Sociology of Race Class and Gender

[winweiquaker]

It seems at the two colleges where I adjunct, this is the course NOBODY wants to teach. (It's fine with me - I love teaching it, and that means I always have at least one course

Comments

[uberconfused]

Have you tried Rothenberg's Race Class and Gender in the United States? It's an edited collection rather than a textbook.

[winweiquaker]

This might be a good choice. The only prohibitive part is the length - I teach during the short terms (winter/summer) for R/C/G, so at most, I'm teaching 2 days a week for 5 weeks (or 3 days a week for 4 weeks).

[childthursday]

I've given up on finding a good text. I use a collection of mostly articles taken from three different readers - "Race, Class and Gender in the United States," (Rothenberg); "Race in an Era of Change" (Dalmage); and "Gender, Race and Class in the Mass Media" (Dines.) I update these readings every year with new material from recent journals or books

[winweiquaker]

I agree - one semester I taught the class I thought I was coming across as too much of a feminist, one semester I thought I overdid the idea of 'whiteness' and how White ethnics got morphed into our new definition of 'White'. And I always feel like I leave class on the back burner, becuase it's tied into the other two, but (like you said) a class unto itself (I had, as an undergrad, 'Social Class in the United States' as a special topic course).

The prof who teaches the fall/spring semesters has a background in social activism, so he frames the course around that.

[girlziplocked]

Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective by David Grusky http://t.co/8Us6fpL

That's what we used to learn Strat in grad school. It's a collection of excerpts from better known studies and covers race, class and gender issues.

[winweiquaker]

While I do like what I see w/that book, my school would mark it up to almost 90 bucks, and then it becomes cost prohibitive.

I find it amusing (stupid) that after the census Maryland is literally the richest state in the Union, but I can't get a quality textbook because over 80 bucks may bankrupt students.

Uh, when was this law when I was an undergrad, and one of my 400-level English courses required FIFTEEN books?

[paperbased]

Hey Steven, long time no see! Say, I had a similar dilemma with the book for a similar course and ended up using a bunch of current articles from journals in the discipline. You have to get about 2-3 per topic, build a WebCT with a repository of readings arranged by week and you are done. it takes a bit of searching on the front end in your lib's databases, but it is a) low-cost, b) if you keep it on WebCT it is locked for only temp use of the specific subset, so you don't run into reproduction rights issue c) you can present a broader scope of existing approaches than any book would.

[winweiquaker]

Hey there - you seem to be like many recommending a reader. That might not be a bad idea. I'm just normally very 'text' based because then I get terms and glossaries and explanations. I've found when I teach short terms (winter and summer, the only time I'm allowed to teach the Race/Class/Gender course), students don't want to do much 'discussion'.

[paperbased]

have them do a glossary as a part of a grade. again, tho, frontloading outlining the terms for them to expand on. I have all the texts recommended above and had lesser success with them then with the reader i put together myself. However, I also have a couple of books on race/ethnicity that could be considered, not sure if there are new editions of them, tho:

Egelman "Understanding Racial and Ethnic groups" - handy 'cuz it has a snapshot of the topic with some data and the sort of a workbook space with questions.

Tischler "Debating Points Race and Ethnic relations" - handy 'cuz is structured by big social/political issues, has a snapshot of the topic and a resource list for more info.

Also, for current data i go to publucagenda.com - helps illustrate some of the disparities by race, class and gender with current numbers.

[winweiquaker]

Great advice. My 1st semester teaching the course I 'built' a text on Pearsons website, which was a book that was very stats heavy (and good for a shock factor), but it's terminology sucked, and frankly, it was boring (although it had an entire chapter on 'personal life chances' which was great).

sd