The Sociology of Gender

Catalog description

What does it mean to be a “real man” or a “real woman” in the contemporary United States? How does that meaning vary across societies or historical eras? How are masculinities and femininities shaped by social factors such as race/ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation? Gender plays and important part of our lives as individuals, but also structures life within U.S. society and throughout the world. This course will focus on gender socialization, practices, and inequalities in the United States and globally. Specifically, we will examine the influence of gender in interpersonal relationships, at work, in education, in families, and in other areas of social life.