442 - Thematic Session. The Impact of Agnes: Reflections on Garfinkel's Notion of the Managed Achievement of Sex and Gender

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

Harold Garfinkel’s (1967) influential study, “Passing and the Managed Achievement of Sex Status in an ‘Intersexed Person’,” provides one of the earliest sociological interpretations of sex and gender as products of collaborative social interaction. This study has influenced scholars working in a variety of traditions including symbolic interaction, cultural and cognitive sociology, the sociological analysis of autobiography, conversation analysis, the sociology of the body, and the interdisciplinary field of sex/gender/sexuality studies. This session will illustrate the influence of Garfinkel’s study of Agnes. Participants will discuss the impact of Garfinkel’s ideas on notions of sex/gender performance, issues pertaining to sexuality and sexual orientation, the social construction of sex/gender, and the achievement of sex and gender in symbolic, social interaction. Participants will highlight areas of their own research that advance Garfinkel’s ideas. They will also highlight new areas of research inspired by the study of sex, sexuality, and gender as everyday accomplishments.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Thomas DeGloma, City University of New York-Hunter College

Presider

• Robert Dingwall, Nottingham Trent University

Individual Presentations

• The Turn from What to How: Garfinkel's Reach Beyond Description - Sarah Fenstermaker, University of Michigan

• Transcripting Gender - Jodi O'Brien, Seattle University

• Imagining Agnes - Kristen Schilt, University of Chicago

Discussant

• Robert Dingwall, Nottingham Trent University