Rennes - Master 1

02DMI812 - “Gender and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain”

Course description
This course will introduce students with the place of gender in eighteenth-century British society. The period from the Restoration to the Romantic era was marked by major economic, political, social and cultural transformations, which had a deep impact on the definition, construction and representation of gender roles in British society. Students will engage with key concepts and issues regarding gender and learn about the changing historically-determined constructions of gender across the period of the long-eighteenth century. Through a wide range of primary sources, they will become familiar with various aspects of the everyday lives of eighteenth-century men and women (education, fashion, leisure, politics, etc.) as well as with emerging debates on gendered norms and practices (social performance, male hegemony and female agency). Through the readings, discussions and assignments in this course, students will also gain a deeper understanding of the traditions of women’s history and its relationship to histories of masculinity and gender.

Selected bibliography

 BARKER, Hannah & Elaine CHALUS (eds.), Gender in Eighteenth-century England: Roles, Representations and Responsibilities, London, New York: Longman, 1997. 
 BUTLER, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 2nd (1999). New York and London: Routledge, 1990.
 CARTER, Philip, Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800, London: Longman, 2001.
 COHEN, Michèle & Tim HITCHCOCK (eds.), English Masculinities 1660-1800. London & NY: Longman, 1999.
 FLETCHER, Anthony, Gender, Sex and Subordination in England, 1500-1800, London, 1987.
 HARVEY, Karen, The Little Republic: Masculinity and Domestic Authority in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Oxford University Press, 2012.
 SHOEMAKER, Robert B., Gender in English Society 1650-1850: The Emergence of Separate Spheres?, London: Longman, 1998.
 SCOTT, Joan W., “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”, American Historical Review 91 (1986): 1053–75.
 VICINUS, Martha, Separate Spheres, Bloomington, 1974.
 VICKERY, Amanda, The Gentleman's Daughter. Women's Lives in Georgian England, New Haven-London, Yale University Press, 1998.
 YLIVUORI Soile, Women and Politeness in Eighteenth-Century England: Bodies, Identities, and Power, Routledge, 2018.