Comprehensive Examination in Gender
April 2015
Day # 2: Answer two of these two-hour questions
1.
Review sociological studies of men’s violence against women. Address the
following topics:
 The prevalence of men’s violence against women
 How race/ethnicity and class factor into men’s violence against women in the
United States.
 The major theories that explain men’s violence against women
 The major approaches to ending men’s violence against women
2.
R.W. Connell argues that all men enjoy a patriarchal dividend from hegemonic
masculinity. Explain her argument. Yet some men resist and reject hegemonic
masculinity, and join feminist movements instead. Review the history of men’s
involvement in feminism, providing examples wherever possible. What characteristics, if
any, are common to men who support feminism? Do race and cultural diversity, class,
and sexuality shape these processes? If so, explain why and how.
3.
In what ways is your own research on men who identify as feminists informed by
theories of masculinities? In your answer, reflect on the genealogy of theorization on
masculinities, and feminist driven research on men’s lives.
4.
Outline and examine the genealogy of feminist informed theorizing and research
on men's lives in sociology. In your essay, please explain the ways in which race relations
have been addressed in this literature. Also, given your critical engagement with these
contributions, reflect about the ways you could theorize social justice and change,
especially with regard to gender inequality.
5.
Feminist sociologists who theorize and/or conduct empirical research on men’s
lives suggest that their scholarship advances our understanding of gender inequality in
many ways. Pick one of the following topics and write a critical essay to explain the ways
in which feminist scholarship examining men’s lives has expanded the sociological
understanding of gender inequality:
(a) race, class, and masculinity
(b) men in feminist movements
(c) masculinity and violence against women
(d) heterosexuality, intimacy and relationships