Sociology and Women’s Studies 851: Gender in America
Spring 2013, Section 5
Tues-Thurs 11-12:20,Anderson 8
Prof. Judith Levine
215-204-7963
Graduate Teaching Assistant: Colin Hammar
215-204-7369
Prof. Levine’s Office Hours: Thursdays 3:30-5:00pmin Gladfelter 752 and by appt
Colin Hammar’s Office Hours: Mondays 11:00am-12:00pm and Thursdays 1:00-2:00pm in Gladfelter 746 and by appt
Course Description:
This course examines gender roles in contemporary United States society, occasionally using international examples for comparison. It reviews theories of the social construction of gender and how our culture attaches meaning to gender. It looks at the role of socialization in reproducing gender roles and how our own embodiment of gender influences interactions in our daily lives.
At the societal level, the course reviews the function gender plays in negotiating power and inequality in social institutions such as the family, work, policy, and media systems. Throughout the course, attention will be paid to the complex interaction between gender and race, ethnicity, and sexuality. The goals are to have students think critically about gender and the way gender is experienced in the society in which we live.
The Goals of the GenEd program and the U.S. Society course area:
Gender in America is part of the General Education (GenEd) program. GenEd intends to develop your ability to think, problem-solve and communicate effectively. GenEd courses are designed to help you understand how your professor’s field of study relates to important controversies, issues or themes, and/or how it is connected to other fields of study. The goal of the program overall is that you become active in the process of learning, not only absorbing facts, but finding, evaluating and using information to create new knowledge.
There are nine areas in GenEd, each with its own set of goals. This course fulfills the U.S. Society area of the program, and its specific goals are to help students:
· Access and analyze historical, analytical, and cultural materials;
· Develop observations and conclusions about gender in US society and culture;
· Construct interpretations using evidence and critical analysis;
· Communicate and defend interpretations; and
· Analyze the ways difference and heterogeneity have shaped the culture and society of the United States.
Course Website:
I have established a course website on Blackboard. You should all be enrolled on the site. If you are officially enrolled for the course but are not enrolled on the Blackboard site, please contact the tech center for help. This syllabus appears on the site. Should you need another copy of it, you can download it from the site. Many course readings, assignments, and other information will be posted on the Blackboard site. I will also use the site to post announcements. It is your responsibility to make sure you are up-to-date on the content of these announcements.
Readings:
Text
There is one required book for the course. I have ordered the book at the Temple main campus bookstore. Other sections of the course require different books, so make sure you buy the one for this section.
Required Book:
Arlie Hochschild with Anne Machung. 2003. The Second Shift. Penguin Books. (Note: There are several editions of this book. While it’s probably best to get this most recent one, it doesn’t really matter if you get an earlier one).
Articles, Book Chapters, and Other Readings
In addition to the book to be purchased, the reading list includes many required articles, book chapters, and other readings. Almost all of these readings will be posted on the Blackboard course web site. There may be a few readings that you will need to find online yourselves or in the library. While the basic structure of the reading schedule appears below, I occasionally may add (or exchange) readings as they become pertinent to class discussion and interest.
Course Requirements and Evaluation:
NOTE: For certain assignments (such as the Gender and Commerce paper), we will request that they BOTH be turned in on paper in class AND posted on Blackboard. We will announce those required for posting on Blackboard in class.
Course assignments are designed to allow you to think critically about the course material.
Your grade will be calculated based on the following components worth the number of points listed:
Class Participation (which assumes attendance) 10
In-class exercises/reaction papers 16 (2 points each)
Gendered Commerce Paper 15
Midterm Exam 20
Gender and Politics Essay 19
Final Exam 20
TOTAL POINTS100
Points correspond to letter grades as follows:
95-100 = A74-76.9 = C
92-94.9 = A-70-73.9 = C-
88-91.9 = B+67-69.9 = D+
84-87.9 = B64-66.9 = D
80-83.9 = B-60-63.9 = D-
77-79.9 = C+Under 60 = F
Exams (20% midterm, 20% final)
There will be two exams for this class: a midterm and a final exam. The examination structure will consist of a mix of question types (such as multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false, short answer, and essay) covering class material including readings, material presented in class, and discussion. The final will focus on the material from the midterm until the end of the course but will also include general material from the first half of the course. It is likely impossible to pass the course if you miss either of the exams.
Gendered Commerce Paper(15%)
The first three weeks of the course present various theories about how gender is constructed in American culture. This assignment is designed to have you address these theoretical perspectives by analyzing how gender is represented and reproduced in American consumer culture. You are to visit a store which sells products for both women and men or girls and boys (good possibilities include stores such as Target, Disney, toy stores, department stores, and clothing stores). If it is very difficult for you to visit such a store, you may visit an online store. Doing so, however, makes the assignment a little harder because you cannot see how the products are displayed. In an approximately 3 page paper, you should address the following questions drawing from both the class readings (as many as are relevant) and from your own observations.
1)Is the nature of the products and the marketing/display of them gendered? How so?
2)What theoretical perspectives on gender from class readings and discussion help you understand the gendering of the products and marketing? Please summarize them.
3)How do the theoretical perspectives from the readings inform (or fail to inform) the gendered nature of products?
4)How might these products, and the marketing of them, reproduce gender roles in the U.S.?
Gender and Politics Essay (19%)
Both the 2008 and 2012 national elections in the U.S. featured women in major roles. In 2008, we had our first female presidential candidate, a female vice-presidential candidate, and a visible potential (during the campaign) first lady. In 2012, we had a relatively large number of women running for (and winning) seats in Congress. Several issues relating to gender and sexuality were also prominent in campaign discussions. Contraception, abortion, reproductive health care, sexual violence, and gender inequity in the labor market all appeared as key issues in political discussions. Using online search engines, find four (or more) online sources that covered one (or more) of these women or issues in the political sphere. Two of these sources must be newspaper articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, or a similar national paper. Use the Hammett criteria at the end of this syllabus to evaluate the quality of your sources. Turn in the link for the articles as well as a 3-4 page essay on the gendered nature of politics in the U.S. In your analysis, you should draw not only on the online sources you find but also on all class readings that are relevant to the points you make about how gender operates in politics. A successful essay requires the use of class readings.
As more information has become available online, it has become increasingly important to learn how to use search engines and electronic resources as well as how to evaluate the quality of the information found. This exercise is designed to help promote these skills.
Class Preparation and Class Participation (which assumes attendance) (10%)
You are expected to do all of the reading on time and be prepared to discuss it in class. This means setting aside an average of about three hours for class preparation for every class period, as is true of most classes. Reading the material carefully before class is important to your overall success in various ways. We will not cover all the material in all the readings in class. Having the background of the readings will make the class discussion more meaningful and more comprehensible. It will also enable you to contribute to discussion and answer questions in ways that enhance your participation grade. In addition, sometimes in class we will do small group work or in-class writing that presupposes that you have read the assignment. Finally, it will be hard to do well on the exams if you do not keep up with the readings.
In-Class Exercises and Reaction Papers (16%)
To help you stay on top of the reading and focus in on its meaning (which will prepare you to participate in class and also help you do well on exams), there will be a combination of short reaction papers, in-class exercises, and in-class quizzes. There will be a total of 10 of these types of exercises during the course of the semester. Since the main point of the exercises is to help you be prepared for class NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED and there are NO MAKE-UPS FOR ANY IN-CLASS EXERCISES/QUIZZES. However, we understand that sometimes illness or other emergencies come up. Thus, you can miss a total of TWO of these exercises. This means that we will drop your two lowest grades for these types of exercises (but not for the other kinds of assignments in the course.) If you miss two exercises, we will drop the zeros assigned for those. If you miss one, we will drop that zero as well as your lowest grade on another one. If you do not miss any, we will drop your two lowest grades. (Again, this only applies to these exercises and not to the other assignments/exams in the course). This policy saves us all from having to discuss whether absences are legitimate or not – there is no penalty for two absences on assignment days, after that, there is a grade penalty (2 percentage points per assignment) regardless of the reason for the absence. If you are absent, you are still responsible to find out from a classmate or the TA what you missed that day. If you attend regularly and stay up on the reading, these exercises will help your grade because they are an easy way to get points.
Three times in the semester, the exercise is a reaction paper that you write at home and bring to class. The due dates for these are shown on the syllabus below.
For each paper, you are to write what you think the main point of each of that week’s readings is and whether you think the author supports his/her point adequately and why or why not you think so. Instructions for the remaining seven in-class exercises will be given in class.
Contacting Me:
If you need to reach me outside of class time, please email me or call my office phone number. You will likely find it easier to reach me through email than phone. I will check email regularly, but given teaching, departmental and research responsibilities, I unfortunately cannot be routinely on email (or by the phone). So, please be patient if it takes a day or two for me to respond to you (although I will try to respond as soon as possible). I do not check email on weekends.
Course Policies:
Policy on Cell Phones, Recording Devices, Etc.
Cell phones, pagers, beepers, and all similar devicesmust be turned off during class except with special permission from me. Please do NOT text in class – this is a special pet peeve of mine since it is incredibly distracting for some reason. Also, audio or video recording of the class is strictly forbidden unless I have granted permission to do so.
Disability Statement
Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Also please contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex. They are assigned with coordinating reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Statement on Academic Freedom
Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link:
Course Preparation
This class meets 3 hours a week. Students can expect approximately 6 hours of preparation (reading, reflecting, preparing written assignments, reviewing notes, etc.) per week, although this preparation time may vary from week to week (for example, weeks in which assignments are due require more preparation time).
Note carefully the dates for assignments and examinations listed on this syllabus. It is impossible to do well in the class if you miss an assignment (other than the two excused exercises). Late papers and assignments will be penalized. Late reaction papers and missed class exercises will be given zeros.
Policy on Religious Holidays
If you will be observing any religious holidays this semester which will prevent you from attending a regularly scheduled class or interfere with fulfilling any course requirement, please contact me to make appropriate arrangements within two weeks of the beginning of the semester (or three days before any holidays which fall within the first two weeks of class).
Attendance Policy
Regular attendance will be necessary in order to achieve a good participation grade and in order to earn the points for in-class exercises for which there are no make-ups. In addition, lectures will cover material not in the readings and this material will be covered in exams.
Policy on Academic Honesty
The section in italics is quoted verbatim from the Temple University Bulletin for 2006-2007.
Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism and academic cheating are, therefore, prohibited. Essential to intellectual growth is the development of independent thought and a respect for the thoughts of others. The prohibition against plagiarism and cheating is intended to foster this independence and respect.
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's words, another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses -- papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations -- is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources -- journals, books, or other media -- these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources -- suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language -- must be cited. Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide Web is plagiarism.
Academic cheating is, generally, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person.
Students must assume that all graded assignmentsand tests are to be completed individually with the exception of a handful of in-class group exercises. I reserve the right to refer any cases of suspected plagiarism or cheating to the University Disciplinary Committee; I also reserve the right to assign a grade of "F" for the given assignment and for the course.
Seeking and receiving appropriate help from The Writing Center is not plagiarism, and I encourage you to do so.
Controversial Subject Matter
In this class we will be discussing subject matter that some students may consider controversial. Some students may find some of the readings and/or comments in class very challenging. Our purpose in this class is to explore this subject matter deeply and consider multiple perspectives and arguments. Students are expected to listen to the instructor and to one another respectfully, but of course are free to disagree, respectfully, with views expressed. Students should also be sensitive in the way they express their opinions given the sensitive nature of the topics discussed.