Application deadline

Type of course

Admission requirements

Course content

The aim of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of gender and socioeconomic inequality from a psychological perspective. In this course, we critically examine empirical research in the field, based on scientific findings from social and cultural psychology. Students will learn how to critically evaluate past research (e.g., in relation to publication bias, over interpretation of statistical findings, validity of research designs and reliability of findings) and will gain confidence and fluency in how to critically evaluate empirical articles with others during group discussions. On two occasions, an expert in research on gender and/or socioeconomic inequality will give an in-depth presentation of the designs and methods of their research. In follow-up workshops, students will work in groups to come up with their own research designs (based on that week¿s presentation) and present their research design to the class.

Content learning: Students will explore classical and contemporary literature on gender and social class/socioeconomic inequality. Following on from this, students will learn about the content of both gender and social class stereotypes (with a focus on high status and agency, and low status and communion). Students will study causes of stereotypes from various theoretical perspectives such as social role theory and system justification theory, and learn about the implications of stereotypes on performance, motivation, collective action, identity formation and psychological well-being. Students will also study the psychological implications of intersection of multiple identities that differ on these status dimensions.

Objectives of the course

Successful completion of the course will lead to the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

Students will learn to

• situate gender and social class/socioeconomic inequality in a cultural and historical context (with a particular focus on how gender and social class have been addressed empirically)
• describe research on how people perceive and justify socioeconomic inequality
• outline theoretical perspectives on the origins of gender and social class stereotypes
• describe and define the concept of stereotyping and its broader implications  

Skills:

Students will develop in their skills to

• critically evaluate empirical studies on social class/socioeconomic inequality and gender
• identify gaps in research on social class/socioeconomic inequality and gender
• transfer questions about gender and social class/socioeconomic inequality into empirical studies

Competencies:

Students will have developed skills that are transferable to other modules (and future employability), such as their ability to

• communicate scientific findings from research to a group
• critically evaluate findings from research and their relevance to real life and interventions 
• relate issues originating from gender and social class inequality to real life contexts (e.g., work life, political initiatives)

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Assessment

Coursework requierments: Students must attend 80% of the seminars in order to take the exam. In addition, students are also required to present (10 min) and defend (10 min) their pilot study in front of the class during a workshop at the end of term. The purpose of the defense is to give student the opportunity to reflect on limitations/strengths in their research design (active participation is not assessed, but required in order to pass the course). Students who worked on the same project are allowed to present and defend in pairs.

The main assessment, which accounts for 70% of the overall mark, involves conducting a pilot study, with relevance to either social class or gender, or both, and summarize findings in a 3000-word article (using APA-format). There is no leeway on the word limit, students who exceed the word limit will be penalized. Students may complete this assignment in pairs.

Following this, students will be randomly allocated one of their peers¿ articles and required to submit a 1-2 page long critical review of the article formulated as a reviewer¿s response to a manuscript. This assignment accounts for 30% of the overall mark and must be completed individually.

The assessments will be assessed on an A-F grades scale. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed. See canvas for submission deadlines. There will be no retake exam.

Recommended reading/syllabus