SO248      Half Unit
Gender and Society

This information is for the 2024/25 session.

Teacher responsible

TBC

Availability

This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society and BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Course content

The course will explore the meaning of gender in contemporary society. It considers gendered relations of power and the articulation of gender with other kinds of social difference such as race, class and sexuality. A variety of theoretical perspectives will be applied to a number of substantive issues of contemporary concern.

Indicative topics are: gender and sexuality; masculinities; violence; gender and literature; representation; queer theory.

Teaching

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the WT, with a minimum of 1 hour in the ST.

Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in WT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

Formative coursework

Students will be expected to prepare one piece of formative assessment.

Indicative reading

S Benhabib et al, Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange, Routledge, 1995

S Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2017

C Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Durham Duke University Press, 2003

A Clarke and D Haraway (Eds.), Making Kin not Population, Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2018

A Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003

J Halberstam, Trans: A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2018

A Kafer, Feminist, Queer, Crip, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2013

C Thompson, Making Parents, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005

R Ray, J Carlson, A Andrews (Eds.), The Social Life of Gender, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017

A more detailed reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Assessment

Take-home assessment (80%) in the ST.
Presentation (20%) in the WT.

Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required

Key facts

Department: Sociology

Total students 2023/24: 27

Average class size 2023/24: 13

Capped 2023/24: Yes (34)

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Communication