Module SOCM030 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
SOCM030: Gender at Work
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to provide you with a thorough introduction to how theorizing about gender has developed over the past five decades. The focus is on how gender is constructed and performed in everyday life, in domestic and employment settings. The module will include detailed appraisal of a wide range of empirical research in order to demonstrate its utility in the development or testing of theoretical approaches. The module aims to encourage you to reflect on your own practices and experiences within a society structured and inscribed by gender.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate in writing and orally a thorough understanding of the key conceptual debates on gender and sexuality and their applicability to the structure of, and practices within, the domestic sphere, work and organizations 2. demonstrate in writing an appreciation of the contribution of different disciplinary perspectives to the understanding of the gendered nature of work 3. interpret your lived experience of the social world informed by an appreciation of gender as a socially constructed category and by engagement with the testimony of others with a range of subject positions |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. demonstrate in writing and orally a well-developed capacity to understand and evaluate theories and arguments in the social sciences 5. demonstrate in writing and orally an understanding of the role and importance of different forms of empirical work to explore the value of theories in the social sciences |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. write clearly, succinctly and persuasively for a general audience 7. work collaboratively, providing constructive feedback for a peer 8. present complex information to a small group of peers with confidence and clarity 9. develop an appreciation of potential use and misuse of social media to generate debate on gender inequalities |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Sex and gender: moving beyond binary oppositions; growing up gendered; doing and constructing gender; fertility and employment; deindustrialization and the decline of the male breadwinner; the gender division of labour (‘boys’ jobs’ and ‘girls’ jobs’); gender, organizations and bureaucracy; writing and performing gender; consumption and gender
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 278 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning and teaching time | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
Guided independent study | 8 | Individual preparation for presentation at seminar |
Guided independent study | 110 | Independent reading for seminars |
Guided independent study | 130 | Essay preparation |
Guided independent study in collaboration with peers | 30 | Blog writing and editing |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Exemplar blogs:
Prof Athene Donald’s blog
http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald/
LSE Impact blog
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/
University of Exeter
Humanities Blog
http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/humanities/
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Draft of blog post | 750 words | 6,7 | Written comments from peer |
Providing comments on a blog post | Detailed comments on 750 word blog | 7,9 | Oral feedback from peer |
Presentation to peers | 20 minute individual presentation | 1,4,5,8 | Written feedback from module leader |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blog writing and editing | 20 | 750 word blog post | 3,6,7,9 | Written |
Essay | 80 | 6,000 word essay | 1,2,4,5 | Written |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Blog Writing | Blog writing (750) | 3,6,9 | August/September reassessment period |
Essay | Essay (6,000 words) | 1,2,4,5 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
Connell, R.W (1995) Masculinities. Polity: Cambridge.
Crompton R. (1999) Restructuring gender Relations and Employment: The decline of the male breadwinner. Oxford: OUP.
Crow G. and Ellis J. (2017) Revisiting Divisions of Labour: The Impacts and Legacies of a Modern Sociological Classic. Manchester; Manchester University Press.
Glucksman M. (2016) Completing and Complementing: The Work of Consumers in the Division of Labour. Sociology, Vol 50(5) 878-895.
Halford, S. Savage, M. Witz, A. (1997) Gender, Careers and Organizations: Current developments in Banking Nursing, and Local Government. Macmillan: Houndmills.
McCarthy, H. (2016) ‘Social science and married women’s employment in post-war Britain’, Past & Present 233: 269-305
Miller, D. (1998) A Theory of Shopping. Polity press: Cambridge.
Oakley, A. (1974) Housewife. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Offer, A. (2008), ‘British Manual Workers: From Producers to Consumers, c.1950-2000’, Contemporary British History, 22, 4: 537-71
- Padios, J. (2017) Mining the mind: emotional extraction, productivity, and predictability in the twenty-first century. Cultural Studies 31 p 205-231.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2017.1303426
Scott, J. Dex, S. and Pagnol A (eds) (2012) Gendered Lives: Gender Inequalities in Production and reproduction. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Serano, J. (2016) Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Seal Press.
Siltanen J. (1994) Locating Gender: Occupational Segregation, Wages and Domestic Responsibilities. UCL Press: London.
West, C. and Zimmerman D.H. (1987) Doing Gender. Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No. 2. pp. 125-151
http://www.socresonline.org.uk/14/2/10.html: Crow et al short article revisiting Pahl’s work (2009) situated in the recession.