Time Schedule:
Loren K. Redwood
BIS 433
Bothell Campus
Examines the interlocking institutions of gender, work, and family. Explores the impact of changing patterns of work on the lives of men and women and the effect of changes in work and occupations on demography and family patterns.
Class description
This course examines how women’s and men’s roles in economic systems intersect with domestic labor and obligations. We will learn about the idea of “social reproduction” or the ways in which the family reproduces workers for the economy. Social reproduction is related to ideas about gender roles, work and economic systems, and the family.
We will identify historical and contemporary trends and theories about wage labor, paid and unpaid care work, changing notions of the family and the household, the feminization of poverty, the evolution of work/family policies, welfare reform, global divisions of labor, immigration patterns and migration policy. We will do so in order to engage the following questions: • How do gender roles affect paid (wage labor) and unpaid work (care giving, housework)? • How does the family unit support our social, economic, and political systems? • How do various institutions like the family, the state, the market, and the household work together to reproduce future generations? Who and what define these institutions?
Student learning goals
1.Understand and synthesize different types of literature (academic research, policy documents and reports, and newspaper articles) related to work and family issues.
2.Articulate key concepts related to gender, work and family in historical and comparative perspectives through in-class work and required assignments.
3.Understand and critique ideas about femininity and masculinity, race/ethnicity, and class when thinking about work and the family.
4.Use different sources of “data” effectively to create a group and individual research project.
5.Develop skills to argue in favor of or against a particular policy position on work and family.
General method of instruction
Lecture, small and large group work, individual writing responses, discussion, & research activities
Recommended preparation
While all students are welcome, familiarity with issues of social justice, theories of inequality, human rights, and diversity is recommended for this course.
Class assignments and grading
Students will be evaluated based on participation, written work, large and samll group work, presentations, and a final research paper.
Students will be evaluated based on participation, written work, large and samll group work, presentations, and a final research paper.
