UCLA Sociology Department Spring 1992 -- Special Topics in Sociology Graduate Student Seminar - Soc596 (for information contact Christine Morton, UCLA Sociology Dept, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024; email: morton@soc.sscnet.ucla.edu) FEMINIST THEORY This course is meant to provide an introductory survey of feminist theory for graduate students in sociology. The intention is to familiarize students with the main currents in contemporary feminist theory and the origins and evolution of feminist thought over the last quarter century. The course will be conducted as a seminar and will be student run and organized. REQUIREMENTS 1) required readings 2) active participation in class discussions 3) a 1-2 page "reflections on prior week's readings" memo to be distributed to the class by Tuesday 12:00 before the next class meeting in mailboxes 4) a research proposal, in which feminist theory is utilized in the study of a substantive sociological problem or issue 5) read each other's work and give constructive critiques 6) facilitation of one week's class discussion 7) OPTIONAL: one oral presentation (based on the readings for one of the weekly topics listed below) Required Texts: Available at Sisterhood Bookstore, 1351 Westwood Bl, 310-477-7300 Jaggar, Alison M., Feminist Politics and Human Nature, (Rowman & Allenheld, 1983) Harding, Sandra, Feminism and Methodology: Social Science Issues, (Indiana U Press, 1987) Reader: Available at Westwood Copies, 1001 Gayley (corner of Weyburn), 310-208-3233 * articles available in reader; !!! = very highly recommended Reserve: All recommended books and articles will be on Reserve at URL I. EXCLUSION, DIFFERENCES AND INEQUALITIES IN FEMINIST THEORIES AND SOCIOLOGY Required: * Andersen, Margaret L., "Moving Our Minds: Studying Women of Color and Reconstructing Sociology," Teaching Sociology, 1988, 16:123-132 * Deegan, Mary Jo, "Transcending a Patriarchal Past: Teaching the History of Women in Sociology," Teaching Sociology, 1988, 16:141-150 * hooks, bell, "Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory," in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, (South End Press, 1984), pp. 1-15 * Lorde, Audre, "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference," Sister/Outsider, (The Crossing Press 1984), pp. 110-113 * Rich, Adrienne, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" in Jaggar, A. and Struhl, P.R. eds., Feminist Frameworks (McGraw Hill, 2nd ed), pp. 416-420 * Smith, Barbara, "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism" in Hull, G., et al., eds., All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave : Black Women's Studies, (The Feminist Press, 1982), pp. 157-175 * Uttal, Lynet, "Nods That Silence" in Anzaldua, Gloria, ed., Making Face, Making Soul: Haciendo Caras, (Aunt Lute Foundation Books, 1990), pp. 317-320 * Yamada, Mitsuye, "Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism," in Moraga, Cherrie and Anzaldua, Gloria, eds., This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, (Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1981), pp. 71-75 Recommended Books: Abbott, Pamela and Claire Wallace, An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives (Routledge, 1990) Aptheker, Bettina, Tapestries of Life: Women's Work, Women's Consciousness and the Meaning of Daily Experience, (U Massachusetts Press, 1989) hooks, bell, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, (South End Press, 1984) hooks, bell, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, (South End Press, 1989) Spelman, Elizabeth, Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought, (Beacon, 1988) Recommended Articles: Higgenbotham, Elizabeth, "Two Representative Issues in Contemporary Sociological Work on Black Women," in Hull, G. et.al., eds., All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies, (The Feminist Press, 1982), pp. 93-102 Hughes, Helen MacGill, "Women in Academic Sociology, 1925-1975" Sociological Focus, 1975, 8:215-222 Reinharz, Shulamit "Women and Intellectual Work or the History of Women's Contributions to American Sociology" in Collins, P.H. & M. Anderson (eds) An Inclusive Curriculum: Race Class and Gender in Sociological Instruction, (ASA, 1988) Sacks, Karen, "Toward a Unified Theory of Class, Race and Gender," American Ethnologist, 1989 August, 16 (3): 534-550 II. FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGIES AND STANDPOINT THEORIES Required: 1. Jaggar, ch. 11: "Feminist Politics and Epistemology: Justifying Feminist Theory", pp. 353-394 2. Harding, Feminism and Methodology: Social Science Issues Harding, Sandra, "Introduction", pp. 1-13 Millman, Marcia and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, "Introduction to Another Voice: Feminist Perspectives on Social Life and Social Science", pp. 28-36 Smith, Dorothy, "Woman's Perspective as a Radical Critique of Sociology", pp. 84-96 Hartsock, Nancy, "The Feminist Standpoint: Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism", pp. 157-180 Harding, Sandra, "Conclusions: Epistemological Questions", pp. 181-190 3.* Collins, Patricia Hill, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, 1990, Chapters 2, 10-11: pp. 19-40, 201-238 Recommended: Belenky, Mary, et. al, Woman's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind (Basic, 1986) Code, Lorraine, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Cornell, 1991) Duran, Jane, Toward a Feminist Epistemology, (Rowman, 1991) !!! Fonow, Mary Margaret and Judith A. Cook, Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research (Indiana, 1991) Gilligan, Carol, In a Different Voice, (Harvard, 1982) Harding, Sandra, The Science Question in Feminism, (Cornell, 1986) Keller, Evelyn Fox, Reflections on Gender and Science (1985) !!! Nielsen, Joyce McCarl, Feminist Research Methods: Exemplary Readings in the Social Sciences (Westview, 1990) Ruddick, Sara, Maternal Thinking (Ballantine, 1989) !!! Smith, Dorothy, The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology, (Northeastern, 1987) !!! Smith, Dorothy, The Conceptual Practices of Power: A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge, (Northeastern, 1990) !!! Stanley, Liz, ed., Feminist Praxis: Research, Theory and Epistemology in Feminist Sociology, (Routledge, 1990) III. LIBERAL FEMINIST THEORIES AND MOVEMENTS Required: Jaggar, ch 1: "Feminism as Political Philosophy", pp. 3-14 ch 2: "Political Philosophy and Human Nature", pp. 15-25 (OPTIONAL) ch 3: "Liberal Feminism and Human Nature", pp. 27-50 ch 7: "The Politics of Liberal Feminism", pp. 173-206 OR * Seneca Falls Convention, in Alice Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers, (Columbia, 1973), pp.413-430 * hooks, bell, "Black Women and Feminism", in Ain't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism, (South End Press, 1981) pp. 159-196 * Friedan, Betty, "The Problem That Has No Name" in The Feminine Mystique, (Dell, 1963), pp. 11-27 * de Beauvoir, Simone, "The Second Sex", in Alice Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers, (Columbia, 1973), pp. 674-705 Recommended: Wollestonecraft, Mary, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women", in A. Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers, (Columbia, 1973), pp. 40-64 Mill, J.S., "The Subjection of Women", (ibid.), pp. 196-238 Eisenstein, Hester, Contemporary Feminist Thought, (GK Hall, 1983) Eisenstein, Zillah, The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism, (Longman, 1981) Giddings, Paula, When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America, (Bantam, 1984) Pateman, Carole, The Sexual Contract, (Stanford U Press, 1988) IV. MARXIST FEMINIST THEORIES Required: Jaggar, ch. 4, "Traditional Marxism and Human Nature", pp. 52-59 and 63-69 ch. 8, "The Politics of Traditonal Marxism", pp. 207-245 * Stacey, J., "When Patriarchy Kowtows: The Significance of the Chinese Family Revolution for Feminist Theory" in Eisenstein, Z., ed., Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism, (Monthly Review Press, 1979), pp. 299-354. Recommended: * !!! Mies, Maria. "Social Origins of the Sexual Division of Labor" in Mies et. al. eds., Women: The Last Colony, (Zed Books, 1988) * MacKinnon, C. "Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory," in ??, pp. 227-256. * Andersen, M.L., Thinking About Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender, (Macmillan, 1988, 2nd ed.), pp. 267-282 V. SOCIALIST FEMINIST THEORIES Required Jaggar, ch. 10, "The Politics of Socialist Feminism", pp. 303-346 * Hartmann, Heidi, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism" in Sargent, L., ed., Women and Revolution: A Discussion of the Unhappy Marriage Between Marxism and Feminism, (South End Press, 1981) pp. 1-43 * Joseph, Gloria, "The Incompatible Menage a Trois" (ibid), pp. 91-109 * Young, Iris, "Beyond the Unhappy Marriage" (ibid) pp. 43-71 * Ehrenreich, Barbara, "Life Without a Father: Reconsidering Socialist- Feminist Theory" in Hansen, K. V. and Philipson, I. J., eds., Women, Class and the Feminist Imagination, (Temple, 1990), pp. 268-277 Recommended: * !!! Eisenstein, Zillah, "Constructing a Theory of Capitalist Patriarchy and Socialist Feminism," (ibid.), pp. 114-146 * Morgen, Sandra, "Conceptualizing and Changing Consciousness: Socialist- Feminist Perspectives," (ibid.), pp. 278-192 VI. RADICAL FEMINIST THEORIES I Required: Jaggar, ch. 5, "Radical Feminism and Human Nature", pp. 83-118; 364-369 * Millett, Kate, "Theory of Sexual Politics" in Sexual Politics, (Avon, 1970), pp. 23-58 * Firestone, Shulamith, "The Dialectic of Sex" in Jaggar, A. and Struhl, P. R., Feminist Frameworks, (McGraw Hill, 1978), pp. 118-23 * Lorde, Audre, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" in Moraga, Cherrie and Anzaldua, Gloria, eds., This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, (Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1981), pp. 98-101 * "A Black Feminist Statement," the Combahee River Collective, (ibid.), pp. 210-18 * "New York Radical Women: Principles," in Morgan, Robin, ed., Sisterhood is Powerful, (Vintage, 1970) p. 520 * "Redstockings Manifesto," (ibid.), pp. 533-536 * "Politics of Ego: A Manifesto for NY Radical Women," in Koedt, Anne, et.al., eds., Radical Feminism, (Quadrangle, 1973), pp. 379-83 * Millett, Kate, "Sexual Politics: A Manifesto for Revolution," (ibid.), pp. 365-7 Recommended: Echols, Alice, Daring to be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967-1975, (University of Minnesota Press, 1989), see especially Introduction pp. 3-22 Firestone, Shulamith, The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, (Bantam, 1970) Moraga, Cherrie and Anzaldua, Gloria, eds., This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, (Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1981) VII. RADICAL FEMINIST THEORIES II Required: Jaggar, ch. 9, "The Politics of Radical Feminism", pp. 249-296 * Delphy, Christine, "The Main Enemy," in Close To Home: A Materialist Analysis of Women's Oppression, (Hutchinson, 1984), pp. 57-77 MacKinnon, Catherine, "Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory" (see reference in Week 4) * Moraga, Cherrie, "La Guera," in Moraga, Cherrie and Anzaldua, Gloria, eds., This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, (Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1981), pp. 27-34 * Carillo, Jo, "And When You Leave Take Your Pictures With You," (ibid.), pp. 63-64. * Bunch, Charlotte, "Lesbians in Revolt" in Jaggar, A. and Struhl, P.R. eds., Feminist Frameworks, (McGraw Hill, 1978), pp. 123-7 * Atkinson, Ti-Grace, "Radical Feminism and Love," (ibid.), pp. 289-91 * Daly, Mary, selections from Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism, (Beacon, 1978), pp. 1-42 VIII. FEMINISM AND PSYCHOANALYSIS Required: 1.* Chodorow, Nancy, Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory, (Yale University Press, 1989) Ch. 3, "Oedipal Asymmetries and Heterosexual Knots," pp. 66-78 Ch. 4, "The Fantasy of the Perfect Mother" with Susan Contratto, pp. 79-96 Ch. 5, "Gender, Relation and Difference in Psychoanalytic Perspective" pp. 99-113 Ch. 8, "Feminism, Femininity and Freud", pp. 166-177 Ch. 9, "Psychoanalytic Feminism and Psychoanalytic Psychology of Women" pp.178-198 2.* Abel, Elizabeth, "Race, Class, and Psychoanalysis? Opening Questions" in Conflicts in Feminism, ed. Marianne Hirsch and Evelyn Fox Keller (Routledge, 1990), pp. 184-204 3.* Benjamin, Jessica, "Authority and the Family Revisited: or, A World without Fathers?" in New German Critique, No. 13, Winter 1978, pp. 35-57 Recommended Essays: Contratto, Susan, "Father Presence in Women"s Psychological Development" in ed. Rabow, et. al. Advances in Psychoanalytic Sociology, (Krieger, 1987), pp. 138-157 Johnson, Miriam, "Reproducing Male Dominance: Psychoanalysis and Social Structure" (ibid.) Mitchell, Juliet and Jacqueline Rose, "Introduction-I" and "Introduction-II" in Jacques Lacan, Feminine Sexuality, trans. Jacqueline Rose, (W.W. Norton, 1985) Rubin, Gayle, "The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex" in Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. R.R. Reiter (Monthly Review Press, 1975), pp. 157-210 Recommended Books: Benjamin, Jessica, The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and the Problem of Domination, (Pantheon, 1988) Chodorow, Nancy, The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender, (U California Press, 1978) Ehrensaft, Diane, Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children, (Free Press, 1987) Fox Keller, Evelyn, Reflections on Gender and Science, (Yale U Press, 1985) Flax, Jane, Thinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Postmodernism in the Contemporary West, (U California Press, 1990) Grosz, Elizabeth, Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction, (Routledge, 1990) Macey, David, Lacan in Contexts, (Verso, 1988) Mitchell, Juliet, Psychoanalysis and Feminism, (Alan Lane, 1974) Sprengnether, Madelon, The Spectral Mother: Freud, Feminism, and Psychoanalysis, (1990) IX. POST MODERNISM AND FEMINISM I Required: * Christian, Barbara, "The Race for Theory," (originally printed in Cultural Critique, 6 (Spring 1987): 51-63), pp. 69-79 * Flax, Jane, "Post Modernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory," in Signs, 1988, 12:621-43; Comment and Reply, Signs, 1989, 14:196-203 * Fraser, Nancy and Linda Nicholson, "Social Criticism without Philosophy: An Encounter between Feminism and Post Modernism," in Feminism/Postmodernism, (Routledge, 1990), pp. 19-35 * Scott, Joan, "Deconstructing Equality vs. Difference: Or the Uses of Post - Structuralist Theory for Feminism," in Feminist Studies, 1988, 14:33-48 * Keller, Evelyn Fox, "Feminism, Science, and Postmodernism," in Cultural Critique, 1989, 13:15-32 * hooks, bell, "Postmodern Blackness," in Yearning: Race, Gender and Cultural Politics, (South End Press, 1990), pp. 23-31 Recommended: Nicholson, Linda, ed., Feminism/Postmodernism, (Routledge, 1990) Cultural Critique, 1989, Volume 13, Special Issue: The Construction of Gender and Modes of Social Division X. POST MODERNISM AND FEMINISM II Required: * Butler, Judith, "Introduction" and "Conclusion" in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, (Routledge, 1990), pp. 1-34; 142-149 * Fuss, Diane, Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature and Difference, (Routledge, 1989), pp. 23-37 * Spivak, Gayatri, In Other Worlds, (Routledge, 1988), pp. 77-92 Recommended: Diamond, Irene and Lee Quimby, eds., Feminism and Foucault: Reflections on Resistance, (Northeastern, 1988) Marks, E. and de Courtivron, I., eds., New French Feminisms: An Anthology, (Schocken, 1981 Moi, Toril, "Appropriating Bourdieu: Feminist Theory and Pierre Bourdieu's Sociology of Culture," in New Literary History, 1991, 22: 1017-49 Rabine, Leslie W., "A Feminist Politics of Non-Identity," in Feminist Studies 1988, 14: 11-28