SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER性别社会学

SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER性别社会学

SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER

Written Preliminary Examination

January 2007

Morning Exam

The morning questions will focus on theory and method, while the afternoon questions will focus on three analytic levels: macro, meso and micro.

TWO QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED IN THE MORNING EXAM. ALL OF

THE QUESTIONS ALLOW FOR SOME CHOICE, SO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS

BEFORE EACH QUESTION CAREFULLY.

1. THEORY: ANSWER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING (A, B OR C):

A. From the earliest assertions that “the personal is political,” feminist social theory has sought to problematize the boundaries between public and private. Choose one study that challenges the public/private distinction as it currently organizes our discussion of family, state policy or public life, and review its arguments. Do you agree or disagree with these arguments? How do you understand this conceptual boundary and its operations?

B. Is “gender” itself a western concept?

(a) What about gender, if anything, is global?Why might “first world” feminists’ cate gories be, or not be, the right ones to use for discussing gendered oppression elsewhere? (b) Use two contrasting examples to show how third world feminists have interpreted what might

look to western eyes like “gender” or “gender oppression” in similar or different terms. (c) What do you see as the direction in which gender theory should go to be appropriately global?

C. Feminist researchers have sought new ways of conceptualizing power that would account for its pervasive and mundane qualities, its extension into family and household and into the routines of daily life. Describe briefly the work of at least two researchers who have attempted such a revision of theories of power. What are their innovations? How has their work relied on, or differed from, the work of Michel Foucault? What are some of the key differences between these feminist approaches and Foucault’s work?

GenderPage 2

January 2007Morning

2. METHODS: AGAIN, PLEASE ANSWER JUST ONE QUESTION FROM THE

FOLLOWING (A, B OR C):

A. How do you reconcile the theoretical demands of many feminists

for studying gender from a structural perspective with the tendency of many feminist researchers to adopt qualitative methods? First indicate why both structural theories and qualitative methods are often favored, then indicate some of the advantages and conflicts in trying to combine the two. Finally, explain and justify your own perspective on the feminist version of the quantitative-qualitative debate.

B. Imagine you are invited to present a guest lecture to new graduate students. (a) Choose a recent sociological study that you