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2011/2 Provisional Module Catalogue - UNDER CONSTRUCTION & SUBJECT TO CHANGE
 Module Code: SOCM020 Module Title: THEORY AND METHOD
Module Provider: Sociology Short Name: SOCM01
Level: M Module Co-ordinator: COOPER G Dr (Sociology)
Number of credits: 15 Number of ECTS credits: 7.5
 
Module Availability
Autumn semester
Assessment Pattern

Components of Assessment
Method(s)
Percentage Weighting
Coursework
One 2000 word essay based on one of the course core themes
15 credits

Module Overview
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
Module Aims

The course aims to

  • provide students with an understanding of the relationship between sociological theory and method in social research; 
  • introduce some basic issues in the philosophy of social science; 
  • give students an insight into the ways in which theoretical frameworks inform, or are presupposed by, certain forms of analysis; 
  • critically reflect on assumptions about social research.
Learning Outcomes
Module Content

The course will address a range of issues and topics including :

  • Interpretation and explanation
  • The relationship between social scientific and lay accounts
  • Categorisation and identity
  • Issues bearing on the scientific status of social research
  • The social construction of knowledge
  • Critical and descriptive social research
  • Feminist social research
  • Reflexivity
Methods of Teaching/Learning
Selected Texts/Journals

Selected references 

Boltanski, L and Thevenot, L (2006) On Jusification, Princeton University Press

 Delamont, S (2003) Feminist Sociology, Sage.

 Delanty, G and Strydom, P (eds) (2003) Philosophies of Social Science, Open University Press.

 Garfinkel, H (2002) Ethnomethodology’s  Program, Rowman and Littlefield.

 Geertz, C (2000) Available Light, Princeton .

 Harvey , L (1990) Critical Social Research, Unwin Hyman.

 Hughes, J and Shorrock, W (1997) The Philosophy of Social Research, Longman.

 McCarl-Nielsen, J (1990) Feminist Research Methods,  Westview Press.

 Rabinow, P (ed) (1986) The Foucault Reader, Penguin.

 Silverman, D (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data, Sage

 Smith, D (1990) Texts, Facts and Femininity, Routledge.

 Steier, F (1991) Research and Reflexivity, Sage.

 Williams, M and May, T (1996) Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Research, UCL Press.

 
Last Updated
27th August 2009