PSY-3026 Gender and Socioeconomic Inequality - 10 stp

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

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)

Coursework requirements:  

Students must attend 80% of the seminars in order to take the exam. 

Exam:  

There are two formal assessments; two short essays and a two blogs.  Part 1 counts 50% and part 2 counts 50% of the overall grade.

Both exams must be passed in order for the course to be passed.

A short essay (50%)  

Students will have six essay-style questions, from which they will be asked to choose and answer two. The questions will be based on the material covered in the classes and the readings. 

Blogs (50%) 

Students will be asked to write and submit an online blog twice in which they choose one small bit of the material covered in the classes (such as one study or one aspect of a theory), and interpret a real-world event or issue in light of the new perspective the research/theory offers. Each blog should be around 700 words, and no more than 1000.  

The assessments will be assessed on an A-F grades scale. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed. There will not be arranged a re-sit exam for this course. Everything has to be repeated. 

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.