Unit name | Contemporary Sociological Theory |
---|---|
Unit code | SOCIM3101 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Skinner |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit provides a broad grounding in contemporary sociological theory by combining three different but related foci: a range of prominent perspectives within social theory, the contribution of particular theorists, and the central concepts that any aspiring theory must develop in its own distinctive way. Thus, important approaches or schools of thought within social/sociological theory such as symbolic interactionism, rational choice theory, structuralism, critical theory, and feminism are engaged with, and the ideas of individual thinkers such as Foucault, Giddens, Habermas and Bourdieu are explored. The various paradigms and authors are then evaluated in terms of their contribution to the resolution of some long-standing conceptual dualisms and problems in social thought, such as structure/agency, economy/culture, system/lifeworld, power/resistance, and scientific/normative understanding.
Aims:
By the end of the unit, students should be able to:
The main method of teaching will be weekly face-to-face seminar sessions which will involve a combination of lecturing, group discussion and student presentations.
The assessment will relate directly to one of more of the learning outcomes specified above in 15 and will be an extended essay of 4000 words (or equivalent) showing an in-depth understanding and integration of key aspects of the unit.