In pursuit of the potential of sexual field theory

A research agenda

Bibliographic Data

ID18972012
AuthorsL Wade (0000-0002-0827-153X, Tulane University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume25
Issue3
Pages284-300
Publication date2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSexualities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4607 • E-ISSN: 1461-7382
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1363460720976973
OpenAlexW3108183075
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited50

Some argue that sexual field theory is the most promising approach to developing a comprehensive theory of collective sexual life. Yet, it remains underdeveloped. Pointing to a narrow empirical foundation, I use collegiate hookup cultures to reveal the potential of extended case study. I present the first comprehensive consideration of hookup cultures from a field theory perspective and show how these cases can both answer existing questions and provoke new ones. These include questions about the relationship between structures of desire and complex, contradictory, and untapped personal desires; the role of aversion and trauma in shaping the habitus; the dynamics of power, from the micro to the macrosociological; the bounds and reach of a field’s force; and sexual fields’ embeddedness in organizations. Given these potential theoretical advances, I argue that a wider range of cases will allow sexual field theory to fulfill its promise to sexualities scholarship

Embeddedness · Empirical research · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Habitus · Human sexuality · Political science · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law

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