On a discursive conversation between queer theory and sociology

Mokrovich, Jason Theodore (2005) On a discursive conversation between queer theory and sociology. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Dominated by a number of humanities-based disciplines and influenced by Lacanian psychoanalysis and French post-structuralism, queer theory emerged in the early 1990s as a critical project that problematised the theorisation of sexuality and its relation to lesbian and gay politics.

The purpose of the thesis is to have a discursive conversation between queer theory and sociology. I want to consider the current unproductive relationship between the two. From both a queer and sociological perspective, I will examine, problematise and rework sociology’s uncritical reading of queer theory and queer theory’s general failure to acknowledge and engage with sociology, with the intent to move them towards disciplinary cross-fertilisation. I will argue that disciplinary cross-fertilisation can only happen if sociology reads queer theory carefully and critically and queer theory and sociology facilitate and promote discursive spaces that are theoretically and methodologically integrated. In considering their relationship, I will draw upon a number of diverse theoretical perspectives, for example: social-historical constructionism, symbolic interactionism, post structuralism, and feminist theory. I will also draw upon my ethnographic work on gay male male-to-female drag that took place in the United States between September 1995 and June 1997, with a brief revisit in February 1999. I will finally conclude by proposing that an ‘outsider-within perspective’ serve as a basis for future engagement between queer theory and sociology. It is my opinion that the facilitation and promotion of queer and sociological perspectives that are neither full outsiders nor full insiders to their disciplinary domain would generate the conditions for disciplinary cross-fertilisation.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Littlewood, Dr. Barbara
• Date of Award: 2005
• Depositing User: Mrs Marie Cairney
• Unique ID: glathesis:2005-2493
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 08 Apr 2011
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 13:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/2493