Princeton University - Department of Sociology

Soc 225: Gender and Society

Prof. Sara Curran

"Gender relations constitute a coherent object of knowledge for critical social science. Such a scientific endeavor requires an ethical baseline empirically grounded in the situations under study. The baseline for analysis is social justice: the objective possibility of justice in gender relations. To adopt such an arbitrary value preference is not to separate that from the act of knowing. Rather, it is to acknowledge the inherently political character of our knowledge of femininity and masculinity." (From Connell, R.W. 1995. Masculinities Cambridge: Blackwell)

Syllabus	Readings and Written Assignments
Newsgroup / News	World Wide Web Related Resources
Course Requirements and Grading	Calendar
Precepts

Course Description

This course focuses on the many ways gender differences are created, diminished, and reinforced in society. We will look across settings and time. The important comparisons will be the life course (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) and different social settings (media and public discourse, schools, work, family, other countries, the policy arena, and the scientific academy). A variety of theoretical perspectives about sex and gender differences in society will be examined including socio-biological, micro and social psychological, and social structural. The course will highlight social science research methods and students will employ some of these in the written assignments for the class.

Precepts

Precept sessions will include both open and directed discussions of the reading material. Occasionally, we will have special discussions which will incorporate material from lectures and reading assignments, but which will not be specifically oriented to the readings.

Send a message to the class (to be announced)