Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SOC2039: Sociology of Family and Gender

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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 themes:

Families in the 21^st century: An overview of recent trends in post-industrialized societies
Theories of gender in the context of the family institution
Social and political aspects of reproductive behaviour
Women’s education and fertility: A dynamic relationship
Family policy and the opportunity costs of children
‘Doing gender’ and the division of paid and unpaid labour
Who cares? Social aspects of care work
Trends in assortative mating and union formation
Union stability and the gendered division of labour
Gender perspectives of union dissolution
The relationship between gender equality and family dynamics

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	128

...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 activity	22	Weekly 2 hour lectures where we go over topics and materials
Guided independent study	48	Reading and preparing for seminars (around 4-6 hours per week);
Guided independent study	80	Study tasks directed by the module leader: e.g. 25 hours for essay, 15 hours for presentation, 40 hours for the final exam

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:

Esping-Andersen, G. (2009). The Incomplete Revolution: Adapting to Women’s New Roles. Cambridge: Polity.

Esping-Andersen, G. and Billari, F. C. (2015). Re-theorizing family demographics. Population and Development Review, 41(1): 1-31.

McDonald, P. (2013). Societal foundations for explaining low fertility: Gender equity. Demographic Research, 28(34): 981-994.

Hochschild, A. R. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. London: Piatkus.

Hochschild, A. R. (2000). Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value, in Giddens, T. and Hutton, W. (Eds.). On the Edge: Globalization and the New Millennium, London: Sage Publishers, pp. 130-146.

Gornick, J. C. and Meyers, M. K. (Eds.) (2009). Gender Equality, Transforming Family Division of Labour. London: Verso.

Ellingsaeter, A L. (2010). Feminist politics and feminist conflicts: Daddy’s care or mother’s milk? In Scott, J., Crompton, R. and Lyonette, C. (Eds.) Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century: New Barriers and Continuing Constraints. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

De Laat, J. and Sevilla-Sanz, A. (2011). The fertility and women's labor force participation puzzle in OECD countries: The role of men's home production. Feminist Economics, 17(2): 87-119.

Hobson, B. and Olah, L. S. (2006). Birthstrikes? Agency and capabilities in the reconciliation of employment and family. Marriage & Family Review, 39: 197-227.

Kravdal, O. and Rindfuss, R. R. (2008). Changing relationships between education and fertility: A study of women and men born 1940 to 1964. American Sociological Review, 73: 854-873.

Torr, B. M. and Short, S. E. (2004). Second births and the second shift: A research note on gender equity and fertility. Population and Development Review, 30(1): 109-130.

Oppenheimer, V. K. (2003). Cohabiting and marriage during young men’s career-development process. Demography, 40(1): 127-149.

Kalmijn, M. (2011). The influence of men’s income and employment on marriage and cohabitation: Testing Oppenheimer’s theory in Europe. European Journal of Population, 27: 269-293.

Lewis, J., Knijn, T., Martin, C. and Ostner, I. (2008). Patterns of development in work/family reconciliation
policies for parents in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK in the 2000s. Social Politics, 15(3): 261-286.

Blossfeld, H. –P. Müller, R. (2002). Union disruption in comparative perspective: the role of assortative partner choice and careers of couples. International Journal of Sociology, 32(4): 3-35.

Härkönen, J. and Dronkers, J. (2006). Stability and change in the educational gradient of divorce: A comparison of seventeen countries. European Sociological Review, 22(5): 501–517.