Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3217: Feminist Political Theory

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

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:

Part I: Foundations of Feminist Political Theory

What is Patriarchy?

The Second Wave: Equality and Difference

The Third Wave: Identity Politics and Gender Identity

The Fourth Wave?: Intersectionality

Part II: Feminist Critiques of Liberalism

Relational Autonomy

The Social Contract and the Sexual Contract

Feminist Critiques of Capitalism

Human Rights and Women’s Rights

Part III: Alternative Feminist Politics

Naming Injustice and Identifying Privilege

Care Ethics and Emotional Labour

Re-Imagining Political Theory

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
44	256

...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 Activities	44	22 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	94	Preparing for seminars, reading, and research
Guided Independent Study	162	Completing assessment tasks: reading, research, and writing.

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

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:

Simone de Beauvoir (1949) The Second Sex

Iris Marion Young (1990) Justice and the Politics of Difference

Judith Butler (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

Nira Yuval-Davis (2015) The Politics of Belonging: Intersectional Contestations

Jennifer Nedelsky (2012) Law’s Relations: A Relational Theory of Self, Autonomy, and Law

Carol Pateman (1988) The Sexual Contract

Nancy Fraser (1997) Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the ‘Postsocialist’ Condition

Susan Moller Okin (1999) Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?

Miranda Fricker (2007) Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing

Virginia Held (2006) The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global

Saba Mahmood (2005) The Politics of Piety

Bell Hooks (2009) Belonging: A Culture of Place