Storytelling, sociology and sexuality: Ken Plummer’s humanist narrative analysis

Abstract

We are approaching Ken Plummer’s work from the standpoint of our shared history in interactionist sociologies of sexuality and interest in sexual storytelling. Plummer was truly a trailblazer in the study of sexuality. He was one of the first in the UK to approach sexuality from a distinctively sociological and interactionist perspective which, while innovative, was out of tune with the Marxist and psychoanalytical mood of the time and was later further sidelined by more fashionable poststructuralist and postmodern theorising. Yet, Plummer’s approach was incredibly productive in focussing attention on sexuality as always socially situated and relational – themes which were carried into his influential work on narrative and storytelling. Also significant was his longstanding commitment to a radical critical humanism, even at times when humanism was very much out of favour. These are the aspects of Plummer’s work that we will take up in this evaluation, arguing for its continuing value as a flexible and open approach with a potential applicability beyond ‘western’ contexts in extending our understanding of the variability and diversity of human sexuality as always situated in specific historical, social, cultural, political and relational settings.