Thinking Sociologically

Description

Thinking Sociologically is the department's core sociological theory module. The course offers our students an introduction to a range of key sociological thinkers and bodies of thought, both classical and contemporary, that inform sociological analysis of social life and social institutions. As such, this course is intended to provide our honours students with a conceptual 'toolkit', that can be applied to facilitate understanding, insight and informed critique with respect to a broad range of historical and contemporary social, political and economic phenomena. The course aims to give students an understanding of what constitutes core sociological ways of theorising and researching specific aspects of social life. It considers the similarities and differences between the various theoretical and methodological orientations of key sociologists from the nineteenth century to the present day. The course also considers the relevance, or otherwise, of these ideas to understanding contemporary society.