An examination of human sexuality as experience and institution. This class introduces students to the sociology of sex and sexuality, analyzing connections to other forms of identity, power, and social process. Particular emphasis will be placed on the mixing of money, markets, sex, and sexuality.
What is gender? What does it mean, and how does it matter in our everyday lives? This upper-division undergraduate seminar uses a sociological perspective to understand the role of gender in society. After discussing major feminist perspectives and sociological theories of gender, we will survey how gender works at different levels (individual, interactional, and structural) and across various social arenas, including family, financial relations, corporations, and government policy. A fundamental assumption of this course is that gender intersects with other local and global systems of inequality and privilege. Throughout the course, we will look at the ways that we are both subject to and participate in producing gender and interrelated inequalities.
SOC276, Spring 2025, Suffolk University:
"I really appreciated the comfortable classroom environment and how approachable professor Clingan was. I also loved how comprehensive the course content was, I felt like I got an introduction to so many aspects related to sociology and the social construction of sexuality."
"We covered topics that are usually stigmatized and we dissected them very effectively. We were able to discuss topics in class from our readings which were interesting."
"I enjoyed the assigned readings for this course; they were extremely informative and engaging. The instruction style encouraged independent and critical thinking."
SOC424, Spring 2023, University of Illinois Chicago:
"I really enjoyed this class. The professor provided great feedback and encouraged deep respectful conversations. The class was heavy on discussion. I really appreciated this because it allowed me to share my thoughts and listen to new perspectives as well. Also, the coursework was doable. I enjoyed the readings; they were very insightful."
"Professor Clingan does a fantastic job at balancing lecture, discussion, and group activities—often all within the span of a single class period."
"I really enjoyed doing the memos every week. It made it very easy to stay on top of my assignments for the week and balance these with work for other classes. I also genuinely enjoyed reading so much of the material we covered in class and found the readings chosen to be very engaging. There were things covered in class that were very valuable to learn and left an emotional impact on me.... I admit attendance was a struggle for me this semester due to circumstances outside of class, but I wish I would have attended class more because I found the material to be engaging, and Professor Clingan was very enthusiastic while teaching. I also really enjoyed the concept of our final project because it was more than an exercise in showing our knowledge of the material. It gave us an opportunity to use what we learned in an open-ended way to apply the material to something that interested us."