Sociology 2430: Comparative Social Policies
Spring 1995
Monday 2:00-4:29 pm
Professor: Lisa D. Brush
Office: 2J28 Forbes Quadrangle
Telephone: 648-7595
Office Hours: TuTh 2:00-3:00 pm and by appointment
Cross-national perspectives add an important dimension to
political sociology. This graduate research seminar on feminist
studies of states and social policies uses in-depth reading and
critical discussion of current research to create the conceptual,
empirical, and methodological foundations for comparative
scholarship in social policy. Students will present research
proposals, theoretical analyses, critical literature reviews, or
works-in-progress. The focus will be on the politics of gender
differentiation and how they play out in the historical
development of state institutions. Substantive areas include
social provision, family policy, and maternal and child health,
but student research projects may of course venture beyond these
topics.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
In addition to participating in seminar discussions, everyone
enrolled in this seminar is expected to complete the following
assignments:
(a) Weekly question sets (when applicable). For each session
where there are assigned readings in common -- see schedule of
readings below -- every student attending the seminar must
complete a set of questions on/from the reading. Question sets
should be distributed via email to the class distribution list
(we will compile this the first meeting) if possible and if not,
then typed/word-processed in hard copy. Question sets should be
distributed before 9:00 am on the Mondays we have assigned
readings. These questions should reflect what you found most
interesting, important, puzzling, infuriating, fundamental, etc.
about the readings, and will serve as a guide for discussions.
(b) Presentation of required reading materials. For each
session where there are assigned readings in common, one or two
students (depending upon enrollment) will be responsible for
organizing a presentation and leading discussion. These should
be analytical and synthetic presentations, which need not be
formally written but should include an effort to address the
questions raised in your colleagues' question sets. These
presentations count for twenty-five percent of your final grade.
(c) Presentation of independent or group project. During the
latter part of the semester, you will have an opportunity to
present your final project to the seminar group. Final projects
may be individual or collaborative, and must demonstrate your
engagement with the process of comparative social policy
research. You may present a research proposal, a critical review
of literature in the seminar and beyond, an excerpt from current
research (including but not limited to theory, methods, data,
analysis, or interpretation), or some similarly substantial piece
of work. The written version of this work is due in my mailbox
in sociology by the conclusion of the assigned final examination
period, that is, by noon Friday April 28. You may present a
draft version. This is your opportunity to present your own work
in a supportive-yet-critical setting. The presentation and
written project together count for sixty percent of your grade.
(d) Comments on presentations. Each participant will be
responsible for reading, and providing written comments on, the
presentation of one fellow participant. Because most
participants will be presenting drafts rather than finished
products, this will be your opportunity to provide supportive-
yet-critical feedback to your colleagues at a crucial stage in
the development of their projects. You may arrange with your
colleagues to read their work before the presentation, or
afterwards; in either case, your comments are due to the
presenter and to me at the latest by April 17. These comments
count toward fifteen percent of your grade.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Koven, S., & Michel, S. (Eds.). (1993). Mothers of a new world:
Maternalist politics and the origins of the welfare state.
New York and London: Routledge.
Lewis, J. (Ed.). (1993). Women and social policies in Europe:
Work, family and the state. Brookfield, VT and Hants,
England: Edward Elgar Publishing Company.
Stacey, J. (1983). Patriarchy and socialist revolution in China.
Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California
Press.
Muncy, R. (1991). Creating a female dominion in American reform
1890-1935. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Charlton, S. E. M., Everett, J., & Staudt, K. (Eds.). (1989).
Women, the state, and development. Albany: SUNY Press.
SCHEDULE OF READINGS: The books listed have all been ordered at
the University book store. The articles listed are available as
a reader at the Copy Cat copy shop on Forbes.
January 9 -- Organizational meeting
January 16 -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day observed
January 23 -- Feminist theories of states and social policies
Orloff, A. S. (1993). Gender and the social rights of
citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations
and welfare states. American Sociological Review 58
(June):303-328.
Bock, G. (1983). Racism and sexism in Nazi Germany: Motherhood,
compulsory sterilization, and the state. Signs, 8(3):
400-421.
Smart, C. (1992). Disruptive bodies and unruly sex: The
regulation of reproduction and sexuality in the nineteenth
century. In C. Smart (Ed.), Regulating womanhood:
Historical essays on marriage, motherhood, and sexuality.
London and New York: Routledge.
MacKinnon, C. A. (1983). Feminism, marxism, method, and the
state: Toward feminist jurisprudence. SIGNS, 8(4), 635-658.
Brush, L. D. (1994). The curious courtship of feminist
jurisprudence and feminist state theory: Smart on the power
of law [Review of Feminism and the power of law]. Law&Social
Inquiry, 19(4).
January 30 -- Methods of cross-national comparison
Harding, S. (1987). Introduction: Is there a feminist method?
and Conclusion: Epistemological questions. In S. Harding
(Ed.), Feminism and methodology (pp. 1-14 and 181-190).
Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Skocpol, T. (Ed.). (1984). Emerging agendas and recurrent
strategies in historical sociology. In T. Skocpol (Ed.),
Vision and method in historical sociology (pp. 356-391).
Cambridge, London, and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist Cross-Cultural Research and
Feminist Case Studies. In Feminist methods in social
research (pp. 109-125 and 164-174). New York and Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
February 6 -- France and Italy
Hantrais (in Lewis); Klaus (in Koven and Michel); Pedersen (in
Koven and Michel); Bimbi (in Lewis)
Saraceno, C. (1994). The ambivalent familism of the Italian
welfare state. Social Politics 1(Spring):60-82.
February 13 -- Germany
Ostner (in Lewis); Sachsse (in Koven and Michel); Quataert (in
Koven and Michel)
February 20 -- The United Kingdom and Australia
Lewis (in Lewis); Jackson (in Lewis); Koven (in Koven and
Michel); Thane (in Koven and Michel); Lake (in Koven and Michel)
Cass, B. (1994). Citizenship, work, and welfare: The dilemma for
Australian women. Social Politics 1(Spring):106-124.
February 27 -- Scandinavia
Siim (in Lewis); Leira (in Lewis); Hobson (in Koven and Michel)
March 6 -- Spring Recess (no meeting)
March 13 -- China
Stacey (all)
March 20 -- The United States, part I
Muncy (all)
March 27 -- The United States, part II
Boris (in Koven and Michel); Michel (in Koven and Michel); Ladd-
Taylor (in Koven and Michel)
April 3 -- Comparisons, part I
Charlton, S. E. M., Everett, J., & Staudt, K. (all)
April 10 -- Comparisons, part II
Sklar (in Koven and Michel); Chamberlayne (in Lewis)
April 17 -- Exchange preliminary drafts and prepare comments (no
new readings)
April 24 -- Prepare final drafts and presentations (no formal
class)
Friday, April 28, 10:00 am-1:00pm -- Mini-Conference of Final
Project Presentations; final paper due