module specification

This module will provide students with an introduction to the discipline of Sociology and some of the basic skills of identifying, applying and evaluating sociological approaches, concepts and debates to everyday situations. It will also provide an introduction to constructing sociological arguments, thinking critically and assessing sociological evidence.

A1.  To provide students with a subject orientation and an introduction to the basic skills of identifying, applying and evaluating sociological approaches, concepts and debates to everyday situations.
A2.  To provide students with an introduction to constructing sociological arguments, thinking critically and assessing sociological evidence.
A3.  To provide students with an introduction to the centrality of the Sociological Imagination.

Subject orientation:

• The individual and society – exploring the relationship between the personal troubles of the individual and the wider historical and social order.
• The self, groups, social institutions and social systems.
• Sociology and common sense – exploring different ways of knowing and understanding.
• Using sociological explanations from different theoretical perspectives
• The development of sociology – different approaches to doing sociology – from science to story-telling.
• The Life Course and the ways of understanding it across time and across different societies.

Skills – students will be able to:

• Develop an argument and write using a sociological approach
• Understand what counts as sociological evidence
• Analyse the everyday world sociologically
• Organise and reflect on individual learning

Teaching methods are tailored to key aspects of the learning situation such as content, task and learner characteristics. In common with the ethos and practice of the school, the teaching and learning methods used to deliver this module aims are varied. There is an emphasis upon the link between teaching and research so that research by staff provides the basis for teaching on some of the topics covered in the module.
Learning is also guided by reading and resources that are made available through Weblearn.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

(LO1) exercise their sociological imagination by interpreting and applying sociological insights to practical, everyday situations.
(LO2)  define and apply sociological concepts and evidence.
(LO3)  formulate, evaluate and present sociological arguments.
(LO4)  organise aspects of and reflect on their own learning.

Students will undertake a three-fold Workbook that reflects their ‘journey’ from a common-sense interpretation of an everyday occurrence to a more sociologically informed account. This involves an observation, a sociological explanation and a reflective account. The workbook is therefore tied very closely to the syllabus and the developmental aspects of the students’ acquisition of a ‘sociological imagination’.

The second coursework is an essay based around substantive topics built into the module (e.g. the life course; education; the family; sociology of work). This will enable us to assess the extent to which the students’ have developed their ability to formulate, evaluate and present sociologically informed arguments.

Bauman, Z. & May, T. (2001) Thinking Sociologically 2nd Ed., London: Blackwell
Bilton, T. et al (2002) Introductory Sociology  4th Ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Chambliss, W.J and Eglitis, D.A. (2014) Discover Sociology
Fulcher, J. & Scott, J. (2007) Sociology, 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press
Giddens, A and Sutton, P (2013) Sociology, 8th ed. Cambridge :Polity
Green, L. (2010) Understanding the Life Course: Sociological and Psychological Perspectives. London: Wiley.
Marsh, I. Punch, S. Harden, J, Keating, M. (2013) Sociology: making sense of society. London: Pearson Education.
Macionis, J. and Plummer, K. (2011) Sociology: A Global Introduction. London: Pearson Education.
Matthewman, S., Lane West-Newman, C. Curtis, B. (2013) Being Sociological. London: Palgrave.
Mills, C. W. (2000) The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: OUP.
Newman, D.M. (2012) Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life. London: Sage.
Ritzer, G (2015) Introduction to Sociology. London: Sage.
Turner, J.H, Beeghley, L. Powers, C.H. (2012) The Emergence of Sociological Theory. London: Sage.
Turner, J.H, (2012) Theoretical Sociology. London: Sage.