health, the data do not support such a contention. 5 Tables, 38 References. Modified HA