| This research is a study in cultural sociology. My aim is to examine a specific cultural product, Playboy magazine, and its historical and cultural "placement" in 1950s North American society. Since the magazine operates as a major cultural medium that "speaks" differently over time, analysis will focus on the magazine's first decade of publication, 1953-63. During this period, Hugh Hefner launched, in Playboy, a revolutionary challenge against traditional sexual morality. The pictorial and written representations of male and female sexuality that appear in the magazine, will be subjected to a sociological analysis. In particular, I am interested in exploring the extent to which Playboy's "sexual revolution"--as espoused in part by Hefner's "Playboy philosophy"--remained informed and constrained by its larger social context: namely, a patriarchal legacy of male dominance, and capitalist principles of mass consumption and status attainment. Interpreting the magazine within the context of these general social-historical realities not only provides an entry point for analysis, but an opportunity to "explain" the "what" behind the text. |
