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| Module Availability |
| Semester 1 |
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| Assessment Pattern |
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Unit(s) of Assessment
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Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
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2000 word essay
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60
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Class-based exercise
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40
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Qualifying Condition(s)
A weighted aggregate mark of 40% is required to pass the module.
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| Module Overview |
| This module is designed to give students an opportunity to consider and analyse recent developments within sociology and social theory. The focus throughout is on the social, political and intellectual contexts within which sociology work is done today and the ways in which they might be seen to challenge or shape the discipline: in other words, the module considers the sociology of sociological knowledge and practice. |
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| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| None |
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| Module Aims |
· Provide an overview of recent developments within the discipline
· Explore the relation between these developments and the social, intellectual and political contexts within which sociological knowledge is produced.
- Critically consider the role that sociology should play in public life
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| Learning Outcomes |
· understand some key recent developments within social theory
· be able to evaluate critically how far historical developments
necessitate new sociological approaches
· have a sense of the place and role of sociological work within society today
· appreciate the possibilities, and limitations, of a sociological approach
· understand the relationship of sociological to other forms of explanation
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| Module Content |
· The contexts within which sociological knowledge is produced
· Recent developments in sociological theory (and their relation to classical sociology)
· Changing conceptions of the social
· New objects of sociological knowledge, and the sociology of objects
· Relating sociological explanations to those of other disciplines
· The possible contribution of contemporary sociology to politics and policy
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| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
11 x 2 hour sessions comprising a mixture of lectures and group exercises, discussions and other forms of participation
Regular preparatory reading
The class will do a preparatory collective exercise in advance of the first assessment (the class based exercise) |
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| Selected Texts/Journals |
Candlin, F and Guins, R (eds) (2009) The Object Reader, Routledge
Clawson, D et al (eds) (2007) Public Sociology, University of California Press
Cooper, G et al (eds) (2009) Sociological Objects, Ashgate
Fuller, S (2006) The New Sociological Imagination, Sage
Gane, N (ed) (2004), The Future of Social Theory, Continuum
Latour (2005) Reassembling the Social, Oxford University Press
Outhwaite, W (2006) The Future of Society, Blackwell
Turner, C (2010) Investigating Sociological Theory, Sage |
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| Last Updated |
| April 2011 |
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