Is There Anything Good about Men?

양장본 Hardcover

Baumeister, Roy F. 저자(글)

Oxford University Press · 2010년 08월 12일

책 소개

Have men really been engaged in a centuries-old conspiracy to exploit & oppress women? Roy Baumeister offers provocative answers to this & other questions about the current state of manhood in America. Baumeister argues that relations between men & women are now & have always been more cooperative than antagonistic.
Francis Eppes Professor of Psychology, Florida State University. Baumeister was included in the most highly cited scientist category by Thomson ISI, among the top 243 psychologists/psychiatrists (about 30 of whom are social psychologists). He is the author or lead editor of 21 books, including three with us -- Identity: Cultural Change and the Struggle for Self (1986); The Cultural Animal (2005); and Psychology and Free Will (2008).
Roy F. Baumeister is the Eppes Eminent Professor of Psychology and head of the social psychology graduate program at Florida State University. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him among the handful of most cited (most influential) psychologists in the world. He is the co-editor, with John Baer and James Kaufman, of Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will and The Cultural Animal: Human Nature, Meaning, and Social Life.
Roy F. Baumeisteris the Eppes Eminent Professor of Psychology and head of the social psychology graduate program at Florida State University. The Institute for Scientific Information lists him among the handful of most cited (most influential) psychologists in the world. He is the co-editor, with John Baer and James Kaufman, ofAre We Free? Psychology and Free WillandThe Cultural Animal: Human Nature, Meaning, and Social Life.
Have men really been engaged in a centuries-old conspiracy to exploit and oppress women? Have the essential differences between men and women really been erased? Have men now become unnecessary? Are they good for anything at all? In Is There Anything Good About Men? , Roy Baumeister offers provocative answers to these and many other questions about the current state of manhood in America. Baumeister argues that relations between men and women are now and have always been more cooperative than antagonistic, that men and women are different in basic ways, and that successful cultures capitalize on these differences to outperform rival cultures. Amongst our ancestors---as with many other species--only the alpha males were able to reproduce, leading them to take more risks and to exhibit more aggressive and protective behaviors than women, whose evolutionary strategies required a different set of behaviors. Whereas women favor and excel at one-to-one intimate relationships, men compete with one another and build larger organizations and social networks from which culture grows. But cultures in turn exploit men by insisting that their role is to achieve and produce, to provide for others, and if necessary to sacrifice themselves. Baumeister shows that while men have greatly benefited from the culture they have created, they have also suffered because of it. Men may dominate the upper echelons of business and politics, but far more men than women die in work-related accidents, are incarcerated, or are killed in battle--facts nearly always left out of current gender debates. Engagingly written, brilliantly argued, and based on evidence from a wide range of disciplines, Is There Anything Good About Men? offers a new and far more balanced view of gender relations.
Have men really been engaged in a centuries-old conspiracy to exploit and oppress women? Have the essential differences between men and women really been erased? Have men now become unnecessary? Are they good for anything at all? In Is There Anything Good About Men?, Roy Baumeister offers provocative answers to these and many other questions about the current state of manhood in America. Baumeister argues that relations between men and women are now and have always been more cooperative than antagonistic, that men and women are different in basic ways, and that successful cultures capitalize on these differences to outperform rival cultures. Amongst our ancestors---as with many other species--only the alpha males were able to reproduce, leading them to take more risks and to exhibit more aggressive and protective behaviors than women, whose evolutionary strategies required a different set of behaviors. Whereas women favor and excel at one-to-one intimate relationships, men compete with one another and build larger organizations and social networks from which culture grows. But cultures in turn exploit men by insisting that their role is to achieve and produce, to provide for others, and if necessary to sacrifice themselves. Baumeister shows that while men have greatly benefited from the culture they have created, they have also suffered because of it. Men may dominate the upper echelons of business and politics, but far more men than women die in work-related accidents, are incarcerated, or are killed in battle--facts nearly always left out of current gender debates. Engagingly written, brilliantly argued, and based on evidence from a wide range of disciplines, Is There Anything Good About Men? offers a new and far more balanced view of gender relations.
Women may be more lovable than men, but male traits have been vital for creating the progress that brought humankind from the Stone Age to the miracles of modern culture. This provocative book builds on two key differences between men and women in order to understand gender politics and manhood today. First, as shown in recent DNA evidence, today's human population is descended from twice as many women as men -- so men faced much longer odds in the age-old competition to reproduce, leading them to take more risks and strive for greatness more than women, whose evolutionary strategies required a different set of behaviors. Second, whereas women favor and excel at one-to-one intimate relationships, men build larger organizations, groups, and other social networks than women do, and culture grows from these networks. Men know they must earn respect by their works, and the need to prove one's manhood has been a tremendous force in history and culture. The male role calls for men to achieve and produce, to provide for others, and if necessary to sacrifice themselves for women and children. This book challenges the widely accepted view that gender politics began with men exploiting and oppressing women. Instead, Baumeister says, men and women have mostly been partners, and gender inequalities arose because wealth, knowledge, and power were created by men in the often rough and brutal competition that was the engine of progress and civliization. This thoughtful and engaging book offers a new vision of maleness that does not tell men that they should try to be more like women.
"[Baumeister] does make the fascinating point that men operate at the extremes, socially and biologically." -- Bitch 'Male readers may find some solace in Roy F. Baumeister's "Is There Anything Good About Men?" Mr. Baumeister is less concerned about the wimpification of modern man than about the degree to which men have been historically "exploited." The very cultures that men have built, he says, have considered males more expendable than women... But men, Mr. Baumeister says, are often taken for granted and denigrated as the bane of female existence, with some gender activist insisting that women would be better off without them. In a feisty rejoinder, Mr. Baumeister says that "'if women really would have been happier without men, they would have set up shop on their own long ago." --Dave Shiflett, Wall Street Journal
"[Baumeister] does make the fascinating point that men operate at the extremes, socially and biologically." --Bitch 'Male readers may find some solace in Roy F. Baumeister's "Is There Anything Good About Men?" Mr. Baumeister is less concerned about the wimpification of modern man than about the degree to which men have been historically "exploited." The very cultures that men have built, he says, have considered males more expendable than women... But men, Mr. Baumeister says, are often taken for granted and denigrated as the bane of female existence, with some gender activist insisting that women would be better off without them. In a feisty rejoinder, Mr. Baumeister says that "'if women really would have been happier without men, they would have set up shop on their own long ago." --Dave Shiflett, Wall Street Journal "Read this if you're open to a thought-provoking take on so-called battle of the sexes. Packed with counterintuitive but convincing points, the book will reshape how you think about sexism, feminism, and gender differences." Andrea Bartz, Psychology Todayl

작가정보

저자(글) Baumeister, Roy F.

목차

• An Odd, Unseasonal Question	p. 3
  Are Women Better than Men, or Vice Versa?	p. 23
  Can't or Won't? Where the Real Differences Are Found	p. 43
  The Most Underappreciated Fact About Men	p. 61
  Are Women More Social?	p. 81
  How Culture Works	p. 109
  Women, Men, and Culture: The Roots of Inequality	p. 133
  Expendable Beings, Disposable Lives	p. 159
  Earning Manhood, and the Male Ego	p. 187
  Exploiting Men Through Marriage and Sex	p. 221
  What Else, What Next?	p. 249
  Sources and References	p. 181
  Index	p. 299
  Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

기본정보

ISBN	9780195374100 ( 019537410X )
발행(출시)일자	2010년 08월 12일
쪽수	320쪽
크기	163 * 240 * 27 mm / 603 g
총권수	1권
언어	영어