Teaching Sociology 41(3) 282–293 © American Sociological Association 2013 DOI: 10.1177/0092055X13480153 ts.sagepub.com Article A challenge for sociology instructors is how to get students to recognize connections between theory and their own beliefs, kindling students’ “socio- logical imaginations” by connecting the personal to the theoretical (Mills 1959). A related challenge is getting students to recognize how their own views are influenced by the mass media (Berns 2008; Best 2008). A case in point is the question of feminism. Research shows that the U.S. population often avoids the feminist label even if they hold views consistent with feminist theory (e.g., Aron- son 2003; McCabe 2005; Zucker and Bay-Cheng 2010). Students often assume that feminism is of a particular ilk (e.g., “man-hating, femi-nazi”) with- out understanding that wide variation exists in feminist thought. The question for instructors is how to address students’ avoidance of feminism while helping them recognize that we are all theo- reticians, holding views that connect with socio- logical theories. In this article, I offer one way to do this— through the Gender Attitude and Belief Inventory (GABI), a teaching tool that can be used in courses on gender, social problems, social theory, and oth- ers that include gender theory. The GABI was designed to aid students in (a) realizing how socio- logical theory links to their personal beliefs and 480153TSO XX X 10.1177/0092055 X13480153Teaching SociologyMcCabe 2013 1 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA Corresponding Author: Janice McCabe, Department of Sociology, Dartmouth College, 6104 Silsby Hall, Room 111, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Email: janice.m.mccabe@dartmouth.edu Making Theory Relevant: The Gender Attitude and Belief Inventory Janice McCabe 1 Abstract This article describes and evaluates the Gender Attitude and Belief Inventory (GABI), a teaching tool designed to aid students in (a) realizing how sociological theory links to their personal beliefs and (b) exploring any combination of 11 frequently used theoretical perspectives on gender, including both conservative theories (physiological, sociobiological, and structural functionalist) and feminist ones (liberal, socialist, Marxist, radical, separatist, cultural, multicultural/black, and postmodern feminism). In this article, I discuss the inventory, how I use it in my sociology of gender class, and how it could be adapted for use in other classes. I also analyze qualitative and quantitative evaluations of its effectiveness based on responses from students at two universities (N = 603) and pretest and posttest results of its impact on student learning immediately following the activity (N = 161) and at the end of the semester (N = 33). These data suggest that the GABI increases students’ understanding of theoretical perspectives on gender, encourages them to reflect on their own views and (mis)perceptions of theories, and is an engaging exercise for students. Most importantly, this is a valuable exercise to aid students in realizing how sociological theory links to their everyday lives. Keywords sociology of gender, gender, classroom-based exercises, active learning, social theory by guest on November 14, 2016 tso.sagepub.com Downloaded from