Download Social Construction of Gender

Social Construction of Gender
Prepared by: Lilit Shakaryan
Lecturer, Department of Sociology
Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
E-mail: [email protected]
Specialization:
Semester:
Credits:
Total:
I.
Sociology
3 (MA Course)
3 ECTS
32 hours
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to raise the consciousness of students to the nature of gender as a social
construct. Rather than understanding gender in terms of fixed dichotomies (e.g. male/female,
masculinity/femininity), sociologists see it as a complex social phenomenon that changes over
time and varies across cultures. This means that the course explores the ways in which gender
conceptualized as a social construct viewing it not as a fixed or static identity but as a product
that is constructed and performed in interaction. Course readings focus on sociological theories,
mainly on social constructionist approach to show how gender arises out of our everyday
interactions and is shaped by different domains of social life.
The class will begin by introducing some conceptual and theoretical tools for understanding
gender issues and gender research methodology within the framework of Sociology. It will
critically examine the idea that sex and gender are fixed biological realities and discuss gender as
a major organizing aspect of society. In order, to help better understand social life and our
participation in it, the course will explore gender from both macro and micro-level of analysis. It
will focus on five paradigms used in studying gender: functionalism, conflict, symbolic
interaction, ethnomethodology and social constructivistic approach. In addition, the course will
introduce mechanisms and technologies of gender construction and reperezentaion.
Then the course will move on to explore how gender relates to process of socialization to analyze
its impact on the formation of the expected gender roles in society.
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II.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (OBJECTIVES)
Upon successful completion of the course, students will demonstrate:
 an understanding of social constructionist perspective on sex and gender as a social and
cultural construction rather than a natural, biological “given”;
 an understanding of gender discourse within the framework of social theories; an
appreciation of pecularities of gender approach in Sociology;
 insight into mechanisms, technologies and agents for social construction of gender;
 an ability to interpret how a society’s gender constructions affect people’s lives through
processes of socialization and how people “do gender” (engage in gender roles) in their
everyday interactions;
 an ability to use the critical methodologies to analyze how gender constructions shape the
realities of contemporary social life and theorize about it using sociological concepts.
III.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Participation and Attendance (10%): Learning takes place as a result of active
participation. Consequently, attendance at each class is critical. In this course,
participation should take two distinct forms:
a)
Crafting discussion questions: each student will be responsible for crafting two
questions designed to stimulate thinking and provoke discussion for one specific
assigned reading.
b)
Semester-long engagement with course materials in class: engagement can take
the form of responses to questions, syntheses and analyses of course materials,
focused interaction during group activities.
2. Critical Essay (20%): Critical essay intends to facilitate research activities of students,
basically in the field of gender analyzing by using different methodological approaches
and principals. Each student will prepare a critical essay which they will execute during
the course of the semester. In the critical essay the development of coherent problem
statements and well-reasoned, systematic and fair data analysis and conclusions are
especially stressed. All of this will be worked out together as the course progresses. The
2
last 5 lessons before exam will be dedicated to collaborative work on student
presentations of their essays.
3. Examinations:
a) Tests (40%): There are 2 midterm exams in this course. For the 1st midterm
exam students need to get ready on the basis of materials from the first thematic
part of the course. The material on the exam will be drawn from lectures,
recitations, and the required textbook readings. Exam contains 2 questions with 2
points for each question. The 2nd exam is based on the second part of the course.
Exam contains 2 questions with 2 points for each question.
b) Final Exam (30%): The final exam must be taken on the lesson and time. The
final exam is a comprehensive exam covering all the lectures, recitations, and
required readings for the entire semester.
Grading and assessment:
Generally “excellent” work earns “18-20”-range grades, “good” work earns “13-17”-range
grades, “average” work earns “8-12”-range grades, “unsatisfactory” work earns “0-7”-range
grades.
The final course grade will be calculated as follows:
ASSIGNMENT
EXAM
/PRESENTATIONS/
PERIOD
Attendance
%
OF GRADES
TOTAL
10
2
8
Critical essay
1st exam- Mid October;
40
nd
2
exam-End
of
December
November-December
20
Final exam
January
30
6
100
20
Midterms (2)
TOTAL
4
3
IV.
TEACHING/LEARNING STRATEGIES
This course will operate as an interactive lecture, which means that there will be some lecturing
but the bulk of each class will run as a group discussion. Therefore, regular attendance, student
preparedness, and meaningful participation are expected of each student. It is problem-based,
and inquiry oriented. While learning in this course will take place as a result of lectures, guest
speakers, readings, and concentrated study by individual students within the course. A major
teaching/learning strategy calls for small group discussions, individual and group presentations
(spontaneous and planned), and class discussions. This will allow students to better work through
difficult concepts and theories and to develop their skills in applying to theoretical constructs in
solving real problems, issues, and situations.
V.
STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE
LECTURING AND SEMINAR HOURS
THEME
THEME NAME
Lecture
Theme 1.
Seminar work
Total
Introductory concepts: gender and social
constructivist tradition
Discourse of gender in social theories
4
2
6
4
-
4
Theme 3.
Sociological perspectives on gender roles:
macro and micro level analysis
The 1st Midterm Exam
4
2
6
Theme 4.
Social constructionist approach in gender
studies: specialties of implementation
Principles of gender construction: main
social mechanisms and agents
Gender and the proccess of socialization
2
2
4
4
2
6
4
2
6
22
10
32
Theme 2.
Theme 5.
Theme 6.
The 2nd Midterm Exam
TOTAL
4
VI.
COURSE CONTENT AND ASSIGNED READINGS
Theme 1. Introductory concepts: Gender and social constructivist tradition
Course introduction, expectations and interests, syllabus review, the assignments
1.
2.
3.
4.
Laying the Foundation: Sociology, Biology, Gender as System and Power
Perspectives of social constructivist theory development
A. Schutz, The structure of everyday thinking
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality
Readings:
 C. Wright Mills, “The Promise of Sociology,” from The Sociological
Imagination, pp.1-5
 Chapter 2, Wood, J. T. (2013). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and
culture (10th ed.) Boston: Wadsworth.
 Chapter 7, Scott Appelrouth, Laura Desfor Edles (2011). Sociological Theory in
the Contemporary Era: Text and Readings
 Schutz A. Common-Sense and Scientific Interpretation of Human Action //
Collected, Papers. V. 1. The Problem of Social Reality. The Hague, 1962. P. 726.
 Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1991), The Social Construction of
Reality
Theme 2. Discourse of gender in social theories
1.
2.
3.
4.
Historical context of the gender discourse
Social constructivism versus biological determinism
E. Durkheim’s and T. Parsons’s approaches over the gender issues
Masculine culture and social psychology of gender roles: G. Simmel’s concept
Readings:
 Chap. 2, DeFrancisco and Palczewski (2007). Communicating gender diversity: A
critical approach
 Part 1, Janet Saltzman Chafetz (2006), HANDBOOK OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF
GENDER, pp. 3-25
 Chris Brickell (2006). The sociological construction of gender and sexuality. The
Sociological Review, Volume 54, Issue 1, pages 87–113.
 Talcott Parsons, «Age and Sex in the Social Structure», in Talcott Parsons,
Essays in Sociological Theory. Pure and Applied (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free
Press, 1949), pp. 218-232;
5


Talcott
Parsons,
R.
Bales,
Family,
Socialization
and
Interaction Process (New York: The Free University Press, 1955)
Chapter 1, I. N. Tartakovskaya (2005). Sociology of gender, Moscow, pp. 19-33
Theme 3. Sociological perspectives on gender roles: macro and micro level analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
The varieties of gender theory in sociology
Gendered interpretation of functionalistic theory
Gendered analysis of conflict theory
Feminist Interactionist Theory. Symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology in a
contribution to gender theory development.
Seminar work
Feminist Structural Theory (Discussion of R. Connell’s concept of gender and power).
Readings:
 Chapter 1, Linda L. Lindsey (2011) Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, 5th
edition,
 Janet Saltzman Chafetz (2006), HANDBOOK OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF
GENDER, pp. 45-64
 Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, Doing Gender. The social construction of
gender, edited by J. Lorber, S. Farrell, 1991, pp.13-37
 Garfinkel H (1967). Passing and the Managed Achievement of Sex Status in an
„Intersexed‟ Person. In Studies in Ethnomethodology. New Jersey; Prentice-Hall, pp.
116-140
 Herbert Blumer (1986). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. University
of California Press
 Connell R., Gender and Power. Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Cambridge:
Polity Press, 1987. P. 141.
Theme 4. Social constructionist approach in gender studies: specialties of implementation
1. Social constructionist approach as a critical concept in gender researches
2. Features of social constructionist approach within the framework of gender researches in
sociology
Seminar work
Analysis of any gendered issue within the framework of social constructionist approach
Readings:
6





Introduction to gender studies: part 1, edited by I. Dzerebkina, Xarkov, 2001, pp.
80-98.
Zdravomislova E., Social construction of gender: feminist theory. Introduction to
gender studies: part 1, edited by I. Dzerebkina, Xarkov, 2001, pp. 147-173.
Principles of gender construction. The social construction of gender, edited by J.
Lorber, S. Farrell, 1991, pp. 7-12
Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman, Doing Gender. The social construction of
gender, edited by J. Lorber, S. Farrell, 1991, pp.13-37
Judith Lorber, Gender. In: E.F.Borgatta and M.L.Borgatta (eds.). Encyclopedia of
Sociology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992, p.748–754.
Theme 5. Principles of gender construction: main social mechanisms and agents
1. E. Goffman, gender framing and representation
2. Mass media, literature and art as agents of gender construction
3. The study of gender in culture
Seminar work
Gender symbols and cultural representation (case analysis)
Readings:
 J. Lorber, The Social construction of gender. The social construction of difference and
inequality, edited by Tracy E. Ore, 2000, pp.106-112
 E. Goffman, Frame Analysis of Gender, in C. Lemert and A. Branaman, eds.,
Goffman Reader. (Oxford, Blackwell Publ., 1997), pp. 201-208;
 E. Goffman, Gender Display, in C. Lemert and A. Branaman, eds., Goffman Reader
(Oxford, Blackwell Publ., 1997), pp. 208-227.
 Cahpter 10, Janet Saltzman Chafetz (2006), HANDBOOK OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF
GENDER
Theme 6. Gender and the proccess of socialization
1.
2.
3.
4.
Features of gender socialization: gender stereotypes
Gender and social learning theory
Gender and cognitive development theory, psychoanalytic theory
Gender and social roles
Readings:
 Chap. 11, 12, Janet Saltzman Chafetz (2006). HANDBOOK OF THE
SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER
7



Dana Berkowitz, Namita N. Manohar and Justine E., Walk Like a Man, Talk Like
a Woman: Teaching the Social Construction of Gender. Teaching Sociology, Vol.
38, No. 2 (APRIL 2010), pp. 132-143
Isabella Crespi, SOCIALIZATION AND GENDER ROLES WITHIN THE
FAMILY: A STUDY ON ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR PARENTS IN GREAT
BRITAIN (http://www.mariecurie.org/annals/volume3/crespi.pdf)
Jivka Marinova (2003), Gender Stereotypes and the Socialization Process,
(http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/men-boys2003/EP3-Marinova.pdf)
VII.
READINGS
1. C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, 2000
2. Wood, J. T., Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture (10th ed.)
Boston: Wadsworth 2013.
3. Scott
Appelrouth,
Laura
Desfor
Edles,
Sociological
Theory
in
the
Contemporary Era: Text and Readings, 2011
4. Schutz A. Common-Sense and Scientific Interpretation of Human Action //
Collected, Papers. V. 1. The Problem of Social Reality. The Hague, 1962. P. 726.
5. Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Realit: A
Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, NY, 1991
6. DeFrancisco and Palczewski, Communicating gender diversity: A critical
approach, Sage publications, 2007
7. Janet Saltzman Chafetz , HANDBOOK OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER,
USA, 2006
8. Chris Brickell, The sociological construction of gender and sexuality. The
Sociological Review, Volume 54, Issue 1, 2006, pages 87–113.
9. Talcott Parsons, Essays in Sociological Theory. Pure and Applied, Glencoe,
Illinois: The Free Press, 1949
10. Talcott Parsons, R. Bales, Family, Socialization and Interaction Process, New
York: The Free University Press, 1955
8
11. I. N. Tartakovskaya, Sociology of gender, Moscow, 2005
12. Linda L. Lindsey, Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective, 5th edition, 2011
13. Garfinkel H, Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:PrenticeHall, 1967
14. Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. University
of California Press, 1986
15. Connell R., Gender and Power. Society, the Person and Sexual Politics.
Cambridge: Polity Press, 1987. P. 141.
16. I. Dzerebkina, Introduction to gender studies: part 1, Xarkov, 2001
17. J. Lorber, S. Farrell, The social construction of gender, edited by, 1991, pp. 712
18. Judith Lorber, Gender. In: E.F.Borgatta and M.L.Borgatta (eds.). Encyclopedia
of Sociology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992, p.748–754.
19. Tracy E. Ore, The social construction of difference and inequality, California,
2000
20. C. Lemert and A. Branaman, Goffman Reader. Oxford, Blackwell Publ., 1997
21. Dana Berkowitz, Namita N. Manohar and Justine E., Walk Like a Man, Talk
Like a Woman: Teaching the Social Construction of Gender. Teaching
Sociology, Vol. 38, No. 2 (APRIL 2010), pp. 132-143
22. Isabella Crespi, SOCIALIZATION AND GENDER ROLES WITHIN THE
FAMILY: A STUDY ON ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR PARENTS IN
GREAT BRITAIN (http://www.mariecurie.org/annals/volume3/crespi.pdf)
23. Jivka Marinova (2003), Gender Stereotypes and the Socialization Process,
(http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/men-boys2003/EP3-Marinova.pdf)
9