|
| Module Availability |
| Semester 1 |
|
|
| Assessment Pattern |
|
Unit(s) of Assessment
|
Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
|
|
A portfolio comprising 4 critical reflections (500 words each) plus an introduction (250 words) and conclusion (250 words) on material covered across the workshops
|
50
|
|
Class participation
|
10
|
|
1 hour class test
|
40
|
|
Qualifying Condition(s)
A weighted aggregate mark of 40% is required to pass the module.
|
|
|
|
| Module Overview |
| This module explores the role of representation in the organization of social difference and considers how through representation difference is constructed, normalized and possibly subverted. Representations do not simply communicate ‘reality’ but play an active part in constructing realities and making them ‘normal’. |
|
|
| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| None |
|
|
| Module Aims |
| 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. |
|
|
| Learning Outcomes |
Having completed this module students 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
|
|
|
| Module Content |
| In considering representations of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, social class, disability, and childhood/generations, 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. |
|
|
| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
7 x 3 hour sessions
Formative assessment will be undertaken for the Portfolio |
|
|
| Selected Texts/Journals |
Cobley, P (ed.) (2001) The Routledge Companion to Semiotics and Linguistics. London: Routledge.
Chambers, D (2001) Representing the Family. London: Sage.
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. |
|
|
| Last Updated |
| April 2011 |
|
