부산대학교 도서관

The article discusses women and social research. The wealth of material and the efforts of researchers exploring the status and conditions of women in nearly every part of the world are nothing less than astonishing. These studies range from impressive attempts to understand the origins of male authority and dominance through exploration of social structures and political relations as well as cultural imbalances which appear in cultural forms in non-industrial societies. The studies further highlight the effects of colonialism, neocolonialism, and industrialization on the status of women. The case studies of women in developing and industrialized societies trace the interrelations between family and work roles of women, and their integration (or lack thereof) in economic and political institutions. These studies draw on previous research done on women, making it possible to undertake comparative work on the impact of different political and economic forms. The wide-ranging work that is being done ought to correct a certain parochialism in the study of women that derives from a focus on middle-class women in the United States and Western Europe.