Gender and Feminist Studies
The Gender and Feminist Studies program emphasizes a critical analysis of basic assumptions within sociology and feminist theory about the matrix of gender, class, and race. It investigates structural inequalities and the reproduction of those hierarchies in social processes and in everyday life. It examines the ways that gender itself is constructed. In the process, the program analyzes the various contradictory and overlapping ways feminists with different theoretical starting points investigate and explain social phenomena. In addition to the theoretical explorations and empirical analyses of the family, work and other institutions, the program attends to the collective action of women and the contributions of individual women to the sociological discipline, to political movements, and to the making of history.
Because of its flexibility and ecumenical approach to sociology, the Brandeis graduate program has long been an incubator for innovative and path-breaking work. It has proven to be a fruitful place for students interested in feminist scholarship.
The program connects to the Women's Studies program, through faculty, courses that are cross-listed, and the Joint Sociology and Women's Studies Master's degree.
There is a critical mass of feminist scholarship in the Boston area. Therefore, in addition to faculty members listed below, Brandeis sociology graduate students have access to a number of outside colloquia, courses, teaching and research opportunities in the field gender and feminist studies.
Core Faculty and Research Interests
Wendy Cadge: Sociology of religion, culture, health and medicine, immigration, gender, sexuality, organizations, research methods.
Karen V. Hansen: Feminist Theory, Sociology of Families, Women's Biography and Society.
Shulamit Reinharz: Feminist Research Methods, The History of Women's Contributions to the Field of Sociology, Issues in Jewish Women's Lives.
Carmen Sirianni: Gender and Work.
Other Resources
Brandeis Women's and Gender Studies Program
The Family and Children's Policy Center at the Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, for which there is also a joint Ph.D with Sociology, including a concentration in the Program in Children, Youth and Families.
Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University.
Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies
Selected Ph.D. Graduates Emphasizing Sociology of Sex and Gender:
Amy Agigian, Associate Professor of Sociology, Suffolk University; author of Baby steps: How lesbian alternative insemination is changing the world (Wesleyan University Press, 2004).
Nancy Chodorow, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley; author of The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender (University of California Press, 1978); Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and beyond (University Press of Kentucky, 1994); Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory (Yale University Press, 1989).
Patricia Hill Collins, Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, University of Cincinnati; author of Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (Unwin Hyman, 1990); (En)gendering Knowledge: Feminists in academe (University of Tennessee Press, 1991); Fighting Words: Black women and the search for justice (University of Minnesota Press, 1998); Race, Class, and Gender: An anthology (Wadsworth, 1995); Black Sexual Politics (Routledge, 2004).
Lynn Davidman, Associate Professor of Sociology and Judaic Studies, Brown University; author of Tradition in a Rootless World: Women turn to Orthodox Judaism (University of California Press, 1991); Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies (Yale University Press, 1994), with Shelly Tenenbaum.
Jean Elson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of New Hampshire; author of Am I Still a Woman? Hysterectomy and gender identity (Temple University Press, 2004).
Karen Fields, Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, University of Rochester; author of Charismatic Religion as Popular Protest: The ordinary and the extraordinary in social movements. (New York: Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co., 1982).
Mindy Fried, Researcher, Center for Work and Families, Boston College; author of Taking Time: Parental Leave Policy and Corporate Culture (Temple University Press, 1998).
Elizabeth Higginbotham, Professor of Sociology, Memphis State University; editor of Words of Fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought (Norton,1995); author of Work and Survival for Black Women (Memphis State University, 1984); Employment for Professional Black Women in the Twentieth Century (Memphis State University, 1985).
Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, Professor of Sociology, Boston College; author of Mixed Blessings: Intensive Care for Newborns (Oxford University Press, 1986); Rape: Victims of crisis (R. J. Brady, 1974); The Two-Career Family (Schenkman, 1972); author (with Ann Wolbert Burgess) of The Victim of Rape: Institutional reaction (Wiley, 1978).
Ruth Harriet Jacobs, Professor of Sociology (retired), Clark University; author of Life after Youth: Female, forty, what next? (Beacon Press, 1979).
Elizabeth Long, Professor of Sociology, Rice University; author of The American Dream and the Popular Novel (Routledge & K. Paul, 1985); From Sociology to Cultural Studies: New perspectives (Blackwell Publishers, 1997); and Book Clubs: Women and the uses of reading in everyday life (University of Chicago Press, 2003).
Cameron Macdonald, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison; author of Shadow Mothers: Nannies, au pairs and invisible work (University of California Press, forthcoming); editor (with Carmen Sirianni) of Working in the Service Society (Temple University Press, 1996).
Robbie Pfeuffer Kahn, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Vermont; author of Bearing Meaning: The language of birth (University of Illinois Press, 1995), winner of Jessie Bernard Award, American Sociological Association.
Shulamit Reinharz, Professor of Sociology, Director of Women's Studies Research Center, and Former Director of Women's Studies Program, Brandeis University; author (with Lynn Davidman) of Feminist Methods in Social Research (Oxford University Press, 1992); On Becoming a Social Scientist (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1979).
Judith Rollins, Professor of Sociology, Wellesley College; author of Between Women: Domestics and their Employers (Temple University Press, 1985), winner of the Jessie Bernard Award, American Sociological Association; author of All is Never Said: The narrative of Odette Harper Hines (Temple University Press, 1995).
Henry Rubin, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, Tufts University; author of Self-Made Men: Identity and embodiment among transsexual men (Vanderbilt University Press, 2003).
Judith Stacey, Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California; author of Brave New Families: Stories of domestic upheaval in late twentieth century America (Basic Books, 1990); In the Name of the Family: Rethinking family values in the postmodern age (Beacon Press, 1996); and Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China (University of California Press, 1983).
Nancy Stoller, Professor, Department of Community Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz; author of Lessons From the Damned: Queers, whores, and junkies respond to AIDS (Routledge, 1998); and Women Resisting AIDS: Feminist strategies of empowerment (Temple University Press, 1995).
Ella Taylor, film editor, Los Angeles Weekly, Atlantic Monthly; author of Prime-Time Families: Television culture in postwar America (University of California Press, 1989).
Shelly Tenenbaum, Associate Professor of Sociology, Clark University; author of A Credit to their Community: Jewish loan societies in the United States, 1880-1945. (Wayne State University Press, 1993); editor (with Lynn Davidman) of Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies (Yale University Press, 1994).
Becky Thompson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Simmons College; author (with Sangeeta Tyagi) of Names We Call Home: Autobiography on racial identity (Routledge, 1996); editor of A Hunger So Wide and So Deep: American women speak out on eating problems (University of Minnesota Press, 1994).
Barrie Thorne, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley; author of Gender Play: Girls and boys in school (Rutgers University Press, 1993); author (with Nancy Henley) of Language, Gender, and Society (Newbury House, 1983; Beyond a Dream Deferred: Multicultural education and the politics of excellence (University of Minnesota Press, 1993); author (with Barbara Laslett) of Feminist Sociology: Life histories of a movement (Rutgers University Press, 1997); and Rethinking the Family: Some feminist questions (Northeastern University Press, 1992).
Lise Vogel, Professor of Sociology, Rider College; author of Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a unitary theory (Rutgers University Press, 1983); Mothers on the Job: Maternity policy in the U.S. workplace (Rutgers University Press, 1993); and Woman Questions: Essays for a materialist feminism (Pluto Press, 1995).