GV4H3 Half Unit
Feminist Political Theory
This information is for the 2014/15 session.
Teacher responsible
Prof Anne Phillips Con 5.07
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities and MSc in Political Theory. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
This course is capped at 2 groups. The deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, 10 October 2014.
Course content
This course covers some of the central debates in contemporary feminist political theory, with a particular emphasis on the legacy and usefulness of liberalism. The course focuses on debates and differences within feminist political theory, rather than justifications for, or defences of, feminist political theory. Among the problems raised are conceptions of the individual and individual autonomy; the relative invisibility of gender issues in mainstream literature on justice and equality; the tendency to conceive of equality in sex-blind terms; the tendency to presume a universally applicable set of norms. We consider the theoretical debates in relation to a number of contemporary political issues. Topics likely to be addressed include: feminism and contract, individualism and autonomy, identity politics, equality and the politics of difference, surrogacy, multiculturalism, and universalism.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT.
Formative coursework
Students will be required to submit a short essay, roughly 1,500 words, by week 6 of the course. Students will be given a list of questions to choose from, and should choose a topic other than the one they choose for their final assessment.
Indicative reading
Most of the material is in the form of articles, and a detailed list will be handed out at the beginning of the course. The following is only an indicative list: J Squires, Gender in Political Theory; C Pateman The Sexual Contract; I M Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference; W Brown, States of Injury; A Phillips Multiculturalism without Culture; C MacKenzie and N Stoljar (eds) Relational Autonomy.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 4000 words) in the LT.
Student performance results
(2010/11 - 2012/13 combined)
Classification | % of students |
---|---|
Distinction | 18.9 |
Merit | 59.5 |
Pass | 21.6 |
Fail | 0 |
Teachers' comment
Key facts
Department: Government
Total students 2013/14: Unavailable
Average class size 2013/14: Unavailable
Controlled access 2013/14: No
Lecture capture used 2013/14: No
Value: Half Unit
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
Course survey results
(2010/11 - 2012/13 combined)
1 = "best" score, 5 = "worst" scoreThe scores below are average responses.
Response rate: 81.1%
Question |
Average | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reading list (Q2.1) |
1.2 | ||||||
Materials (Q2.3) |
1.4 | ||||||
Course satisfied (Q2.4) |
1.2 | ||||||
Lectures (Q2.5) |
1.2 | ||||||
Integration (Q2.6) |
1.2 | ||||||
Contact (Q2.7) |
1.6 | ||||||
Feedback (Q2.8) |
1.8 | ||||||
Recommend (Q2.9) |
|
This course typically recruits students from both the MSc Political Theory programme and MSc Gender programmes; this provides a good mix of expertise from mainstream and feminist theory.