Order Description

Section A:
Write an essay response to any TWO of the following terms/concepts. Define the concept in your own words, in order to demonstrate comprehension; discuss how the term is used in feminist sociology; identify the contributions that it makes to feminist theorizing; and conclude with comments on any aspect of the concept itself or debates it has inspired. Each essay should be about 500 words.

-gender essentialism
-epistemic privilege
-heterosexual matrix
-hegemonic masculinity
-double consciousness
Section B:
Write an essay response to ONE of the following questions. Your essay should be about 1000 words. It is worth 30% of your grade for this Exam. Please double-space your essay.
2A What makes feminist sociology a distinct approach to sociology? Illustrate your answer by drawing on assigned readings. Is theorizing a gendered practice? Why or why not?
2B What is ‘transnational feminism’? What issues does it bring to feminist theorizing? What analytical ‘tools’ discussed in our seminar might be useful? What does the emergence of transnational feminism tell us about the operation of power?
2C ‘Masculinity’ has been the unspoken ‘other’ of feminist theorizing. What would make a study of ‘masculinity’ feminist? Can such a theory draw on the analytical ‘tools’ discussed in our seminar? How? Or, why not?
Section C:
Write an essay response to ONE of the following questions. Your essay should be about 2000 words. It is worth 40% of your grade for this Exam. Please double-space your essay.
3A As a social ‘science’, sociologists typically take ‘experience’ for granted. How does feminist theorizing both draw on and destabilize the obviousness of ‘experience’? What kinds of issues have emerged for feminist sociologists when ‘experience’ is theoretically interrogated?
3B Dorothy Smith has developed what she calls a ‘sociology for people’ to replace sociology about people. Describe her sociology: what is her goal, how does her approach meet that goal, how does her approach to ‘doing’ sociology contrast to conventional approaches? Wht kinds of challenges does her approach raise?
3C A number of feminists have argued that identity categories (specifically, ‘woman’ and ‘gender’) are no longer useful for feminist theorizing. What arguments have been made in favour of this position? What are the implications of this position for sociologists in particular? What arguments might be made in favour of retaining the categories ‘woman’ and ‘gender’ for feminist theorizing?