SS6055 - Political Sociology (2015/16)
| Module specification | Module approved to run in 2015/16 | ||||||||||||
| Module status | DELETED (This module is no longer running) | ||||||||||||
| Module title | Political Sociology | ||||||||||||
| Module level | Honours (06) | ||||||||||||
| Credit rating for module | 15 | ||||||||||||
| School | Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities | ||||||||||||
| Total study hours | 150 | ||||||||||||
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| Assessment components |
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| Running in 2015/16(Please note that module timeslots are subject to change) |
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Module summary
The study of political sociology here involves an investigation of the interaction of political ideas, such as democracy, with social change. This interrelationship - between culture, economy, social structure, and political processes - will be studied using key theoretical approaches. The areas of specific study will be based around an investigation into the state, nationality, interest groups, new social movements, and power. These will be critically assessed in the context of an analysis of power and change. Students will look at different approaches such as structuralism, rational choice theory, political culture theory. Thus by the end of the module students should have an understanding of recent sociological explanations of political processes and events, a grasp of the competing approaches in the field, an understanding of the main methods of analysis.
Module aims
The module aims to:
1. providestudents with the analytical tools to understand some of the fundamental forces that have shaped, and are shaping, the world in which we live.
2. givestudents the opportunity to expand their knowledge of politics and society, and to build up special expertise in particular areas of interest such as power or new social movements.
3. givestudents the opportunity to develop their capacity for rigorous oral and written argument and a critical approach to sociological issues from a political vantage point.
4. consider alternative explanations for important social and political developments, using perspectives from political sociology that are not found elsewhere in the sociology course.
Syllabus
1. Theories of the State and Power
2. Marxism, Anarchism and Elite Theory
3. Pluralism, Bureaucracy and neo-pluralism
4. New Social Movements
Learning and teaching
Key issues will be introduced through lectures. Students will then discuss and unpack these issues in seminars in small groups. Weblearn and blended learning resources will also be used extensively.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
1. Compare different political sociological perspectives
2. Explain social power in everyday interaction of social life
3. Compare and contrast power relations between various social cleavages, institutions, and the state
4. Explain the importance of the struggles, achievements and failures of interest groups and new social movements
Assessment strategy
1. An essay that looks at the political and social theory that students have been introduced to at this stage of the module.
2. An essay that requires students to use theory to evaluate a particular question around the issues of the state and society that has been studied on the module
Bibliography
R Dalton, Citizen Politics, 3rd edn (2002)
K. Faulks, Political Sociology: A critical introduction (2000)
M. Drake, Political Sociology for a Globalised World (2010)
G. Taylor, The New Political sociology (2010)
S. Lukes, Power (2004)
S. Clegg, Frameworks of Power (1989)
S.Isaacs, C. Sparks, Political Theory in Context (2005)