Introductory description

See below

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. What is this thing called Social Science?
2. Science, Positivism and Social Inquiry
3. Values, Validity and Ideal Types: Weber
4. Historical Materialism: Marx
5. Critical Theory: The Frankfurt School
6. READING WEEK (NO TEACHING ACTIVITY)
7. Critical Realism
8. Feminist Standpoint Theory
9. Post-structuralism
10. Postcolonial Critique

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• (1)Demonstrate an advanced and critical understanding of the different philosophies of the social sciences.
• (2)Understand and analyse relevant theories and concepts and their uses in communicative contexts.
• (3)Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse critically and discuss relevant social scientific debates in the field of philosophies of social science.

Indicative reading list

Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. 1944. The Dialectic of Enlightenment. London: Verso. Preface and Chp. 1
Agger, B. 1991. “Critical Theory, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism: Their Sociological Relevance” in Annual Sociological Review, 17, 105-138. Available https://www.jstor.org/stable/2083337?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
Benjamin, Ruha 2015. ‘Black to the Future: In Memoriam’ Discover Society http://discoversociety.org/2015/06/03/black-to-the-future-in-memoriam/
Bhambra, G. 2016. “Comparative Historical Sociology and the State: Problems of Method” in Cultural Sociology, 10(3), 335-351.
Chalmers, A.F. (1982) What is this Thing Called Science? (2nd edition) Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Christakis, Nicholas A. 2013. ‘Let’s Shake Up the Social Sciences,’ New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/lets-shake-up-the-social-sciences.html
Code, L. (2014). ‘Ignorance, Injustice and the Politics of Knowledge: Feminist Epistemology Now”, Australian Feminist Studies, 29 (80): 148-160.
Collins, P. H. (1989). ‘The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought’, Signs, 14 (4): pp. 745-773.
Foucault, M. What is Enlightenment? in Rabinow (P.), éd., The Foucault Reader, New York, Pantheon Books, 1984, pp. 32-50. Available from https://leap.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2017/01/Foucault-What-is-enlightenment.pdf.
[…]Discipline and Punish, London: Penguin, 1977, ‘The Body of the Condemned’, pp. 3-31.
Haraway, D. (1988). ‘The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective’, Feminist Studies, 14 (3): 575-599.
Holmwood, J. (2001) ‘Gender and Critical Realism: A Critique of Sayer’, Sociology 35 (4): 947-965.
Holmwood, John (2010) ‘Sociology’s Misfortune: Disciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity and the Impact of Audit Culture’, British Journal of Sociology, 61 (4)
Laudan, Larry 1989. ‘If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It,’ The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (3): 369-375
Marx, K. 1844. ‘A contribution to the critique of Hegel’s philosophy of right’ Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, 7 & 10 February. Available online at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels 1998 [1848]. The Communist Manifesto. London: Verso. Available electronically from a number of sites including:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/
Nussbaum, M. (2008) ‘Education for Profit, Education for Freedom’
http://auroraforum.stanford.edu/files/essays/Nussbaum_Educ_for_Profit_Freedom.pdf
Sayer, A. (2000) ‘System, Lifeworld and Gender: Associational versus Counterfactual Thinking’, Sociology, 34 (4): 705-725.
Spivak, Gayatri C. 1998. ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ in Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds.) Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (University of Illinois Press)
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy entry, ‘Theory and Observation in Science’
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/science-theory-observation/
Stoetzler, M. 2017 “‘It only needs all’: re-reading Dialectic of Enlightenment at 70” in OpenDemocracy, https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/marcel-stoetzler/it-only-needs-all-re-reading-dialectic-of-enlightenment-at-70.
Weber, M. 1949. ‘“Objectivity” in social science and social policy’ in M. Weber The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Free Press).

Subject specific skills

• a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of the sociological discipline
• a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship

*originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline

• conceptual understanding that enables the student:

• to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in
  the discipline
• to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them

Transferable skills

Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:

• deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level
• continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level.
  And holders will have:
  the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring:

• the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
• decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations
• the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development