A portfolio comprising 6 critical reflections (500 words each) plus an introduction (500 words) and conclusion (500 words) on material covered across the workshops (50%); class participation (10%); and one class test (40%).

Representations do not simply communicate ‘reality’ but play an active part in constructing realities and making them ‘normal’. This module aims to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the important role of representation in social life. Throughout the module students will critically engage with a range of popular cultural forms – film, music, advertisements etc. – to consider how such forms both produce and communicate the key differences that comprise contemporary social life. We will explore the role of representation in the organization of difference and consider how through representation difference is constructed, normalized and possibly subverted. In considering representations of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, disability, childhood & generations, faith, and family, we will ask: how do representations work to ‘make’ or ‘undo’ understandings of these aspects of social life? We will also consider the role of representation in the creation and transmission of ideologies and discourses that come to position us as subjects and provide us with symbolic resources through which we mediate our social interactions. Accordingly, this module will draw upon the work of key theorists in semiotics (Barthes, Saussure) and employ a diverse body of theory (from, for example, feminism, Marxism, and post-structuralism) to encourage a ‘de-construction’ of social representation.

Representations do not simply communicate ‘reality’ but play an active part in constructing realities and making them ‘normal’. This module aims to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the important role of representation in social life. Throughout the module students will critically engage with a range of popular cultural forms – film, music, advertisements etc. – to consider how such forms both produce and communicate the key differences that comprise contemporary social life. We will explore the role of representation in the organization of difference and consider how through representation difference is constructed, normalized and possibly subverted. In considering representations of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, disability, childhood & generations, faith, and family, we will ask: how do representations work to ‘make’ or ‘undo’ understandings of these aspects of social life? We will also consider the role of representation in the creation and transmission of ideologiesand discourses that come to position us as subjects and provide us with symbolic resources through which we mediate our social interactions. Accordingly, this module will draw upon the work of key theorists in semiotics (Barthes, Saussure) and employ a diverse body of theory (from, for example, feminism, Marxism, and post-structuralism) to encourage a ‘de-construction’ of social representation.

Having completed this module student should:

1.       Have developed a sociological understanding of representation and its role in the organization of social life.

2.       Be able to critically engage with representations to determine their content.

3.       Understand how social difference is produced, sustained and possibly subverted in and by representation.

Chandler , D (2006) Semiotics: The Basics. London : Routledge.

Hall, S (ed.) (1997) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London : Sage. Potter, J (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London : Sage.

Skeggs, B (2004) Class, Self, Culture. London : Routledge.