Home > About this project > Engaging the bibliography

Engaging the bibliography

The bibliography for this project is necessarily extensive, given the multidisciplinary approach taken with the collection. However, a few specific sources were especially critical in developing the core theory and analytical methods used: Goffman (1956) explores the performative aspects of social interaction by examining the unstated but mutually agreed-upon "theater" of the social contract. Domestic manuals are unusual, as noted elsewhere in this project, in that they make many of these implicit social rules explicit, allowing for the construction of historical social expectations by people who has never experienced directly those conditions in an interaction of the relevant time period. Gramsci (2012) provides the foundational explanation of why mass media is socially relevant. While commercial, mass-produced books like paperback novels and instructional manuals are less likely to be preserved due to perceived academic significance, that does not negate their importance. Gramsci argues that mass media serves as a simultaneous producer and reproducer of cultural ideology and hegemony by reinforcing and making explicit social norms and an expectation of conformity. Mandell (2019) outlines and explains the complexities of performing gendered digital analysis from a feminist perspective. She argues that it is necessary to engage directly with, not simply record, the results of digital-humanities analysis when dealing with gender and gender roles, a guiding philosophy critical to analyzing and extrapolating from the processes used in this project.