Course syllabus

SOCIOL 728: Family, Gender and the State

SEMESTER 2, 2018

30 points

Teacher:  Vivienne Elizabeth  v.elizabeth@auckland.ac.nz

Course delivery format:

3 hour seminar and discussion

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

 Summary of Course Description:              

This course examines the relationship between contemporary families and the late modern state. It does so through reading and discussing theoretical and empirical literature on the family-state nexus. We explore the historical and contemporary nature of this relationship, focusing in particular on the characteristics of the modern neoliberal state and its treatment of family relationships. Our theoretical interrogation of the state-family nexus includes a critical consideration of the incorporation of gender neutrality and equal treatment of parents in contemporary family policies and laws. Care and social reproduction feature in the course as a central problematic for both contemporary families and the late modern state. In addition, a range of state policies, programmes and laws that take family relationships and family members as their object are subjected to critical analysis. Examples of the latter include state responses to family poverty, child support policies and laws related to the ‘post separation family’.

 Course outcomes:

• Be able to critically discuss the contemporary state treatment of families from a range of perspectives (e.g., feminist, intersectional, Māori) and drawing on a range of theorists;
• Be able to theorise the way gendered and other axes of inequality are articulated in state policies, programmes and laws and the implications of these articulations for different family members and everyday family life;
• Be able to critically reflect on the rise of the child as a key ‘object’ within contemporary family policy;
• Be able to analyse and interrogate the influence of state policies and laws on your own family
• Be able to draw on appropriate academic literature to develop and execute a research agenda
• Be able to write well-researched, scholarly papers about various issues to do with familial life and the way they are treated in policy, programmes or law.

 Assessment Summary:

30 % essay, 3500-4000 words, due: Monday 27 August at 4 pm

2 x 10% presentations, equivalent to 1500. Dates to be negotiated

50% essay 5000-6000, due: Tuesday 23 October at 4 pm

Weekly Topics:

Week 1: Thinking about family

Week 2: Toward a personal family history of state-family relations

Week 3: Care politics

Week 4: The state-family nexus under neo-liberalism

Week 5: Policing (indigenous) mothers

Week 6: Politics of fatherhood

Week 7: Families in poverty

Week 8: Domestic violence

Week 9: Post-separation families

Week 10: Child support

Week 11: Child as subjects

Weekly readings will be available through Talis. You are encouraged to search out additional readings to contribute to your own thinking and to class discussions

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.