300837 Introduction to Selected Classical Feminist Readings (30-M26) (S) (SoSe 2024)

Everyday conversations, media representations, and the division of labor in the family, among many other examples in our lives, are gendered. Gender, and heteronormativity, determines one's position in society, collaborating with other social categories such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., in the stratified structure of society. This course addresses the social construction of gender and sexuality, offering an overview of feminist gender sociology based on selected classical readings (such as from Adrienne Rich, Judith Butler, Barbara Risman, etc.). It investigates the relationship between society and gender by examining macro and micro processes. Additionally, the course being in English provides the benefit of reading the original sources in the field.

The following questions will guide us throughout the course:

How are gender and sexuality socially constructed?
How do sexuality and gender operate in macrostructures, such as in the context of labor, politics, or culture? For example, how do gender inequalities manifest in society, and what is the relationship between culture and gender?
How do we learn and reproduce gender and sexuality in our daily lives? What does it mean to be gendered in social institutions such as family and work, and what is the gendered form of social interactions?

By the end of the course, participants should be able to think critically about gender and analyze social processes from a gender sociological perspective.