Special Topic: Gender Relations

Curriculum Guideline

Effective Date:
Return to Course
Print Guideline
Course
PSYC 1120
Discontinued
No
Course Code
PSYC 1120
Descriptive
Special Topic: Gender Relations
Department
Douglas
Faculty
Douglas
Credits
3.00
Start Date
End Term
201330
PLAR
No
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Contact Hours
Lecture: 4 hrs. per week / per semester
Learning Activities

The course will employ a number of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives and will include some of the following:

  • lectures
  • seminar presentations
  • audio visual materials
  • small group discussions
  • research projects
Course Description
The focus of this course will be examination of the biological, psychological, and social determinants of gender differences. How gender operates at individual, interpersonal, and cultural levels to structure peoples’ lives will be examined. There will be an exploration of how language and social institutions frame the way people think about themselves and others.
Course Content
  1. How Gender Shapes Our Lives
    • individually, interpersonally, and culturally
    • socialization of males and females
  2. Social Constructionist Perspective
    • differences in the lives of males and females
    • personality differences
    • social interactions between the sexes
    • gender as social construction rather than biological fact
  3. Cultural Perspective
    • ethnocentrism
    • cultural universals
    • changing gender roles
  4. Verbal and NonVerbal Language
    • language as a source of power
    • how language an social institutions frame the way people think and speak
  5. The Diversity of Men’s and Women’s Lives
    • sex, gender, and cognition
    • the diverse opinions and realities of males and females with regard to sex, gender, and cognition.
    • male and female personality differences
    • male and female responses to psychological stresses
  6. Becoming a Woman Becoming a Man
    • becoming a gender specific person: childhood
    • becoming a woman: puberty and adolescence
    • becoming a man: puberty and adolescence
  7. Friendship and Romance
    • relationships: men and women
    • relationships: women and women
    • relationships: men and men
    • differentiated meanings of sex, love, and romance
  8. Commitments
    • longterm relationships
    • family
    • parenting
  9. Knowledge as a Source of Social Change
    • importance of integrating diversity
    • workplace politics
    • need for social change
  10. Issues Involving Change
    • gender in childhood
    • impact of violence in men’s and women’s lives
Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the student will be able to:

  1. Discuss how gender shapes our lives; individually, interpersonally, and culturally.
  2. Discuss the socialization process of males and females.
  3. Discuss culturally diverse views of gender.
  4. Describe the role of verbal and non-verbal cues in gender-related differences.
  5. Describe how language and social institutions frame the way people speak and think.
  6. Describe biological and social influences on gender.
  7. Describe the social context of aging.
  8. Discuss what is meant by and the process of “becoming a gender specific person”.
  9. Discuss the differentiated meaning, between males and females, of sex, love, and romance.
  10. Critically assess the politics of the workplace and the role of the media in relation to gender issues.
  11. Challenge the “old” ways of thinking and looking at gender differences.
Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy.  Evaluation will be based on course objectives and will include some of the following: quizzes, multiple choice exams, essay type exams, term paper or research project, class participation, seminar discussion, and oral presentation.   Specific evaluation criteria will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the semester.

  

An example of one evaluation scheme:

 

         Exam I                                                                25%

         Exam 2                                                                25%

         Exam 3                                                                 25%

         Individual or Group Presentation                              10%      

         Term or Research Paper                                          15%

                                                                                    100%

Textbook Materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:

A selection of reading materials such as the following:

Lips, H. M. (2001).  Sex and Gender: An Introduction (4th Ed.) 

     Mountain View, CA, Mayfield.

Minas, A.  (2001).  Gender Basics: Feminist Perspectives on Women and Men (2nd Ed.)

     Toronto, Wadsworth.

Reading materials will be updated periodically.