Sociology of Gender - Lecture Notes

Getting to Know You Activities

  • Students are required to write down the following information and submit it to Harley before leaving the class:

    • Student ID number

    • Preferred name and pronouns

    • Major or program and year

    • Gender-related topics of interest for discussion in the class

    • Any additional information Harley should be aware of

Defining Sex and Gender

  • Date of Class: Wednesday, January 14

  • Course Title: Bounding a Sociology of Gender (SOCI2410)

  • Semester: Winter 2026

Defining Gender

  • Gender can refer to:

    • An internally felt sense of self

    • Sets of social meanings, roles, and expectations associated with a certain sex

    • Styles and modes of self-presentation and expression that individuals devise in response to societal expectations

Studying Gender

  • General concerns of sociologists studying gender include:

    • Learning about Gender: Understanding how gender is learned, expressed, enacted, and experienced.

    • Institutionalization of Gender: Investigating how gender becomes regularized into social roles and norms.

    • Gender Discourse: Examining the ways in which people talk about gender and engage in gender discourse.

    • Historical and Cultural Variation: Understanding how ideas of gender have evolved over time and how they vary between and within cultures.

    • Intersectionality: Analyzing how gender interacts with other social identities.

    • Measurement of Gender: Considering how gender might best be quantified or measured within social science research.

Gender as Social Status

  • Sex at Birth:

    • Defined as an ascribed status, which is a status one is born into (e.g., the biological sex assigned at birth).

  • Gender:

    • Referred to as an achieved status, which is a status one attains through personal decisions, actions, and social interactions.

Upcoming Class Requirements

  • For the next class on Monday, January 19:

    • Use the Group Choice tool on Moodle to assign oneself to a specific discussion group.

    • Read the piece written by feminist sociologist Judith Lorber.