SOCIOLOGY 217: GENDER AND INEQUALITY

Spring, 1998

MWF 9:00 - 9:50 Office: Glatfelter 010
Glatfelter 001 Hours: MW 10:00 - 12:30
Jean L. Potuchek and by appointment

Gender is a fundamental part of our daily lives. It is critical to our sense of self-identity and a pervasive part of our dealings with others. The first thing we want to know about a newly born human (even before we ask whether it is healthy and whole) is whether it is a boy or a girl, and we find it virtually impossible to interact with others until we have first identified their gender category. (If you have ever been in a situation where another person's gender was unclear, you can attest to how disturbing this is.) But gender is much more than just a personal characteristic of individuals. In this course, we will examine gender as a set of social relations and as a system of social inequality. We will consider what gender is, how gender inequality is built into the structure of societies, how we actively construct the system of gender relations in our daily lives, and how gender inequality interacts with other forms of social inequality.

Reading

The following required readings for the course are either available for purchase at the College Store or on reserve in Musselman Library:
Books to Purchase:
R.W. Connell, Masculinities (CONNELL)
Jennifer Pierce, Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms (PIERCE)
Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labor (MIES)
Kathleen Blee, Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s (BLEE)
Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill (editors), Women of Color in U.S. Society (BACA ZINN and DILL)


Reserve Reading:
Jean L. Potuchek, Who Supports the Family? Gender and Breadwinning in Dual- Earner Marriages (Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 19-34. (Potuchek)
Nancy Chodorow, "Family Structure and Feminine Personality," pp. 43-66 in Rosaldo and Lamphere (eds.), Woman, Culture, and Society. (Chodorow)
Alice Kessler-Harris, "The Wage Conceived: Value and Need as Measures of a Woman's Worth," excerpted from Alice Kessler-Harris, A Woman's Wage: Historical Meanings and Social Consequences (University Press of Kentucky, 1990). (Kessler-Harris)
Barbara Reskin, "Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women's Work," Gender & Society, vol. 2, March, 1988, pp. 58-81. (Reskin)
Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, "Doing Gender," Gender & Society, vol. 1, June, 1987, pp. 125-151. (West and Zimmerman)
Lisa Handler, "In the Fraternal Sisterhood: Sororities as Gender Strategy," Gender & Society, vol. 9, April, 1995, pp. 236-55. (Handler)


Classroom Procedures

This course is designed to emphasize active student involvement and participatory learning. On Monday of each week, I will give a lecture that sets out the issues and provides a theoretical framework for the week's class sessions. Wednesday and Friday classes will be devoted primarily to discussion. Much of this discussion will take place in student-led groups of five or six. Each of you will be assigned to one of these small groups at the beginning of the semester. Group discussions will revolve around clearly delineated tasks, and the roles of discussion facilitator and reporter will rotate within the group. Groups will be reassigned at mid-semester so that each of you can participate in two different groups during the semester.

Class discussion will provide an important part of your evaluation for the course. Your grade for discussion will be based on your presence at and active participation in class sessions, the quality of your discussion papers (see below), the quality of work done by the small discussion groups of which you are a member, and the quality of your contributions to those group discussions, particularly in the role of facilitator.

Assignments

Discussion Papers

Each of you is responsible for coming to class prepared to participate fully in discussion of the reading assigned for that day. In order to improve the quality of preparation and discussion, you will write a one-page "discussion paper" for each discussion class. In this paper, you should explore your thinking about some issue in the reading assigned for that day; in other words, these papers are not a place to record your emotional responses to or your likes and dislikes about the reading, but are a place to engage the ideas of those readings. You are especially encouraged to write papers in which you draw connections to previous readings or issues discussed in class. These papers must be typed and will be collected at the end of class; NO LATE DISCUSSION PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. There are twenty-six discussion classes during the semester; you must complete discussion papers for twenty of them to earn a passing grade for class discussion.

Term Paper

Each of you will complete a term paper on a gender-related topic of your choice. THE TERM PAPER IS INTENDED TO BE A MAJOR, SEMESTER-LONG RESEARCH EFFORT, AND WILL BE EVALUATED AS SUCH. The model for these papers is the published scholarly article; thus, the quality of both the research and the writing is expected to be high. As an aid to quality and a guard against procrastination, a number of preliminary steps and opportunities for feedback have been built into the term paper assignment. (See separate handout for details.)

Exams

There will be two exams for the course, a mid-term and a final. These will be take-home, essay exams. In each case, questions will be handed out about 1 week before the exam is due.

Grading

Class Discussion 30%
Term Paper 35%
Mid-Term Exam 15%
Final Exam 20%


Course Outline

Date Topic/Activity Reading

PART 1: WHAT IS GENDER?

F Jan. 16 Introductions
M Jan. 19 Lecture: Thinking About Gender Connell, chapter 1
W Jan. 21 Discussion: Critiques of the Sex Roles Model Connell, chapter 2
F Jan. 23 Discussion: Alternative Ways of Thinking About Gender Chodorow Connell, chapter 3
M Jan. 26 Lecture: The Social Construction of Gender

***Term Paper Topics Due***

Potuchek
W Jan. 28 Discussion: The Social Construction of Masculinity Connell, chapters 4 and 5
F Jan. 30 Discussion: The Social Construction of Masculinity (continued) Connell, chapters 6 and 7
M Feb. 2 Lecture: The Social Construction of Gender in Socio-Historical Context Connell, chapter 8
W Feb. 4 Discussion: Gender Construction in Social Context Connell, chapter 9 Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 15
F Feb. 6 Discussion: Developing a Theory of Gender Connell, chapter 10


PART 2: MACRO-INEQUALITIES

M Feb. 9 Lecture: The Institutionalization of Gender Inequality

***Term Paper Proposals Due***

W Feb. 11 Discussion: Conceptual Tools for Analyzing Institutionalized Inequality Mies, chapter 1
F Feb. 13 Discussion: Conceptual Tools for Analyzing Institutionalized Inequality Mies, chapter 2
M Feb. 16 Lecture: Family, Economy, and the Institutionalization of Gender Inequality Kessler-Harris
W Feb. 18 Discussion: Family, Economy, and Gender Inequality in the International Division of Labor Mies, chapter 3
F Feb. 20 Discussion: Family, Economy, and Gender Inequality in the International Division of Labor Mies, chapters 4 and 5
M Feb. 23 Lecture: Challenges to Institutionalized Gender Inequality
W Feb. 25 Discussion: Women's Movements and Resistance to Gender Inequality Mies, chapter 6
F Feb. 27 Discussion: Developing a Theory of Gender Mies, chapter 7


PART 3: MICRO-INEQUALITIES

M March 2 Lecture: Structure and Agency in the Construction of Gender

***Mid-Term Exams Due***

Reskin
W March 4 Discussion: Interpersonal Interaction and the Construction of Gender West and Zimmerman
F March 6 Discussion: Constructing Gender in Personal Relationships Handler Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 13
M March 16 Lecture: Gender Difference and Gender Inequality Pierce, chapters 1 and 2
W March 18 Discussion: Constructing Gender Difference in the Workplace Pierce, chapters 3 and 4
F March 20 No Class - Work on Term Paper Drafts
M March 23 Discussion: Negotiation, Strategy and Resistance in the Construction of Gender Pierce, chapter 5
W March 25 Discussion: Negotiation, Strategy and Resistance in the Construction of Gender Pierce, chapter 6
F March 27 Discussion: Developing a Theory of Gender Pierce, chapter 7

PART 4: INTERSECTIONS OF INEQUALITY - RACE, CLASS AND GENDER

M March 30 Lecture: Race and Class in the Construction of Gender

***Term Paper First Drafts Due***

Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 1 Blee, Introduction and chapter 1
W April 1 Discussion: Institutionalized Inequalities Baca Zinn and Dill, readings 2 and 6
F April 3 Discussion: Structure and Agency -- Protecting Privilege Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 4
M April 6 Lecture: Constructing Difference Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 8
W April 8 Discussion: Constructing Difference in Daily Interaction Baca Zinn and Dill, readings 3 and 5
M April 13 Lecture: Institutionalized Inequality, Strategic Moves, and Resistance Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 11
W April 15 Discussion: Forms of Resistance Baca Zinn and Dill, readings 9 and 12
F April 17 Discussion: Constructing Race, Religion, Class and Gender through Political Action -- A Case Study Blee, chapters 2 and 3
M April 20 Lecture: Privilege and Gender Strategy
W April 22 Discussion: Strategies for Constructing Difference Blee, chapters 4 and 5
F April 24 Discussion: Gender and Inequality Blee, chapter 6 and Epilogue Baca Zinn and Dill, reading 14


PART 5: CONCLUSIONS

M April 27 Lecture: Gender, Inequality, and Public Policy
W April 39 Discussion: Theories of Gender Revisit Connell, chapters 1-3
TH April 30 Summing Up

***Term Paper Final Drafts Due***