THE SOCIAL REPRODUCTION OF THE SEXUAL DIS TINCTION

This paper aims at a contribution of sociological theory to the phenom enon of the distinction between two sexes which is independent from bi ological or psychoanalytical assumptions. It offers a Sociology of Kno wledge conception of the sexual distinction, which is regarded as a ph enomenon hinting at the visuality and corporality of the social. The m ain question of the article is: how to reconstruct sociologically both the social contingency and the enormous stability of the distinction between two sexes? The article sketches a sociological notion of sex/g ender as an interactive episode which is permanently induced by instit utional arrangements.