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    Overview

    The politics of class, gender, and ethnic inequality in New Zealand, with some comparative reference to the US and Europe.

    About this paper

    Paper title Politics and Society
    Subject Politics
    EFTS 0.25
    Points 30 points
    Teaching period Not offered in 2024 (On campus)
    Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) $1,860.75
    International Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website.
    Restriction
    POLS 404
    Limited to
    MPols
    Contact
    politics@otago.ac.nz
    Teaching staff
    Associate Professor Brian Roper
    Paper Structure

    Introduction

    • Week 1: Introductions and Course Administration
    • Week 1: The Sociological Imagination
    • Week 2: The Neoliberal Justification of Social Inequality

    Section One: Ethnicity

    • Week 2: Ethnic Inequality and Racist Politics
    • Week 3: White Settler Colonialism
    • Week 3: The Political Economy of Ethnic Inequality

    Section Two: Gender

    • Week 4: Is the Family Anti-Social? Gender Inequality in the Family-Household
    • Week 4: Beyond the Barriers? Gender Inequality in Paid Employment
    • Week 5: Explaining Gender Inequality: Radical Feminism and Socialist Feminism
    • Week 6: The Changing Social Construction and Cultural Practices of Masculinity
    • Week 7: The Changing Social Construction and Cultural Practices of Femininity
    • Week 7: Gender Politics: The Anti-Feminist Backlash and Rise of Raunch Culture
    • Week 8: Gender Politics: Welfare and Paid Parental Leave
    • Week 8: Postmodernist Feminism and Contemporary Feminist Theory

    Section Three: Class

    • Week 9: The Unequal Distribution of Income, Wealth and Life Chances
    • Week 9: What is Class? Marx vs. Weber
    • Week 10: What is Class? Recent Theories
    • Week 11: The Changing Working Class
    • Week 11: A New Middle Class?
    • Week 12: Class Politics: Labour, National and the Minor Parties
    • Week 12: The Upper Propertied or Capitalist Class
    • Week 13: Class Politics: Taxation and Social Spending

    Conclusion

    • Week 13: What Can Be Done to Reduce Inequality?
    Textbooks
    No required coursebook or course reader.
    Graduate Attributes Emphasised
    Communication, Critical thinking, Information literacy, Research, Self-motivation.
    View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.
    Learning Outcomes

    Students who successfully complete this paper will be able to:

    • Demonstrate knowledge of the methods in the study of politics, specifically those employed in investigating political problems and phenomena relating to New Zealand society
    • Analyse political ideas and assumptions to assess the connections between ideas
    • Apply abstractions (general ideas and methods) to new and unfamiliar aspects of New Zealand politics and society
    • Articulate ideas, arguments and experiences to others both as a writer and speaker, and carry out self-directed and independent research

    Timetable

    Not offered in 2024

    Location
    Dunedin
    Teaching method
    This paper is taught On Campus
    Learning management system
    Blackboard
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