Sociology Mainstreaming Gender

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Sociology Mainstreaming Gender Sociology ­ Mainstreaming Gender Sociology of Gender courses most often start by exploring the social ‘constructedness’ of sex and gender. They look at the way in which sex and gender are social phenomena that change over time and vary across cultures. Feminists have challenged the idea that sex and gender are fixed biological realities and argue that gender is a major organizing aspect of society. Gender arises out of our everyday interactions and is shaped by larger institutions such as education, work, and the family. Gender inequalities revealed through social patterns are examined as well as the way in which a hierarchical gender system is both reproduced and challenged through the link between social structure and interpersonal experiences. Other topics include: race and class, the body, sexuality, education, work, and transgenderism. Wharton, Amy S. 2005. The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Topic ­ Conceptualizing Gender Scholars have conceptualized gender as a social construction, as a performance and as a social institution. Social Construction Feminists have argued that gender is socially constructed and reproduced in everyday life. We learn gender from early childhood. Brennan, Teresa. 1989. Between Feminism and Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge. Burke, Caroline, Naomi Schor, and Margaret Whitford (eds.). 1994. Engaging With Irigaray: Feminist Philosophy and Modern European Thought. New York: Columbia University Press. Chodorow, Nancy. 1999. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Press. Connell, Raewyn. 2005. Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 1. Connell, Raewyn. 2009. Gender: In World Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapters 1 and 2. Flax, Jane. 1991. Thinking fragments: psychoanalysis, feminism, and postmodernism in the contemporary west. Berkeley: University Of California Press. Gallop, Jane. 1982. Feminism and Psychoanalysis: The Daughter’s Seduction. Houndmills and London: Palgrave Macmillan. Grosz, Elizabeth. 1991. Sexual Subversions: Three French Feminists. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. Grosz, Elizabeth. 1991. “Luce Irigaray and Sexual Difference.” In Elizabeth Grosz (ed.). Sexual Subversions: Three French Feminists. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 100-132. Grosz, Elizabeth. 1995. “Sexual difference and the problem of essentialism.” In Elizabeth Grosz (ed.). Space, time and perversion: The politics of bodies. New York: Routledge, 46­57. Irigaray, Luce. 1985. Speculum of the Other Woman. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Irigaray, Luce. 1985. This Sex Which is Not One. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Irigaray, Luce, and Carolyn Burke. 1980. "When our lips speak together." Signs: Journal of Women in culture and Society 6(1): 69-79. Irigaray, Luce, and Noah Guynn. 1995. "The question of the other." Yale French Studies 87: 7-19. Lorber, Judith. 1993. "Believing is seeing: Biology as ideology." Gender & Society 7(4): 568-581. Lorber, Judith. 1994. "’Night to his day’: The social construction of gender." In Judith Lorber (ed.). Paradoxes of gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. Kristeva, Julia. 1982. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press. Kristeva, Julia. 1986. “Women's Time.” In Toril Moi (ed.). The Kristeva Reader. New York: Columbia University Press. Laqueuer, Thomas. 1990. Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Chapter 5. Martin, Emily. 1991. "The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16(3): 485-501. Mitchell, Juliet. 1975. Psychoanalysis and Feminism. New York: Vintage Books. Mitchell, Juliet, Jacqueline Rose, and Jean Radford. 2010. "Psychoanalysis, politics and the future of feminism: A conversation." Women: a cultural review 21(1): 75-103. Rose, Jacqueline. 2003. On not being able to sleep: Psychoanalysis and the modern World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Rose, Jacqueline. 2005. "Femininity and its discontents." Feminist review 80: 24-43. Scott, Joan. 2011. The fantasy of Feminist History. Durham: Duke University Press. Whitford, Margaret (ed.). 1991. The Irigaray Reader Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Gender as Performance Post­structuralists have challenged modernist feminists with regards to their approach to gender. Feminists have responded to the post­structural challenge and the debates that have emerged in gender studies, including Judith Butler’s theory of performativity. Bartky, Sandra. 1990. Femininity and Domination. London: Routledge Beasley, Chris. 1999. What is feminism? An introduction to feminist theory. London: Sage. Chapter 7. Benhabib, Seyla.1994. “Feminism and the Question of Postmodernism.” In The Polity Reader in Gender Studies. London: Polity Press, 76-92. Benhabib, Seyla, Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, and Nancy Fraser. 1995. Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. New York: Routledge. Braidotti, Rosi. 1994. Nomadic subjects: embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary feminist theory. New York: Columbia University Press. Brooks, Ann. 1997. Postfeminisms. London: Routledge. Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge. Butler, Judith. 1990. “Subversive Bodily Acts.” In Judith Butler (ed.). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routlege. Butler, Judith. 1992. “Contingent foundations: feminism and the question of ‘postmodernism’”. In Judith Butler and Joan W. Scott (eds.). Feminists Theorize the Political. New York: Routledge. Butler, Judith. 1997. “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire.” In Anne Phillips (ed.). Feminist Politics. Oxford University Press. Butler, Judith. 1999. “Bodies that Matter.” In Janet Price and Margrit Shildrick (eds.) Feminist theory and the body: a reader. London: Taylor & Francis, 235-245. Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. London: Routledge. Felski, Rita. 1989. "Feminism, postmodernism, and the critique of modernity." Cultural Critique 13: 33-56. Fraser, Nancy. 1992. "The uses and abuses of French discourse theories for feminist politics." Theory, Culture & Society 9(1): 51-71. Fraser, Nancy and Linda Nicholson. 1990. “Between Feminism and Postmodernism.” In Linda Nicholson (ed.). Feminism/Postmodernism. London: Routledge. Freeman, Jo, and Nancy Henley. 1995. "The sexual politics of interpersonal behavior." In Jo Freeman (ed.). Women: A feminist perspective. London: Mayfield. Goffman, Erving. 1976. Gender advertisements. Macmillan Education UK. Goffman, Erving. 1978. The presentation of self in everyday life. London: Harmondsworth. Lloyd, Moya. 2005 Beyond Identity Politics: Feminism, Power and Politics. London: Sage. McNay, Lois. 1992. Foucault and Feminism Power, Gender and the Self. Cambridge: Polity. McNeil, Maureen. 1993. “Dancing with Foucault: Feminism and Power Knowledge.” In Caroline Ramazanoglu (ed.). Up Against Foucault: Exploration of Some Tensions between Foucault and Feminism. Psychology Press, 147-175. Meijer, Irene Costera, and Baukje Prins. 1998. "How bodies come to matter: An interview with Judith Butler." Signs: Journal of women in culture and society 23(2): 275-286. Moi, Toril. 2001. What is a woman?: and other essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1. Riley, Denise. 1988. ‘Am I That Name?’ Feminism and the Category of ‘Women’ in History. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. Sawicki, Julia. 1991. Disciplining Foucault: Feminism, Power & the Body. London: Routledge. Stanley, Liz, and Sue Wise. 1993. Breaking Out. London: Routledge. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 2012. In Other Words: Essays in Cultural Politics. London: Routledge. Waugh, Patricia. 1998. “Postmodernism and Feminism.” In Stevi Jackson and Jacki Jones (eds.). Contemporary Feminist Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Weedon, Chris. 1997. Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. "Doing gender." Gender & society 1(2): 125-151. Gender as a social institution Acker, Joan. "From sex roles to gendered institutions." Contemporary sociology 21(5): 565-569. Connell, Raewyn. 2005. Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 3. Connell, Raewyn. 2009. Gender: In World Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chapter 3. Martin, Karin A. 1998. "Becoming a gendered body: Practices of preschools." American sociological review 63(4): 494-511. Martin, Patricia Yancey. 2004. "Gender as social institution." Social forces 82(4): 1249-1273. Intersectionality ­ Race Choo, Hae Yeon, and Myra Marx Ferree. 2010. "Practicing intersectionality in sociological research: A critical analysis of inclusions, interactions, and institutions in the study of inequalities." Sociological theory 28(2): 129-149. Collins, Patricia Hill. 1986. "Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of Black feminist thought." Social problems 33(6): 14-32. Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1992. “Whose Story is it Anyway? Feminist and Anti­racist Appropriations of Anita Hill.” In Toni Morrison (ed.). Race­ing Justice, Engendering Power. New York: Pantheon, 402­441. Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. 1992. "From servitude to service work: Historical continuities in the racial division of paid reproductive labor." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 18(1): 1-43. West, Candace, and Sarah Fenstermaker. 1995. "Doing difference." Gender & society 9(1): 8-37. Intersectionality ­ Class Feminists
Recommended publications
  • Fall 2007  Volume Xxiiii No
    FALL 2007 VOLUME XXIIII NO. 3 NNeettwwoorrkknewsnews The Newsletter of Sociologists for Women in Society SSWWSS MMeeeettiinnggss iinn NNYYCC AAuugguusstt 1111--1133 22000077 FFrroomm tthhee BBiigg UUnneeaassyy ttoo tthhee BBiigg AAppppllee By: Manisha Desai The meeting in New York was organized to continue the SWS President focus of the winter meetings on Solidarities Across Borders. I was really pleased with the attendance at our sessions. rom New Orleans to New York was both a dramatic There was standing room only at Doing Gender: 20 Years shift and yet a continuation of the story of the Later which honored Candace West and Don Zimmerman's contemporaryFF crisis of the US state, in particular the increas- classic article in Gender and Society. Similarly the panel, ing privatization and corruption of the state’s security and Straight Up No Chaser: Challenges Women of Color Face in reconstruction roles. While the attack in New York, six the Academy, and Evelyn Nakano Glenn's SWS Feminist years ago, marked the beginning of this crisis, New Orleans Lecture, Yearning for Whiteness: The New Global represented the depth of this crisis. The SWS meeting in Marketing of Skin Whitening Products, were well attended New Orleans showcased how every day men and women in and led to animated discussions. I also took advantage of our New Orleans were building solidarities across borders to location in New York City and organized jointly, with ASA rebuild even as the state had abdicated its responsibilities. and Women Make Movies, a day-long women's film The US model of privatization of state roles was also evident festival.
    [Show full text]
  • SWS Network News
    Network News I N S I D E T H I S ISSUE: VOLUME XXIX, ISSUE 4 DECEMBER 2012 Looking 3 Ahead to 2013 Upcoming Winter Meeting in Tamaya! Thanks for an 3 Amazing When Denise Segura persuaded some dates and times to keep in politics of gender and sexualities in Year! me to run for SWS President, I did mind. contemporary African con- Gender Equal- 5 not wholly appreciate the joys of texts. Our plenary speaker, Marga- working with a feminist group. ity: Utopian & We will have an opening recep- ret Abraham, will be talking about We went through some major Realistic changes this year; Pat has de- tion, 5-7 p.m., on Thursday, the social justice.. And, yes, Cecelia 7th of February, 2013. The or- Ridgeway, ASA President, will be From the Ex- 6 scribed these in her column. It ganized sessions, plenaries, and joining us for the Sunday plenary. ecutive Office has been a truly amazing opportu- nity to work on SWS matters this business meetings are scheduled THANKS to Kate Berheide for mak- year. Election 8 for Friday, Saturday, Sunday; the ing this possible. I have been enjoying the privilege meeting ends at 11.45 on Sunday Results of being an SWS-er at every turn (Feb 10th). this year. Each time I asked peo- “Critique Me” 9 ple for help, they stepped up and took on responsibilities cheerfully, View of Hyatt Local chapters 10 in the midst of ever-increasing Regency Tamaya work loads, stress and anxiety Resort & Spa about elections, challenges in the Award calls 12 midst of Sandy.
    [Show full text]
  • KATHLEEN GERSON Professor of Sociology
    KATHLEEN GERSON Professor of Sociology Collegiate Professor of Arts and Science New York University May, 2020 CONTACT INFORMATION [email protected] http://sociology.fas.nyu.edu/object/kathleengerson www.KathleenGerson.com @KathleenGerson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Gerson EDUCATION Ph.D. Department of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley, 1981 M.A. Department of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley, 1974 B.A. Stanford University, 1969 (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS 2010-present Collegiate Professor of Arts and Science, New York University 1995-present Professor of Sociology, New York University 2000-2003 Chair, Department of Sociology, New York University 1990-1996 Director of Undergraduate Studies in Sociology, New York University 1988-94 Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, New York University 1980-87 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, New York University 1979 Instructor, Program on Urban Studies, Stanford University 1975-77 Research Specialist, Institute of Urban and Regional Development, U.C. Berkeley Katheen Gerson Page 2 ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS (cont.) 1972-76 Research Assistant, Institute of Industrial Relations 1972-1976 Survey Research Center, U.C. Berkeley VISITING POSITIONS 2011-2012 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University 1995 Visiting Research Scholar, Center for the Study of Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany 1987-88 Visiting Scholar, Russell Sage Foundation,
    [Show full text]
  • Toward a World Beyond Gender: a Utopian Vision Barbara J. Risman
    Toward a World Beyond Gender: A Utopian Vision Barbara J. Risman University of Illinois at Chicago Judith Lorber Brooklyn College and Graduate Center, City University of New York Jessica Holden Sherwood University of Rhode Island Prepared for the 2012 American Sociological Society Meetings. We thank Erik Olin Wright for inviting our participation in a presidential plenary about utopian visions for society. We thank Rachel Allison, Amy Brainer, Pallavi Banerjee and Georgiann Davis for their comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. 1 2 Any utopian essay, even one based on social science expertise, is necessarily and explicitly a value-laden normative project. As invited participants of the American Sociological Association‘s 2012 ―Envisioning Real Utopias‖ project, we fully embrace this kind of ―emancipatory social science‖ (Wright 2010). As avowedly feminist scholars, we are part of an intellectual community birthed by a social movement. We have always stayed close to our feminist roots, with an explicit goal to do work that helps transform the world toward one in which gender inequality does not exist (Lorber 1994, 2005, Risman 1998, 2004). Following Wright‘s distinction between social and political justice (Wright 2010), feminists of all stripes would probably agree that whatever one‘s sexual identity and gender practices, everyone should have the (social) freedom to choose their own paths as separate persons and the (political) freedom to join collectively with others to affect their broader community. We will proceed presuming
    [Show full text]
  • Revisioning Gender. Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber and Beth B. Hess (Eds.)
    The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 27 Issue 1 March - Special Issue on the Changing Article 16 American Mosaic March 2000 Revisioning Gender. Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber and Beth B. Hess (Eds.). Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation (2000) "Revisioning Gender. Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber and Beth B. Hess (Eds.).," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 27 : Iss. 1 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol27/iss1/16 This Book Note is brought to you by the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. For more information, please contact wmu- [email protected]. 190 Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare in a significant reversal in current thinking about economic de- velopment and equality. Nevertheless, Bowles and Gintis may have initiated a debate that could have far reaching repercussions. Their clear explication of how a grossly unequal society harms the well-being of ordinary people may be persuasive in fostering an egalitarian agenda that is electorally palatable. Myra Marx Ferree, Judith Lorber and Beth B. Hess (Eds.), Revi- sioning Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1999. $72.00 hardcover, $34.95 papercover. Feminist scholarship in sociology has expanded rapidly over the last twenty or so years. This expansion has moved steadily along a trajectory of shifting gender analysis from the margins of sociological interest to its very center. Today feminist scholars insist that gender be viewed as a central element in all sociological research. Since gender is a central element of social life, the gender lens must be applied to all sociological questions.
    [Show full text]
  • Toward Gender Equality: the Promise of Paradoxes of Gender to Promote Structural Change
    William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice Volume 1 (1994) Issue 1 William & Mary Journal of Women and Article 6 the Law October 1994 Toward Gender Equality: The Promise of Paradoxes of Gender to Promote Structural Change Andrea Giampetro-Meyer Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl Part of the Jurisprudence Commons, and the Law and Gender Commons Repository Citation Andrea Giampetro-Meyer, Toward Gender Equality: The Promise of Paradoxes of Gender to Promote Structural Change, 1 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 131 (1994), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol1/iss1/6 Copyright c 1994 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl BOOK REVIEW TOWARD GENDER EQUALITY: THE PROMISE OF PARADOXES OF GENDER TO PROMOTE STRUCTURAL CHANGE PARADOXES OF GENDER, by Judith Lorber,* New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994. Reviewed by Andrea Giampetro-Meyer** and Amy Fiordalisi*** One of the joys of reading is that studying the words of thoughtful, knowledgeable writers helps readers rethink the way they look at the world. Those of us who read, reason, and practice in the field of law sometimes need to experience the jolt one can feel by reading literature outside the field of law. Judith Lorber presents ideas in Paradoxes of Gender' that trigger a significant jolt. In this book, sociologist Lorber urges the reader to see the world in a new way. In particular, she asks the reader to view gender as a social institution.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing Women's and Gender Studies: a Collection of Teaching
    Introducing Women’s and Gender Studies: A Teaching Resources Collection 1 Introducing Women’s and Gender Studies: A Collection of Teaching Resources Edited by Elizabeth M. Curtis Fall 2007 Introducing Women’s and Gender Studies: A Teaching Resources Collection 2 Copyright National Women's Studies Association 2007 Introducing Women’s and Gender Studies: A Teaching Resources Collection 3 Table of Contents Introduction……………………..………………………………………………………..6 Lessons for Pre-K-12 Students……………………………...…………………….9 “I am the Hero of My Life Story” Art Project Kesa Kivel………………………………………………………….……..10 Undergraduate Introductory Women’s and Gender Studies Courses…….…15 Lecture Courses Introduction to Women’s Studies Jennifer Cognard-Black………………………………………………………….……..16 Introduction to Women’s Studies Maria Bevacqua……………………………………………………………………………23 Introduction to Women’s Studies Vivian May……………………………………………………………………………………34 Introduction to Women’s Studies Jeanette E. Riley……………………………………………………………………………...47 Perspectives on Women’s Studies Ann Burnett……………………………………………………………………………..55 Seminar Courses Introduction to Women’s Studies Lynda McBride………………………..62 Introduction to Women’s Studies Jocelyn Stitt…………………………….75 Introduction to Women’s Studies Srimati Basu……………………………………………………………...…………………86 Introduction to Women’s Studies Susanne Beechey……………………………………...…………………………………..92 Introduction to Women’s Studies Risa C. Whitson……………………105 Women: Images and Ideas Angela J. LaGrotteria…………………………………………………………………………118 The Dynamics of Race, Sex, and Class Rama Lohani Chase…………………………………………………………………………128
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Gender? Author(S): Ivy Kennelly, Sabine N
    What Is Gender? Author(s): Ivy Kennelly, Sabine N. Merz, Judith Lorber Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Aug., 2001), pp. 598-605 Published by: American Sociological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3088925 Accessed: 26/03/2009 15:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=asa. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Sociological Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Sociological Review. http://www.jstor.org 598 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in Commenton Udry, ASR, June 2000 Historical Perspective, edited by V.
    [Show full text]
  • Believing Is Seeing: Biology As Ideology Author(S): Judith Lorber Source: Gender and Society, Vol
    Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology Author(s): Judith Lorber Source: Gender and Society, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1993), pp. 568-581 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/189514 Accessed: 10/01/2009 17:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sage. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Sage Publications, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Gender and Society. http://www.jstor.org 1992 Cheryl Miller Lecture BELIEVING IS SEEING: Biology as Ideology JUDITH LORBER BrooklynCollege and GraduateSchool City Universityof New York Westernideology takes biology as the cause, and behaviorand social statusesas the effects, and then proceeds to construct biological dichotomies to justify the "naturalness"of gendered behavior and gendered social statuses.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 SOCIOLOGY 6019H1F GENDER RELATIONS Gender Differences, Divisions and Inequalities Instructor
    SOCIOLOGY 6019H1F GENDER RELATIONS Gender Differences, Divisions and Inequalities Instructor: Bonnie Fox Time: Tues.,Thurs. 1:00-3:00 Office: Room 382, 725 Spadina Ave. Location: rm. 240 Office hours: Tues. 12:30 & 3:00-4:00 Email address: [email protected] Phone number: 416 978-4213 Summer 2018 Sociology of gender is an immense field, featuring very fluid boundaries with other disciplines. It has developed in leaps and bounds over the five decades since the start of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Scholars’ initial concern was understanding women’s unequal social position – conceptualized in terms of “sex roles” in sociology or power/oppression due to either “patriarchy” or patriarchal capitalism by feminist theorists. While concern about inequality persists, the issues, questions, methods and theoretical approaches have multiplied over time, and the understanding of gender inequality has deepened. As a concept, gender has many meanings. But it is now conceptualized less as a characteristic of individuals and more in terms of historically specific and socially constructed social relations, social practices, subject positions, systems of meaning, or a structural division (and even as a social structure itself). Moreover, the influence of postmodernism/post-structuralism has meant that materialist perspectives have become less popular and cultural analyses more popular; and post-structural critiques have moved scholars’ attention from social structure (or social organization) to individual agency. To an extent, attention has shifted from questions about the nature and sources of gender inequality to questions about meaning and identity. At the same time, questions about inequality have also become more complicated, as gender is increasingly understood to be entangled with social class and race, as well as sexuality.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese People's Perceptions of Gender Inequality
    Lund University Department of Political Science Bachelor’s Thesis in Development Studies Tutor: Daniel Gustafsson Chinese People’s Perceptions of Gender Inequality Rui Hao Abstract Purpose – The aim of the study is to examine young urban Chinese people’s perceptions of gender inequality, including their awareness, beliefs, values, understanding, and their perceptions of the reality. The main fields investigated by the research are: family (childcare, housework, financial responsibility and women’s unpaid work); work (sex segregation in the workplace, low-paid work, women’s service occupations and gender wage gap,); political participation and representation; legal rights and measures; reproductive and sexual autonomy; gender awareness; and understanding of feminism. Theory – Individualistic, cultural, and social explanations of gender inequality constitute the theoretical framework for the analysis. The construction of the questionnaire/interview questions is based on feminist theories including liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, and socialist feminism. Method – A mixed method approach is employed for the research. Both quantitative and qualitative data are obtained in the field by means of questionnaire and interview. The sample is made up of 118 young Chinese people living in the city of Harbin, including 49 men and 69 women. Limitations – Areas such as women’s health, sexual violence and abuse, and education are not included in the study. The sample has certain bias due to contextual constraints, limiting the validity for generalization.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Construction of the Sexually Dimorphic Body
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1-1-2011 Gendering the Body: Exploring the Construction of the Sexually Dimorphic Body Sarah Kaye Lewis Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Lewis, Sarah Kaye, "Gendering the Body: Exploring the Construction of the Sexually Dimorphic Body" (2011). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 152. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.152 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Gendering the Body: Exploring the Construction of the Sexually Dimorphic Body by Sarah Kaye Lewis A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Sociology Thesis Committee: Grant Farr, Chair Ann Mussey Martha Balshem Portland State University ©2011 ABSTRACT Gender is a pervasive and regulating social institution that is operationalized in mainstream Western culture as a natural extension of the ontological difference perceived to exist between the binarily sexed bodies of male and female. Feminist theory has widely established, however, that gender is done - i.e., gender is not a naturally occurring phenomenon, but is an ongoing construction engaged and replicated by individual actors and which, while compulsory, is nevertheless optional. Within this canon is a small number of feminist theorists, notably Judith Lorber, Judith Bulter, and Nancy Tuana, who argue that the constructive manifestations of gender performativity (that is, do ing of gender) are not limited to the social sphere.
    [Show full text]