Gender and Society
Soc 275 or WS 275: Spring 2014
PROFESSOR: June Ellestad
Office: Social Science 315
PHONE: 207-6111
Email: june.ellestad@umontana.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Monday: 2 – 3:00; Wed. 2– 2:30; Friday 2 – 3:00 & By Appointment
PRECEPTOR: Trisha Christensen(trisha.christensen@umconnect.umt.edu) Office hours to be announced.
Emails: I hate emails. I will answer emails Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 – 10:15.
DO NOT expect responses to emails any other time.
ROLE OF LEARNER & INSTRUCTOR: I do not see myself as the teacher of this course and you as the
students. We are, each of us, both. As the instructor in this course, it is my job to serve as a guide to your learning. Your
job is to do the reading, thinking, and doing required to actively engage in your own learning. In my role as guide I will, to
the extent possible, avoid lecturing. This requires that each of you come to class prepared (i.e., having done the reading and
thinking prior to class) and that you engage in discussion of the text and lecture material and your own experiences with
assigned exercises. All of this will require that you be present in all senses of that word.
I am expecting the collective wisdom we bring to this adventure to result in lively, active learning.
Warning: While certain elements, such as due dates, might change during the semester, the emphasis on your
preparation and participation will not! If you stay enrolled in the class I will take that to mean you’ve agreed to this
format.
BASIC ASSUMPTION HELD BY PROFESSOR: You may have heard this before but it does not hurt to repeat
some things. I am going to assume you are all literate. If you are not literate please see me after the first class. You need to
get help with your reading now rather than later. Everyone else, because you are literate I see no need to regurgitate the
information in the text. I will assume you understand the readings unless you ask questions. Therefore, if you don’t
understand some point in the text bring questions to class1.
COURSE GOALS:
Practice using the sociological perspective2. This course will provide you with the opportunity to increase your
sociological awareness of the social world, particularly as it relates to the topic of gender. It is hoped that the
discussions, readings, and assignments will help you handle the personal and social consequences of gender in the
everyday world. In particular, the course will provide opportunities to see that “the content of your individual
choices matter—for reproducing or challenging inequality” matter (Kleinman, Copp, and Sandstrom 2006:127) and
that you are not in complete control of your destiny.
Become aware of “gender” in everyday life: One objective of this class is that everyone become more aware of how
our society is gendered and further how aspects of this gendering such as norms, values, patterns of opportunities
affect all our lives. Hopefully, the readings, assignments, and class discussions will challenge you to evaluate your
own experiences as gendered participants in a gendered world.
Gain a basic understanding of the theoretical explanations of gender: Because the course will cover a variety of
sociological theories on the subject of gender it does assume some familiarity with sociology and sociological
concepts.3 Thus, it is expected you will be able to understand sociological concepts and theories such as
socialization, social constructionist theory, symbolic interactionism, and critical theory.
REQUIRED READING:
Kimmel, Michael S. 2011. The Gendered Society, 4th edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Posted readings and other short readings likely will be assigned throughout the semester.
1
Please have questions ready for the first part of each class.
Taking the sociological perspective is not easy. As Takas (2003:207) explained “few things are more difficult
than seeing outside the bounds of our own perspective. To do so we must identify assumptions we take as universal
truths but which, instead, have been crafted by our own unique identity and experiences in the world.”
3
Those students who do not have a rudimentary knowledge of sociological concepts and theory are advised
to purchase a sociology dictionary.
2
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS.
PREPARED FOR CLASS (i.e. do the reading). I have planned this class to include some lectures, a few videos, and a few in
class exercises. However, much of the in class time will be devoted to CLASS DISCUSSIONS. For class discussions to be
productive and for them to facilitate the learning process everyone must have completed the reading. Therefore, the first
requirement for this class is that everyone reads the assignments BEFORE class.
Requirements
Attendance
Quizzes
Tests
Photo Essay: My Gendered World.
Total Points
Points
20%
30%
30%
20%
100%
Grades will be based on the 90% & above an A; 80% to 89% a B; 70% to 79% a C; 60 to 69% a D, and anything below a
60% an F scale.
Attendance: Attendance is required in a discussion class. If you tend to miss class this might not be the course for you.
The penalties for each missed class is substantial. Your attendance grade will be reduced by 10% if you miss 3 days, 15%
if you miss 4 days, and 45% if you miss 5. If you miss more than 5 days your attendance points will be a 0 (zero). If you
have university excused absences you MUST use the 3 freebie days. If you will miss more than 3 days for university
excused absences you might want to consider taking a lecture course.
Quizzes: Because class discussion requires advance preparation and because I know how easy it is to put off doing the
readings for a couple days we will have many, many unannounced quizzes over the textbook, presentations, lectures,
discussions, and videos. The quizzes are meant to encourage everyone to keep current on their readings and to think about
the ideas in the reading and those covered in class. Expect a quiz almost every day.
There are no make quizzes. Everyone can drop their lowest quiz score.
TESTS: The tests will consist of multiple choice questions. Please note: the tests will cover the readings and class
discussions. We cannot cover all the assigned readings in class. I assume everyone can read so if you don’t ask
questions I assume you understand the material.
PYRAMIND TESTS: I have always thought of test days as wasted days because students spend the full class time
working but seldom are they learning. This is because the traditional testing method is an attempt to evaluate the amount of
learning (i.e., studying prior to the test). Other testing methods (e.g., pyramid and cooperative tests) are designed to do
both- evaluate learning prior to the test and provide students with a learning opportunity. Additionally, research (e.g.,
Slusser and Erikson 2006, Zimbardo, Butler, and Wolfe 2003) suggests that cooperative test taking increases long term
retention, reduces test anxiety, and adds to students’ ability to think abstractly. Thus, the tests in this course will be “twostage cooperative tests” (Zipp 2007).
HOW PYRAMID TESTING WILL WORK. Everyone will take each the test twice. During the first 20-25 minutes
everyone takes the test by themselves. They will write the answers on their test and on their individual answer sheet. The
individual answer sheets will be turned in and then the learning groups will get together to retake the test. Using the exact
test taken in the first part of the class the students will discuss and try to come up with the correct answers. During the
discussion each student will complete a new answer sheet (group influenced answer sheet). At the end of the class time I
will read the answers so the groups can compare their answers to the test manual answers.
GRADING THE PYRAMID TESTS. Your test grade will be the grade on your individual answer sheet plus half the
difference between the group average (based on the group’s individual scores) and the group average of the group
influenced scores. To see how this works lets imagine that there were six people in Group X. They got the following grades
on their individual answer sheets: 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, and 40. The average of these individual scores is 65. The group
members got the following grades on their group influenced answer sheets: 89, 90, 80, 87, 85, and 79. The average of these
scores is 85. This means that every member of Group X would get 10 extra points on this exam [85 (the group influenced
average) – 65(the average individual score within the group) divided by 2] raising their scores to 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, and 50.
Photo Essay: Presentation of a visual essay titled “My Gendered World:…” in a poster presentation. The final project
asks you to examine how your life is gendered. The purpose of the exercise is to use the sociological imagination to
examine your social world. This visual exercise should tell a story. PORNOGRAPHY must be ABSENT from the story.
Imagine your grandparents are your audience. Honestly examine some aspect of your social world without presenting any
“very private” information.
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MISCELLANEOUS IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
Academic Integrity & Misconduct: Plagiarism or cheating of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in failing
the course. In addition to failing the course it is possible there will be other disciplinary action as I will report the
incident.
CHEATING: The penalty for cheating in this class is an F. If you do cheat and I catch you, you and I will find it a very
unpleasant experience. I have caught cheaters before so I know how unpleasant it is. Please take my word for it and do not
cheat. Note: Plagiarism is cheating. If you have any questions regarding plagiarism please ask. Ignorance is not an excuse.
All students must practice academic honesty “Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course
instructor and/or disciplinary sanction by the University.” All students need to be familiar with the Student Conduct Code;
the code is available for review online at: http://ordway.umt.edu/SA/documents/fromWeb/StudentConductCode1.pdf. In this
class, all cheating – that I catch—results in a course grade of an F.
Whenever you use material from someone else, it is important to document your source. In other words, it is important to
give credit for the sources of your ideas. This is true if you take a direct quote, paraphrase it, or even if you simply
borrow an idea. If you do not carefully document your sources, you are committing plagiarism - that is, to put it simply, you are stealing words or ideas from someone else and failing to give them proper credit. For further information on
plagiarism please see the following links.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/files/plagiarism.pdf
ACADEMIC ETIQUETTE: Class begins on time. Please resist the temptation to begin packing up before the end of class. If
you must leave early please let me know before class and cause as little disruption as possible when you leave. Academic
etiquette also includes treating all class members with respect and resisting the desire to have private conversations with the
people sitting near you. Even whispering is distracting to others, including the instructor.
It is also distracting when students carry on private conversations on a cell phone, use their headphones, read the
paper, or text. Cell phones, palm pilots, and music listening devices (IPods, etc.) must be left in your bags NOT ON THE
TABLE AND NOT IN YOUR LAP in front of you. To date I have been unable to deter students’ texting. Thus I decided to
adopt a rigid and punitive policy. The following policy is based on Dr. Carmen Lugo Lugo’s (WSU) syllabi.
Cellular Phones and other Communication/Electronic Devices: Turn your cell phones and communication devices
off before coming to class (that includes laptop computers—even if your computer lacks an internet connection,
blackberries and any other electronic device utilized to communicate with the world outside our classroom). Of
course, iPods and other gadgets used for entertainment are also prohibited. The world can survive without
getting a hold of you during a class. And you will also survive without knowing what’s going on outside the
classroom for a few minutes. Trust me, it will be ok. If, for a reason you forget to neutralize your communication
device, and it does go off during class please turn it off immediately. Note: If I catch you “texting” during class,
you will be required to stand up and share with your classmates why you were texting and who you were
texting. You will be counted as absent each time I catch you texting.
COURSE OUTLINE
The schedule is TENTATIVE and SUBJECT TO CHANGE. If there are any changes they will be announced in
class. It is your responsibility to be in class to hear about the changes.
Week
Week 1
1/27- 1/31
Week 2
2/3-2/7
Week 32/10-2/14
Topic & Important Dates
Reading
What is sociology
What is a mean? a variance?
Biological Explanations & Ideologies
Gender Theories from Psychology
Video & Discussion of Cross Cultural
Research
Syllabus
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Wires in the Birdcage
Talking about patriarchy is not male bashing.
Language
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Chapter 3: Spanning the World
Posted Lorbers “Believing is Seeing: Biology as
Ideology.”
Posted: Testosterone Article
Chapter 4: Psychoanalytic & Developmental
Posted: Frye. “Oppression.”
Posted: Johnson. “Patriarchy, The System ….”
Posted: Hofesteader
Week 42/19-2/21
Week 52/24-2/28
Week 6
3/03-3/07
Week 7
03/10-3/14
Week 8
3/17-3/21
Week 9
3/24-3/28
3/31-4/04
Week 10
4/07-4/11
Week 11
4/14-4/18
Week 12
4/21-4/25
Week 13
4/28-5/02
Doing Gender
Chapter 5: Social Construction of Gender
Posted: reading on Doing Gender
Family
Chapter 6: The Gendered Family
School
Friday, March 7th Test #1
Family & Work
Chapter 7: Gendered Classroom
Media
Chapter 10: The Gendered Media
Gendered Bodies
Chapter 12: Gendered Bodies
Chapter 9: Gendered World of Work.
Spring Break: Enjoy
Friendships and Love
Chapter 11: Friendship and Love
Gendered Violence
Chapter 12: The Gender of Violence
Posted Reading: Boswell and Spade
Extra Readings To be announced readings
Also go back to related sections in text.
Chapter 12: The Gender of Violence
Posted Reading: Boswell and Spade
Extra Readings To be announced readings
Photo Essay Presentations
Gendered Violence – continued
Friday, April 25th Test #2
Photo Essays
Attendance Required
Week 14
5/05-5/09
Photo Essays
Attendance Required
Finals Week
5/12-5/16
No final
Photo Essay Presentations
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