The Web - by Christine M Robinson

About the Book

Members of social groups, including communities, routinely exert subtle forms of social control on others. The Web: Social Control in a Lesbian Community is a sociological study examining the effects of informal social control_the response to behavior or people regarded as dev...

Book Synopsis

Members of social groups, including communities, routinely exert subtle forms of social control on others. The Web: Social Control in a Lesbian Community is a sociological study examining the effects of informal social control_the response to behavior or people regarded as deviant, problematic, threatening, or undesirableDin everyday life. The context of this study is a lesbian community situated in the heartland of the United States. Based on interviews, participant-observation, and document sources gathered over a period of nine years, the book analyzes the effects of social control on relations of power (based on race, class, and sexual identity) among diverse members of a lesbian community. Although much of what is represented in this book is unique to this lesbian community, the forms and functions of social control analyzed here can be found in any human community.

Review Quotes

I use examples from this thought-provoking book in my classes...When I want students to think beyond the obvious social control = physical force, I cite examples from this book. It always sparks a lively discussion.

The Web is a groundbreaking ethnographic study of social control in everyday life in a Midwest lesbian community-foundational reading for anyone interested in social control, sexuality, gender, community, or the sociology of everyday life.

This small book contributes both to lesbian community studies and to ethnographies on community control....Recommended.

About the Author

Christine M. Robinson, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Interdiscplinary Liberal Studies at James Madison University. Her recent research, which has appeared in Gender & Society and Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, focuses on 'deviant' subcultures and the social control of sexualities. In 2006, she received the Joan Heller-Diane Bernard Fellowship from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in New York. Her current research focuses on the global emergence of the ex-gay movement.