diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module.rb
index 34fcbd124bb5..392ba99f4e4b 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 require 'active_support/core_ext/module/loading'
 require 'active_support/core_ext/module/aliasing'
 require 'active_support/core_ext/module/model_naming'
+require 'active_support/core_ext/module/synchronization'
 
 class Module
   include ActiveSupport::CoreExt::Module::ModelNaming
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/synchronization.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/synchronization.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..bf7740f851fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/synchronization.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+class Module
+  # Synchronize access around a method, delegating synchronization to a
+  # particular mutex. A mutex (either a Mutex, or any object that responds to 
+  # #synchronize and yields to a block) must be provided as a final :with option.
+  # The :with option should be a symbol or string, and can represent a method, 
+  # constant, or instance or class variable.
+  # Example:
+  #   class SharedCache
+  #     @@lock = Mutex.new
+  #     def expire
+  #       ...
+  #     end
+  #     synchronize :expire, :with => :@@lock
+  #   end
+  def synchronize(*methods)
+    options = methods.extract_options!
+    unless options.is_a?(Hash) && with = options[:with]
+      raise ArgumentError, "Synchronization needs a mutex. Supply an options hash with a :with key as the last argument (e.g. synchronize :hello, :with => :@mutex)."
+    end
+
+    methods.each do |method|
+      if instance_methods.include?("#{method}_without_synchronization")
+        raise ArgumentError, "#{method} is already synchronized. Double synchronization is not currently supported."
+      end
+      module_eval(<<-EOS, __FILE__, __LINE__)
+        def #{method}_with_synchronization(*args, &block)
+          #{with}.synchronize do
+            #{method}_without_synchronization(*args,&block)
+          end
+        end
+      EOS
+      alias_method_chain method, :synchronization
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/synchronization_test.rb b/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/synchronization_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..78be6b725fff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/synchronization_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class SynchronizationTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  def setup
+    @target = Class.new
+    @target.cattr_accessor :mutex, :instance_writer => false
+    @target.mutex = Mutex.new
+    @instance = @target.new
+  end
+
+  def test_synchronize_aliases_method_chain_with_synchronize
+    @target.module_eval do
+      attr_accessor :value
+      synchronize :value, :with => :mutex
+    end
+    assert @instance.respond_to?(:value_with_synchronization)
+    assert @instance.respond_to?(:value_without_synchronization)
+  end
+
+  def test_synchronize_does_not_change_behavior
+    @target.module_eval do
+      attr_accessor :value
+      synchronize :value, :with => :mutex
+    end
+    expected = "some state"
+    @instance.value = expected
+    assert_equal expected, @instance.value
+  end
+
+  def test_synchronize_with_no_mutex_raises_an_argument_error
+    assert_raises(ArgumentError) do
+      @target.synchronize :to_s
+    end
+  end
+
+  def test_double_synchronize_raises_an_argument_error
+    @target.synchronize :to_s, :with => :mutex
+    assert_raises(ArgumentError) do
+      @target.synchronize :to_s, :with => :mutex
+    end
+  end
+
+  def test_mutex_is_entered_during_method_call
+    dummy = Object.new
+    def dummy.synchronize
+      @sync_count ||= 0
+      @sync_count += 1
+      yield
+    end
+    def dummy.sync_count; @sync_count; end
+    @target.mutex = dummy
+    @target.synchronize :to_s, :with => :mutex
+    @instance.to_s
+    @instance.to_s
+    assert_equal 2, dummy.sync_count
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file