Rousseau's understanding of manhood and patriarchy played an important role in his political thought. The paper must analyze how Rousseau's concepts of manhood or patriarchy shaped his views on politics. It must include a clear thesis statement and interpret Rousseau's works discussed in class without citing outside sources. The paper will be evaluated on the quality of the argument, organization, engagement with course readings, and writing mechanics.

1. The Construction of Manhood and/or Patriarchy
For this paper you must choose at least one* of our early theorists (Rousseau) and write an
essay in which you make an interpretative argument regarding the role his understanding
of one of the following themes plays in his political thought: • [The Construction of]
Manhood and/or Patriarchy GUIDELINES/RUBRIC: 1. Your paper must have an
introductory paragraph with a thesis statement that provides a clear, complete, and direct
answer to the question: “What role does [concept x] play in the political thought of [thinker
y]?” 2. The use of outside sources is not permitted. You may include critiques of these
theorists from the syllabus (include Brown, Pateman, and Mills), but there’s no need to look
elsewhere. If you’re interested in more general knowledge about any of the thinkers visit
their respective pages on The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Note: If you’re looking
up Mill, make sure you’re looking at the page for John and not his dad, James…it will mess
you up. 3. Your paper will be evaluated by the following criteria: clarity and thoughtfulness
of the central argument (including a clear thesis statement in the introduction); the
organization of your paper as a defense of your thesis; the depth of engagement with the
course readings; and basic writing mechanics (grammar, punctuation, avoidance of
sentence fragments and run-ons).#Construction #Manhood #andor #Patriarchy