Carol Smart

Last updated

Carol Smart
Born (1948-12-20) 20 December 1948 (age 74)
Known forThe study of relationships and personal lives
Scientific career
FieldsSociology, criminology
Institutions University of Manchester

Carol Christine Smart [1] CBE (born 20 December 1948 [2] ) is a feminist sociologist and academic at the University of Manchester. [3] [4] She has also conducted research about divorce and children of divorced couples. [5] [6]

Contents

Smart is an important figure within the feminist criminology world. Her book titled Women, Crime and Criminology, [7] written in 1976, remains a key feminist critique of criminology. Smart was also the co-director of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life at Manchester.

Career

Smart began her academic career by studying sociology at Portsmouth Polytechnic, which is now Portsmouth University. After completing her BA, she moved on to complete her masters in criminology from the University of Sheffield. She also completed her PhD in Socio-Legal studies also from Sheffield in 1983.

Smart began her teaching career at the then, Trent Polytechnic, (as a lecturer and senior lecturer). After that, she became a professor at the University of Leeds. In 2005, she moved to the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life in the Arthur Lewis Building of the University of Manchester, where she was co-director. She retired in 2014. [8]

Smart has published works in the areas of criminology, family law and social policy. Her main interests over the last few years have been family life and intimacy and how people conduct their personal lives. Smart has done much research on divorce and separation and how this affects children, the couple and other kin, and on gay and lesbian civil partnerships and their commitment ceremonies. More recently she has been working on 'Relative Strangers', [9] a project which explores the experiences of families with donor-conceived children.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to the social sciences. [10]

Bibliography

Radio

Books

Journal articles

Book chapters

Reports

A set of reports funded by the Department for Constitutional Affairs using qualitative data, specifically, interviews with parents who had taken their disputes over residence and contact with their children to court. The 2003 reports relate to interviews conducted at the start of the legal process whilst the 2005 reports relate to interviews conducted as the cases were concluded.

The Cambridge dictionary of sociology

Smart has provided definitions for the following words in The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology  : [11]

  • Family(pages 189–195).
  • Lone-parent Family(pages 341–342).
  • Marriage and Divorce(pages 354–359).
  • Sexual Abuse(pages 547–548).
  • Siblings(page 550).

See also

Related Research Articles

Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender role</span> Social role associated with gender

A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity, although there are exceptions and variations.

Sex-positive feminism, also known as pro-sex feminism, sex-radical feminism, or sexually liberal feminism, is a feminist movement centering on the idea that sexual freedom is an essential component of women's freedom. They oppose legal or social efforts to control sexual activities between consenting adults, whether they are initiated by the government, other feminists, opponents of feminism, or any other institution. They embrace sexual minority groups, endorsing the value of coalition-building with marginalized groups. Sex-positive feminism is connected with the sex-positive movement. Sex-positive feminism brings together anti-censorship activists, LGBT activists, feminist scholars, producers of pornography and erotica, among others. Sex-positive feminists generally agree that prostitutes themselves should not be criminalized or penalized.

Cultural feminism, the view that there is a "female nature" or "female essence", attempts to revalue and redefine attributes ascribed to femaleness. It is also used to describe theories that commend innate differences between women and men. Cultural feminism diverged from radical feminism, when some radical feminists rejected the previous feminist and patriarchal notion that feminine traits are undesirable and returned to an essentialist view of gender differences in which they regard female traits as superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist sociology</span> Subdiscipline of sociology

Feminist sociology is an interdisciplinary exploration of gender and power throughout society. Here, it uses conflict theory and theoretical perspectives to observe gender in its relation to power, both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within social structures at large. Focuses include sexual orientation, race, economic status, and nationality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madhu Kishwar</span>

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is an Indian academic and a commentator. She is currently employed as a chair Professor in the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Kishwar along with fellow-academic Ruth Vanita co-founded the journal Manushi.

Antifeminism, also spelled anti-feminism, is opposition to some or all forms of feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as the right to vote, educational opportunities, property rights, and access to birth control. In the mid and late 20th century, antifeminists often opposed the abortion-rights movement and, in the United States, the Equal Rights Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist school of criminology</span> School of criminology

The feminist school of criminology is a school of criminology developed in the late 1960s and into the 1970s as a reaction to the general disregard and discrimination of women in the traditional study of crime. It is the view of the feminist school of criminology that a majority of criminological theories were developed through studies on male subjects and focused on male criminality, and that criminologists often would "add women and stir" rather than develop separate theories on female criminality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian feminism</span> School of Christian theology

Christian feminism is a school of Christian theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Christian perspective. Christian feminists argue that contributions by women, and an acknowledgment of women's value, are necessary for a complete understanding of Christianity. Christian feminists believe that God does not discriminate on the basis of biologically-determined characteristics such as sex and race, but created all humans to exist in harmony and equality, regardless of race or gender. Christian feminists generally advocate for anti-essentialism as a part of their belief system, acknowledging that gender identities do not mandate a certain set of personality traits. Their major issues include the ordination of women, biblical equality in marriage, recognition of equal spiritual and moral abilities, abortion rights, integration of gender neutral pronouns within readings of the Bible, and the search for a feminine or gender-transcendent divine. Christian feminists often draw on the teachings of other religions and ideologies in addition to biblical evidence, and other Christian based texts throughout history that advocate for women's rights.

Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males and in feminist theory where it is used to describe broad social structures in which men dominate over women and children. In these theories it is often extended to a variety of manifestations in which men have social privileges over others causing exploitation or oppression, such as through male dominance of moral authority and control of property. Patriarchal societies can be patrilineal or matrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male or female lineage respectively.

Feminist political theory is an area of philosophy that focuses on understanding and critiquing the way political philosophy is usually construed and on articulating how political theory might be reconstructed in a way that advances feminist concerns. Feminist political theory combines aspects of both feminist theory and political theory in order to take a feminist approach to traditional questions within political philosophy.

Amber L. Hollibaugh is an American writer, filmmaker and political activist, largely concerned with feminist and sexual politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zillah Eisenstein</span> American political theorist

Zillah R. Eisenstein is an American political theorist and gender studies scholar and Emerita Professor of the Department of Politics at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York. Specializing in political and feminist theory; class, sex, and race politics; and construction of gender, Eisenstein is the author of twelve books and editor of the 1978 collection Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism, which published the Combahee River Collective statement.

Margaret Chilla Bulbeck was the emeritus professor of women's studies at Adelaide University from 1997 until 2008, and has published widely on issues of gender and difference.

Karen Elizabeth Boyle, is Professor of Feminist Media Studies at the University of Strathclyde, previously she was professor of Feminist Studies at the University of Stirling, and before that was a lecturer in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow. She has published a number of articles on feminism, violence and pornography.

Suzanna Danuta Walters is the director of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and professor of sociology at Northeastern University, Boston. She is also the editor-in-chief of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society and the author of several books, including The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions are Sabotaging Gay Equality. She is the author of the op-ed "Why can't we hate men?" in The Washington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Susan McIntosh</span> British sociologist, feminist, political activist and campaigner for lesbian and gay rights

Mary Susan McIntosh was a British sociologist, feminist, political activist and campaigner for lesbian and gay rights in the UK.

Frances Mary Heidensohn is an academic sociologist and criminologist at the London School of Economics, who is acknowledged as a pioneer in feminist criminology. Her 1968 article The Deviance of Women: A Critique and An Enquiry was the first critique of conventional criminology from a feminist perspective.

Diana Fuss is a professor of literature, film and feminist studies. She serves as Louis W. Fairchild Class of ‘24 Professor of English at Princeton University.

Pauline Bernice Bart was an American sociologist who studied gender inequality, violence against women, and women's development.

References

  1. ↑ "New Year's Honours list 2017" (PDF). Gov.uk . Government Digital Service. 30 December 2016. p. 19. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Smart, Carol". Library of Congress. Retrieved 18 July 2014. CIP t.p. (Carol Smart) data sheet (b. 12-20-48)
  3. ↑ Lakhani, Nina (10 April 2010). "Why dumping a friend is hard". The Independent. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  4. ↑ "Carol Smart". Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  5. ↑ Phillips, Angela (17 October 2003). "Why a child is not a house". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2010. New research from a longitudinal study by Carol Smart of the Care, Values and the Future of Welfare (Cava) research programme at the University of Leeds asked children what it actually feels like to be shared.
  6. ↑ Horin, Adele (27 March 2004). "New parental etiquette". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  7. ↑ Smart, Carol (1977). Women, crime, and criminology: a feminist critique . London Boston: Routledge & K. Paul. ISBN   9780710088338.
  8. ↑ "Prof Carol Smart - personal details".
  9. ↑ "Relative Strangers (Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life - the University of Manchester)". Archived from the original on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N10.
  11. ↑ Turner, Bryan (2006). The Cambridge dictionary of sociology. Cambridge England New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521832908.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.