Gender is a key form of stratification in societies globally and family represents a central social institution. As represented by the strengths of our faculty, some of the most innovative research is to be found at the intersection of family and gender. Faculty expertise in these areas is represented in a wide array of course offerings including the social construction of gender, gendered racial hierarchies, families and households, sexualities, the life course, and gender and family inequality in a variety of outcomes. Students specializing in this area benefit from the depth of faculty knowledge, but also their lively research agenda. These resources include regular talks offered through centers within the School of Social Sciences and Department of Sociology, and the opportunity to be involved in projects currently pursued by faculty and advanced graduate students.

 

CLUSTER FACULTY:

Swethaa Ballakrishnen
Emily Carian
Laura Enriquez
David Frank
Glenda Flores
Kelley Fong
Rachel Goldberg
Matt Huffman
Valerie Jenness
Mirian Martinez-Aranda
Andrew Penner
Judith Treas
Kristin Turney, Cluster Coordinator
Linda Trinh Vo

  

COURSEWORK AND FIELD EXAMS

Students wishing to take the written exam as evidence of expertise will complete two approved cluster courses. Students wishing to submit coursework as evidence of expertise will complete three approved cluster courses. At least two of these should be chosen from the following six core courses:

  • Soc 211A, Sociology of Gender
  • Soc 219, Feminist Theory
  • Soc 232, Inequality
  • Soc 260A, Family & Households
  • Soc 269, Inequalities in Contemporary U.S. Families
  • Soc 269, Gender and Work

To complete the written exam, students must contact the cluster coordinator who will work with the student to obtain a reading list, which may be specialized within a broader sub-area (e.g., gender and sexuality; family and life course). Students wishing to submit coursework as evidence of expertise must obtain approval by the cluster coordinator.

 

COURSES BY CLUSTER FACULTY:

  • Soc 211A, Sociology of Gender
  • Soc 219, Feminist Theory
  • Soc 232, Inequality
  • Soc 239, Social Inequality and Health
  • Soc 269, Sociological Perspectives on Transitions to Adulthood
  • Soc 269, Inequalities in Contemporary U.S. Families
  • Soc 269, Families and Health
  • Soc 269, Gender and Work
  • Soc 279, Sociology of Sex and Sexualities
  • Soc 289, Sociology of the Body

 

ONGOING FACULTY RESEARCH PROJECTS:

  • 15-country study of gender pay inequality
  • Administrative burden as work-family spillover
  • Causes and consequences of families' involvement with child protection authorities
  • Cross-national investigation of criminal regulation of rape, adultery, sodomy, and child-sexual abuse
  • Digital social contacts in work and family life across nations
  • Family instability and wellbeing
  • Gender and gig work in India
  • Gender and queerness in networks
  • Gender, family, and work arrangements during COVID-19
  • Health and family
  • Household division of labor during COVID-19
  • How Norwegian family policy reshaped gender inequality in the workplace
  • Incarceration and family life
  • LGBTQ experiences with law enforcement
  • Male supremacist movement ideology and activisim
  • mDiary Study of Adolescent Relationships
  • Nonbinary/trans inclusion in law schools
  • Racism and aesthetics
  • Repercussions of youth police stops for families
  • Understanding the impact of digital parenting across diverse family ecologies
  • Undocumented and mixed-status families
  • Young people's beliefs about causes of and solutions to gender inequality
  • The limitations of men's feminist allyship 
  • Young people's understandings of gender inequality during the transition to work

 

ONGOING STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:

  • Birthright citizenship and immigrant incorporation
  • Consenual non-monogamy
  • Consequences of deportation for families
  • Gender dynamics of app-mediated work in India
  • Gendered digital inequalities during the transition to adulthood
  • Gendered processes of sexual comminication
  • How housing shapes family wellbeing
  • LGBTQ+ representation in textbooks
  • Race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and the construction of public belonging
  • Race/gender/sexual orientation and the sex-offender registry
  • Relationship between gender and sexuality, especially among people who identify as asexual
  • Role of race/ethnicity, class, and gender in exchanges in sibling educational capital
  • Social support during and after incarceration
  • Teen dating violence across the sexual and gender identity spectrums

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