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Regular version of the site
2023/2024

Sociological Theory and Research

Type: Optional course (university)
Delivered by: School of Sociology
When: 1-4 module
Open to: everyone
Instructors: Колодяжный Артем Александрович, Нам Никита, Olga E. Kuzina
Language: English
ECTS credits: 8
Contact hours: 136

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Sociological theory and research is a one year course for the BA students in social sciences. The main goal is to develop advanced skills of reading, understanding, and critically discussing different sociological theories and to integrate conceptual thinking with contemporary empirical research. Course enrolment. To put themselves onto the official list of members of this course students should write the motivation letter in which they need to write about themselves, their merits, their expectations for the course, providing arguments why I should enrol them in the course.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Throughout the course, students deal with questions relating to the nature of sociology; the methodology and methods which sociologists use; and the major sociological perspectives. The classical foundations of sociological theory, beginning with the works of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, are discussed and followed by those sociologists of the 20th century who had some effect on how we think about and do sociology.  The course is designed to • broaden and deepen students' engagement with theory and empirical research in sociology • develop skills of reading, understanding, and critically discussing different sociological theories • integrate theorizing with empirical research for exploration of the ways different theories, methods and evidence can shape our understanding of events and phenomena • develop analytical essay writing skills.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • to understand the subject matter of sociology in comparison with other social sciences
  • to develop students’ understanding of what it is to think like a sociologist with specific focus on the issues of theoretical conceptualization and research methodology
  • to make students familiar with sociological research methodology
  • to develop students’ understanding of what it is to think like a sociologist with specific focus on the issues of theoretical conceptualisation and research methodology
  • to make students familiar with sociological concepts and theories and to challenge commonsense perceptions and understandings on contemporary social issues
  • to make students able to apply a sociological understanding of class, stratification, race, gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity, nation, deviance, generations, family, social embeddedness of economic actions, consumption, networks, health, media, religion and war
  • to integrate theorising with empirical research for exploration of the ways different theories, methods and evidence can shape our understanding of events and phenomena
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Sociology as a perspective
  • Key principles of sociological research
  • Research designs in sociology
  • Three epistemological approaches in sociology
  • Research Methods
  • Ontological debates
  • Materialist and conflict approach to social process (Marx)
  • ‘Sociologism’ as a way of thinking (Durkheim)
  • Social action and ‘Verstehen’ approach in sociology (Weber)
  • Sociology of G.Simmel - content and forms of social interaction
  • Social construction of reality
  • Class and social stratification
  • Markets and money
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Nation and nationalism
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Family
  • Life course
  • Crime and deviance
  • Religion
  • Conflict and warfare
  • Health and medicine
  • Digital media
  • New forms of sociation
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Home assignments
    8 short essays (no more than 1000 words)
  • non-blocking Perusall scoring
    e-book reader with collaborative annotation tools to ensure that students read and come to class prepared
  • non-blocking Essay
    One long essay of 1500-2000 words (20%), deadline: 15th of May
  • non-blocking Class participation activity
    Activity in class
  • non-blocking Tests
    2 diagnostic tests to identify students' strengths and weaknesses
  • non-blocking Exam
    An achievement test (20%), designed to show the mastery of the syllabus. It will be made in a form of unseen written examination at the end of the course
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2023/2024 4th module
    0.1 * Class participation activity + 0.2 * Essay + 0.2 * Exam + 0.1 * Home assignments + 0.1 * Perusall scoring + 0.3 * Tests
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Ace West Don H. Zimmerman, Candace West, & Don H. Zimmerman. (2009). Accounting for doing gender.
  • Anderson, B. R. O. (2006). Imagined Communities : Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1694834
  • Beckert, J. (2014). The great transformation of embeddedness: Karl Polanyi and the new economic sociology. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.646B5478
  • Biggart, N. W., & Wiley InterScience (Online service). (2002). Readings in Economic Sociology. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=231984
  • Bulmer, M. (2017). Sociological Research Methods: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.
  • Butler, J. (2007). Gender Trouble : Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=881409
  • Conrad, P. (1992). Medicalization and Social Control. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.001233
  • Critical race theory : an introduction, Delgado, R., 2012
  • Dillon, M. (2014). Introduction to Sociological Theory : Theorists, Concepts, and Their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century (Vol. Second edition). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=667235
  • Economic sociology : a systematic inquiry, Portes, A., 2010
  • Economy and society : overviews in economic sociology, , 1990
  • Gender and research. Vol.1: Contexts and theory, , 2008
  • Grusky, D. B., & Weisshaar, K. R. (2018). Social Stratification : Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective (Vol. Fourth edition). New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1808213
  • Lee, David, and Howard Newby. The Problem of Sociology, Routledge, 1983. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=243333.
  • Mary Kaldor. (2013). In Defence of New Wars. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.96C32171
  • Max Weber and the idea of economic sociology, Swedberg, R., 2000
  • Plummer, K. (2016). Sociology: The Basics: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.
  • Portes, A. (2010). Economic Sociology : A Systematic Inquiry. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=329852
  • Quantity and quality in social research, Bryman, A., 2004
  • Race, gender, sexuality,and social class : dimensions of inequality, , 2013
  • Readings in economic sociology, , 2002
  • Scott, John. Social Theory : Central Issues in Sociology, SAGE Publications, 2005. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=354958
  • Sex, gender and society, Oakley, A., 2015
  • Social research : issues, methods and process, May, T., 2011
  • Social research methods, Bryman, A., 2016
  • Sociology of religion : a reader, , 2019
  • The ethnicity reader : nationalism, multiculturalism and migration, , 2010
  • The Oxford handbook of the history of nationalism, , 2013
  • The sociological imagination, Mills, C. W., 2000
  • Theories of race and racism : a reader, , 2003
  • Understanding and applying research design, Abbott, M. L., 2013

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Eugenics, race and intelligence in education, Chitty, C., 2009
  • Introduction to sociological theory : theorists, concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-..., Dillon, M., 2020
  • Researching race and ethnicity : methods, knowledge and power, Gunaratham, Y., 2003
  • Rethinking the color line : readings in race and ethnicity, Gallagher, C. A., 2012
  • The politics of multiculturalism : race and racism in contemporary Britain, Pitcher, B., 2009
  • Theories of race and ethnic relations, , 1999

Authors

  • KUZINA OLGA EVGENEVNA