SC301-6-FY-CO:
Current Disputes in Sociology: Sociological Analysis III

The details
2020/21
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 08 October 2020
Friday 02 July 2021
30
07 October 2020

 

Requisites for this module
SC201
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BA LV31 History and Sociology,
BA LV32 History and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA LV38 History and Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA LV3C History and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA LQ32 Literature and Sociology,
BA LQ33 Literature and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA LQ38 Literature and Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA QL23 Literature and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA LP33 Media and Digital Culture,
BA LP34 Media and Digital Culture (including Placement Year),
BA P300 Media and Digital Culture (Including Foundation Year),
BA PL33 Media and Digital Culture (including Year Abroad),
BA LV35 Philosophy and Sociology,
BA LV36 Philosophy and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA LV83 Philosophy and Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA VL53 Philosophy and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA CL83 Sociology with Social Psychology,
BA CL93 Sociology with Social Psychology (Including Placement Year),
BA CLV3 Sociology with Social Psychology (Including Year Abroad),
BA L300 Sociology,
BA L301 Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BA L304 Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA L306 Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA LM38 Sociology and Criminology (Including Placement Year),
BA LM39 Sociology and Criminology,
BA LMH9 Sociology and Criminology (Including Year Abroad),
BA LMHX Sociology and Criminology (Including Foundation Year),
BA LL23 Sociology and Politics (Including Year Abroad),
BA LL24 Sociology and Politics (Including Placement Year),
BA LL32 Sociology and Politics,
BA L3J9 Sociology with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA L3M9 Sociology with Human Rights,
BA LMJ9 Sociology with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA LCJ8 Sociology with Psychosocial Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA LJ8C Sociology with Psychosocial Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA LJC8 Sociology with Psychosocial Studies,
BA P540 Journalism and Sociology,
BA P541 Journalism and Sociology (Including Placement Year),
BA P542 Journalism and Sociology (Including Year Abroad),
BSC L315 Sociology (Applied Quantitative Research),
BSC L316 Sociology (Applied Quantitative Research) (Including Year Abroad),
BSC L317 Sociology (Applied Quantitative Research) (Including Placement Year),
BA L332 Sociology with Counselling Skills,
BA L400 Social Change,
BA L401 Social Change (Including Foundation Year),
BA L402 Social Change (including Placement Year),
BA L403 Social Change (including Year Abroad)

Module description

The first term will build on some of the key concerns of sociology that you have encountered already and will introduce a range of approaches to understanding our (post)-modern, globalized and multicultural world. These lectures will introduce a range of substantive problems, theories, arguments and examples which are important for developing an understanding of contemporary society. It will look at some of the key contemporary theorists such as Bourdieu, as well as some of the key topics such as Modernity, Post-modernity, and Feminisms.

The second term introduces some of the theoretical and conceptual concerns and problems which influence all sociological research and thinking. The aim is to stimulate and deepen a reflective awareness of what it is to do sociology and why it is worth doing. It will also look at the future of sociology and topics and ideas which it might address.

Module aims

This course aims to broaden and deepen your understanding of some of the important themes raised in SC201. The first term will build on some of the key concerns of sociology that you have encountered already and will introduce a range of approaches to understanding our (post)-modern and multicultural world. These lectures will introduce a range of substantive problems, theories, arguments and examples which are important for developing an understanding of contemporary society. Overall, the module introduces some of the theoretical and conceptual concerns and problems which influence all sociological research and thinking.
The module is divided into 4 blocks:
Thinking Modernity and Postmodernity
Thinking Inequality
Thinking Power and its Consequences
Thinking Ahead

Module learning outcomes

To give students a critical awareness of a range of current topics in sociological theory.

To provide students with the capability to assess different philosophical perspectives and their relation to sociology.

To enable students to make links between theoretical approaches and sociological research.

To develop student’s ability to think abstractly and to assess the validity of a range of different conceptual positions.

Module information

Compulsory for all third year Sociology students

Learning and teaching methods

1 weekly lecture and class

Bibliography

  • Fraser, Mariam; Greco, Monica. (2005) The body: a reader, London: Routledge.
  • Ray, Larry J. (c1999, c2010) Theorizing classical sociology, Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Baert, Patrick; Silva, Filipe Carreira da. (2010) Social theory in the twentieth century and beyond, Cambridge: Polity.
  • Hutcheon, Linda. (2002) The politics of postmodernism, New York: Routledge.
  • Neuman, William Lawrence. (2014) Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches, Harlow: Pearson Education.
  • Du Bois, W. E. B.; Edwards, Brent Hayes. (2007) The souls of Black folk, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Bonneuil, Christophe; Fressoz, Jean-Baptiste; Fernbach, David. (2017) The shock of the anthropocene: the earth, history and us, London: Verso.
  • Halewood, Michael. (2020) Language and process: words, Whitehead and the world, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • Calhoun, Craig J. (2012) Contemporary sociological theory, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Hall, Stuart; Gieben, Bram. (1992) Formations of modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press in association with the Open University. vol. Understanding modern societies
  • Strinati, Dominic. (2004) An introduction to theories of popular culture, London: Routledge.
  • Savage, Mike; Williams, Karel. (2008-05) 'Elites: Remembered in Capitalism and Forgotten by Social Sciences', in The Sociological Review. vol. 56 (1_suppl) , pp.1-24
  • Foucault, Michel. (1990) The will to knowledge: the history of sexuality, volume 1, London: Penguin Books. vol. v. 1
  • Comaroff, Jean; Comaroff, John L. (2012-07) 'Theory from the South: Or, how Euro-America is Evolving Toward Africa', in Anthropological Forum. vol. 22 (2) , pp.113-131
  • Dreyfus, Hubert L.; Rabinow, Paul. (1983) Michel Foucault: beyond structuralism and hermeneutics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Collini, Stefan. (8 April 2010) 'Blahspeak', in London Review of Books. vol. 32 (7) , pp.29-34
  • Ashe, Fidelma; Lloyd, Moya. (1999) Contemporary social and political theory: an introduction, Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Skeggs, Beverley. (1997) Formations of class and gender: becoming respectable, London: Sage. vol. Theory, culture & society
  • Geertz, Clifford. (1993) The interpretation of cultures: selected essays, London: FontanaPress.
  • Gilroy, Paul. (1998-01) 'Race ends here', in Ethnic and Racial Studies. vol. 21 (5) , pp.838-847
  • Brooks, Ann. (1997) 'Consensus and Conflict in Second Wave Feminism: Issues of Diversity and ‘Difference’ in Feminist Theorising', in Postfeminisms: feminism, cultural theory, and cultural forms, London: Routledge., pp.13-26
  • Gilroy, Paul. (1993) The black Atlantic: modernity and double consciousness, London: Verso.
  • Young, Robert. (2016) Postcolonialism: an historical introduction, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • Dussel, Enrique. (1993-23) 'Eurocentrism and Modernity (Introduction to the Frankfurt Lectures)', in boundary 2. vol. 20 (3) , pp.65-
  • Williams, Karel. (2008) 'Elites: remembered in capitalism and forgotten by social sciences', in Remembering elites, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. vol. The sociological review monographs
  • Backett-Milburn, Kathryn; McKie, Linda. (2001) Constructing gendered bodies, Basingstoke: Palgrave. vol. 59
  • Bordo, Susan. (c1993) Unbearable weight: feminism, Western culture, and the body, Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Harding, S. (1997) 'Feminist epistemology', in Feminisms, Oxford: Oxford University Press. vol. Oxford readers, pp.160-170
  • Geertz, Clifford. (1996, c1995) After the fact: two countries, four decades, one anthropologist, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
  • Carter, Bob; Charles, Nickie. (2018-02) 'The animal challenge to sociology', in European Journal of Social Theory. vol. 21 (1) , pp.79-97
  • Žižek, Slavoj. (c2003) The puppet and the dwarf: the perverse core of Christianity, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. vol. Short circuits
  • Ashcroft, Bill; Griffiths, Gareth; Tiffin, Helen. (2006) The post-colonial studies reader, London: Routledge.
  • Stryker, Susan; Whittle, Stephen. (2006) The transgender studies reader, New York: Routledge.
  • Berger, John. (c1972) Ways of seeing, London: British Broadcasting Corporation/Penguin Books.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Autumn term coursework     50% 
Coursework   Spring term coursework     50% 
Exam  Main exam: 24hr during Summer (Main Period) 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
50% 50%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
50% 50%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Maitrayee Deka, email: maitrayee.deka@essex.ac.uk.
Prof Michael Halewood, email: m.halewood@essex.ac.uk.
Taught by various members of the Department
Jane Harper, Undergraduate Student Administrator, Telephone: 01206 873052 E-mail: socugrad@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
No
No
No

External examiner

Dr Monika Krause
London School of Economics
Dr Aneira Edmunds
School of Law, Politics & Sociology
Senior Lecturer
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 4299 hours, 8 (0.2%) hours available to students:
4291 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).

 

Further information
Sociology and Criminology

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