Requirements & Modules
HSUHK | CCCO

GEN2027 Gender, Culture and Society

Common Core Curriculum Office (CCCO) > GEN2027 Gender, Culture and Society
Department
Social Science
Semester
AY2013/14 Sem 2, AY2014/15 Sem 2, AY2015/16 Sem 2, AY2016/17 Sem 1, AY2016/17 Sem 2, AY2017/18 Sem 2, AY2018/19 Sem 1, AY2018/19 Sem 2, AY2019/20 Sem 1, AY2020/21 Sem 1, AY2021/22 Sem 1, AY2021/22 Sem 2, AY2022/23 Sem 1, AY2022/23 Sem 2, AY2023/24 Sem 1, AY2024/25 Sem 1
Method
Lecture 3 hours
Cluster
2 (Social Sciences)

Prerequisite

GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education, except with the permission of the Module Coordinator

Exclusion

Nil

Module Description

This module is designed to introduce a sociological study of gender and examine why it remains central in understanding the social relations of contemporary life. It examines how different institutions of family, labor market, mass media and government become the pivotal sites for the interaction, reproduction, and changes in gender roles. It also investigates how gender is interconnected with other social systems of domination such as sexuality, age, class, race and ethnicity. The module combines theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of gender.

Module Intended Learning Outcomes (MILO)

Upon completion of this module, students should be able to: 
a. recognise and examine the ways in which gender structures our culture and society today. 
b. explore the ways in which systems of power, privilege, and oppression shape our gendered experiences as individuals and members of communities.
c. explain and evaluate the ways in which our lived experiences and social institutions are structured through the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality and culture.

Module Content

1. Defining gender

1.1 Understanding gender, culture and society
1.2 The social construction of sex, gender and sexuality
1.3 Feminist perspectives: The interaction of gender and inequality and feminist social movements

2. Doing gender

2.1 Family, reproduction and intimate relationship
2.2 Family transitions
2.3 Media and consumption

3. Gender and power

3.1 Gender, work and leisure
3.2 Gender and sex work
3.3 Gender and migration

Assessment Methods

1. Class participation (5%)
2. Group presentation (15%)
3. Test (30%)
4. Individual Essay (50%)

Texts & References

  1. Connell, R. (1995). Masculinities. St. Leonards, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin.
  2. Dines, G and Humez, M. J. (2015). Gender, race, and class in media: a critical reader. Los Angeles: SAGE
  3. Grusky, B. D. and Szelenyi, S. (2011). The inequality reader: contemporary and foundational readings in race, class, and gender, 2nd Ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
  4. Hochschild, A. and A. Machung. (2012.) The second shift: Working families and the revolution at home. New York: Penguin Putnam.
  5. Kam, L. (2013). Shanghai Lalas: Female Tongzhi Communities and Politics in Urban China (Queer Asia). Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press.6.
  6. Kimmel, M. (2016). The gendered society, 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
  7. Ko, D., & Zhang, W. (eds.) (2007). Translating Feminisms in China. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
  8. Marchbank, J. and Gayle, L. (2007). Introduction to Gender: Social Science Perspectives. Harlow: Pearson.
  9. Nehring, D. (2013). Sociology: An Introductory Textbook and Reader, Harlow: Pearson.
  10. Ore, T. E. (Ed.) (2019). The Social Construction of Difference: Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality, 7th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  11. Rahman, M. & Jackson, S. (2010), Gender and Sexuality: Sociological Approaches. Cambridge: Polity Press
  12. Ryle, R. (2020). Question Gender: A Sociological Exploration, 4th ed. LA: Sage Publications
  13. Seidman, S., Fischer, N. and Meeks, C. (2011) (Eds). Introducing the New Sexuality Studies, 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge
  14. Shaw, S.M., & Lee, S. (2015). Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings., 6th ed., New York: McGraw Hill Education
  15. Wood, J. T. and Oraiz N. F. (2019). Gendered Lives: Communication Gender and Culture, 13th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning
  16. Whelehan, I. (2004). 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies. London: Sage
  17. K. McGann (2016). Sage Readings for Introductory Sociology. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Journal Articles:

  1. Ngan, L. L. S. and Chan, A. K. W. (2023). Gender equality or just more involved fathering? A critical examination of the division of childcare in Hong Kongʼs professional middle-class families. Community, Work & Family, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2023.2207718.
  2. McGill, B. S. (2014). Navigating new norms of involved fatherhood: Employment, fathering attitudes, and father involvement. Journal of Family Issues, 35(8), 1089–1106.