SOCI 3375

Masculinities are a fundamental aspect of everyday life that shapes the actions of individuals, our institutions, and social structures. In this advanced course, students will interrogate forms of masculinity to understand the relationship between gender, race, power, and society, while also questioning the assumptions of traditional binary categories of gender. The sociological study of masculinities emerged as analysis of work and family confronted nascent critical theory of second wave feminism that problematized the traditional role of women in patriarchal societies. Today, sociologists adopt approaches such as post-structuralism and queer theory to examine the ideological and discursive dynamics embedded within different masculinities. Sociologists understands masculinity as a configuration of social practices linked to gender orders that shifts across time, cultures, and space. Gender orders are shaped by events such as the industrial revolution that have transformed work, family, and the traditional roles that men play, establishing hierarchies that privilege and dehumanize different groups premised on race, class, and sexual orientation. We will analyze how these structural and systemic inequities contribute to the stratification of marginalized groups within a broader context of colonialism, modernization, and globalization to make sense of why masculine roles, norms, and identities are changing today.