Grad Syllabus Gender Seminar

SOC 792B Gender and Society Fall Session 2003, 2:30 – 5:00pm Mondays 620 Thompson Hall

Professor: Michelle Budig Office: W34 Machmer, Office Hours: 11:30am – 12:30pm, M & W Telephone: 545-5972 e-mail: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed to provide an interdisciplinary overview of the sociology of gender at the graduate level. Theories of gender considered include socialization, sociobiological, and feminist. Feminist methods and other sociological methods are debated. Intersections between gender, race, and class are explored. Topical areas demonstrate how gender is constructed at the individual level of social interaction to the institutionalization of gender in organizations, nations, and the economy.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Required Readings:

Required books are available at the Textbook Annex on the UMass Campus. One copy of each book is also on reserve at the library.

Connell, R.W. 1995. Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Craig, Maxine Leeds. 2002. Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race. New York: Oxford University Press.

Folbre, Nancy. 1994. Who Pays for the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint. New York: Routledge.

Guttentag and Secord. 1983. Too Many Women? The Sex Ratio Question. Sage Publications.

Thorne, Barrie. 1994. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Tong, Rosemarie. 1998. Feminist Thought. Westview Press.

Required articles are all available through JSTOR or from the instructor.

2. Term Paper and Presentation:

Each student will work on a paper or proposal relevant to gender and/or employment during the semester. Students should orient their work toward either a publishable paper or a research grant proposal. Papers or grant proposals begun previously may be used if substantial progress is made on the paper/proposal during the semester. Projects begun during the semester should culminate in an all-but-the-data-analysis term paper (with proposed plan for conducting the research). Projects will be graded as follows:

1- Page summary of proposed paper (due 9/22) 5% of final grade Full outline of proposed paper (due 10/22) 5% First draft of paper (due 11/17) 5% Class Presentation of term paper (12/1 or 12/8) 15%

1 Final paper (due 12/19) 40%

3. Peer Review

You will write a review of another student’s draft of her/his term paper (due 11/24) and share comments one-on-one in class (11/24). Your review will count as 15% of your final grade.

4. Discussion Leader

Each student will prepare and lead two class discussions from two different topics on the course schedule. This involves a very brief presentation of the main points of the reading, unanswered questions you have about the topic, and provocative questions for further class discussion on the readings or topic more broadly. Each class discussion will count as 5% of the final grade (for a total of 10%).

5. Class Participation

Class attendance, preparation and attendance are expected. Participation will count as 5% of your final grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE

September 8 Social Theory and Feminist Theory

Sprague, Joey. 1997. “Holy Men and Big Guns: The Can[n]on in Social Theory.” Gender and Society 11(1):88-107. JSTOR

Tong, Rosemarie. 1989. Feminist Thought. Westview Press. “Introduction: Diversity of Feminist Thinking.” ON RESERVE

September 15 Feminist Methods Debate

Cancian, Francesca. 1992. “Feminist Science: Methodologies that Challenge Inequality.” Gender and Society 6(4):623-642. JSTOR

Comments and Replies on Cancian (all available through JSTOR)

 Risman, Barbara, Joey Sprague, and Judith Howard. 1993. “Comment on Francesca M. Cancian’s ‘Feminist Science.’” Gender and Society 7(4):608-609.  Cancian, Francesca. 1993. “Reply to Risman, Sprague, and Howard.” Gender and Society 7(4):610 611.

DeVault, Majorie. 1996. “Talking Back to Sociology: Distinctive Contributions of Feminist Methodology.” Annual Review of Sociology 22:29-50. JSTOR

September 22 Gender, biology, and the body

Rossi, Alice. 1984. “Gender and Parenthood.” American Sociological Review 49:1-19. JSTOR

Udry, J. Richard. 2000. “Biological Limits of Gender Construction.” American Sociological Review

2 65:443-57. JSTOR

Comments and Replies on Udry (all available through JSTOR)

 Miller, Eleanor M. and Carrie Yang Costello. 2001. “The Limits of Biological Determinism.” American Sociological Review, 66(4):592-598.  Kennelly, Ivy, Sabine N. Merz, and Judith Lorber. 2001. “What Is Gender?” American Sociological Review, 66(4):598-605..  Risman, Barbara J. 2001. “Calling the Bluff of Value-Free Science.” American Sociological Review, 66(4):605-611.  Udry, J. Richard. 2001. “Feminist Critics Uncover Determinism, Positivism, and Antiquated Theory.” American Sociological Review, 66(4):611-618.  Firebaugh, Glenn. 2001. “The ASR Review Process.” American Sociological Review, 66(4):619- 621.

September 29 Gender and Socialization

Thorne, Barrie. 1994. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ON RESERVE

October 6 Feminist Theory: Liberal Feminism and Marxist/Socialist Feminism

Tong – “Liberal Feminism” and “Marxist and Socialist Feminism” ON RESERVE

October 15 Feminist Theory: Radical Feminism

Tong— “Radical Feminism: Libertarian and Cultural Perspectives” ON RESERVE

October 20 Feminist Theory and Psychology

Maccoby, Eleanor, and Carol Nagy Jacklin. 1974. Psychology of Sex Differences. Stanford: Stanford Univesity Press. Pages 1-13 (Introduction) and 349-374 (Conclusion) ON RESERVE

Tong— “Psychoanalytic and Gender Feminism” ON RESERVE

October 27 Deconstructing Feminist Theory

Tong— “Postmodern Feminism” and “Multicultural and Global Feminism” ON RESERVE

November 3 Gender, Race, and Culture

Craig, Maxine Leeds. 2002. Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race. New York: Oxford University Press. ON RESERVE

November 10 Theorizing Masculinity

Connell, R.W. 1995. Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press. ON RESERVE

November 17 Gender, Ethnomethodology, and Social Interaction

3 Goffman Erving. 1977. “The Arrangement between the Sexes.” Theory and Society 4(3): 301-31. JSTOR

West, Candace and Don Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society 1: 125-151. JSTOR

West, Candace and Sarah Fenstermaker. 1995. “Doing Difference.” Gender & Society 9: 8-37. JSTOR

Peter Kollock, Philip Blumstein, and Pepper Schwartz. 1985. “Sex and Power in Interaction: Conversational Privileges and Duties.” American Sociological Review. 50:34-46. JSTOR

TOPICAL READINGS THAT FOLLOW ARE SUBJECT TO REVISION AT STUDENTS’ DISCRETION

November 24 Gender and Demographic Pressures

Guttentag and Secord. 1983. “Too Many Women? The Sex Ratio Question.” Sage Publications. Chapters 1, (3), 6-9. ON RESERVE

December 1 Gender and Economic Inequality

McLanahan, Sarah, Sorensen, and Watson. 1989. “Sex Differences in Poverty, 1950-1980.” Signs 15(1):102-122. GET FROM INSTRUCTOR

Kathryn Ward. 1990. “Introduction.” Pp. 1-22 in Kathryn Ward’s (ed.) Women Workers and Global Restructuring. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ON RESERVE

Folbre, Nancy. 1994. Who Pays for the Kids? Gender and the Structures of Constraint. New York: Routledge. Intro, 1-3, 7 ON RESERVE

December 8 Gender and Sexual Violence

A. Ayres Boswell; Joan Z. Spade. 1996. “Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places f or Women?” Gender and Society, Vol. 10, No. 2. (Apr., 1996), pp. 133-147. JSTOR

Kenneth F. Ferraro. 1996. Women's Fear of Victimization: Shadow of Sexual Assault? Social Forces, Vol. 75, No. 2. (Dec., 1996), pp. 667-690. JSTOR

Beth E. Schneider. 1991. “Put up and Shut up: Workplace Sexual Assaults.” Gender and Society, Vol. 5, No. 4. (Dec., 1991), pp. 533-548. JSTOR

Jenness, Valerie and Kendal Broad. 1994. “Antiviolence Activism and the (In)Visibility of Gender in the Gay /Lesbian and Women's Movements” Gender and Society 8(3):402-423. JSTOR