SOC 225(S) Sex and Gender (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 227)

An introduction to the sociological analysis of sex and gender in the contemporary United States. In the first part of the course, we will begin with an overview of gender scholarship, identifying major trends and analyzing methodological assumptions. In the second part of the course, we will investigate more recent alternatives to conceptualizations of sex and/or gender as dichotomous and discrete, focusing on interpretations of the body and biology. The third section of the course considers several exemplars of empirical research on gender inequality, as well as the intersections between gender and other inequalities such as race/ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation. Here, specific topics may include education, work, family, the state, and social protest as we explore the ways in which gender is built into the structures, institutions, and ideologies of social life and how different groups of men and women experience gender.
Format: seminar. Requirements: regular class participation, several short response papers, a research paper, and a final examination.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 22). Open to first-year students.

Hour: BESSETT