Sociology of Gender

This concentration explores the social and cultural construction of gender as a fundamental basis of social relations and institutions and the micro and macro narratives we tell about those interpersonal relations and institutions. The guiding methodological and theoretical focus conjoins feminist perspectives with other sociological subfields, revisiting key areas of investigation such as immigration, globalization, theories of the state, sexuality; health, medicine and the body; education, marriage, family, paid and unpaid work, science and technology, as well as the history of the discipline itself. Faculty in this area investigate how gender relations shape and are shaped by organizations, social movements, urbanization, public and social policy, diverse cultures, and global political-economic systems. The focus is on how dominant ideologies, institutions, and practices create, reproduce, and/or challenge gendered constructions of everyday life. Our intellectual mission is to consider the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, social class, age, disability, and sexuality in a transnational and historical context. A foundation course, several electives, and a comprehensive examination cap the gender concentration requirements.

Affiliated Sociology Faculty

Foundation course

Men, Women, and Social Change

Sample electives

Sexuality and the State
Feminist Theory
Feminist Methodologies
Family Violence
Race, Class and Gender
Ethnic, Racial and Religious Identity
Children in America
Gender and Globalization
Gender, Sexuality and Crime
Gender and Social Policy
The Family

Graduate Consortium of Women's Studies

Students can take all courses offered as part of the GCWS
Some examples of courses taught by NU faculty are:

Faculty outside Sociology and Anthropology who serve on Committees and/or advise for the Gender Concentration in Sociology

Affiliated Centers and Interdisciplinary Programs

Women's Studies Program (Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies)
The Women's Studies Program provides women and men at Northeastern with an opportunity to examine the diversity of human experience through the perspectives of women. Students have the opportunity to work closely with faculty, learning by actively participating in gender research. Students examine gender roles in the United States and around the world; how they developed and why they are changing; as well as how ideas about gender shape the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences.

The Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at MIT brings together feminist scholars and teachers at Boston-area institutions (Boston College, Brandeis University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts, Boston) devoted to graduate teaching and research in women's studies and to advancing interdisciplinary women's studies scholarship.

For Completed Dissertations in the Sociology of Gender click here.