Exploring Twins: Towards a Social Analysis of Twinship

by E. Stewart

Overview

Exploring Twins presents an analysis of twinship considered as a specifically social phenomenon. Drawing upon a wide range of interdisciplinary, historical and cross-cultural data, Dr Stewart argues that in both traditional and modern societies, twinship represents a recurrent anomaly which calls into question the assumptions around which different types of society are organized. Part One identifies and analyses the fascinating range of cultural and disciplinary approaches to the interpretation of twinship, while Part Two considers the possibilities for a distinctively social analysis of twinship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403911667
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/03/2000
Edition description:	2003
Pages:	221
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

ELIZABETH STEWART lectures on the sociology of Soviet/Russian society at the London School of Economics. Her research interest in the social analysis of twinship arose from the birth of hew own twins. She is a member of the Twins and Multiple Births Association, the Multiple Birth Foundation and the International Society for Twin Studies.

Table of Contents

List of Tables Preface PART ONE Myths About Twins The Comparative Constitution of Twinship: Anthropological and Ethnographical Perspectives Twins in Literature, Films, Television and the Press Heredity and Environment: The Classic Twin Method Measuring Twinship: Psychologist on Twins The Divided Self: The Psychoanalytic Approach PART TWO The Social Construction of Twinship: Family, Parents and Siblings The Social Construction of Twinship: We Two Together 'Are They Identical?: Twins' Parents Questionnaire and General Public Questionnaire Thinking Twinship: Childhood and the Formation of Self and Identity Towards the Social Analysis of Twinship Concluding Remarks Appendices Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book provides a real insight into the position of twins in society at different stages of human and academic development and into the way in which twins are used by different societies to reflect theories on the nature/nurture debate. For anyone wishing to learn more about how society has treated the twin relationship and possible reasons why this may be, Elizabeth Stewart has provided a thought-provoking starting point." -- Jane Ellison BSc, Tamba (Twins and Multiple Births Association) Past Chair and Trustee

"There has been too little study of the considerable social significance of twins...in society at large. Elizabeth Stewart's Study ranges widely through rich anthropological sources and the large body of material available from western literature, films, and news media." -- Elizabeth Bryam MD FRCP FRCPCH, President, International Society for Twin Studies

From the Publisher