Module Descriptors
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY
SOCY70191
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 7
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Michael Ball
Email: M.S.Ball@staffs.ac.uk
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 40
Independent Study Hours: 260
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
- COURSEWORK -ESSAY weighted at 50%
- COURSEWORK - SECOND ESSAY weighted at 50%
Module Details
Module Learning Strategies
Weekly workshops combining tutor-led discussion, directed reading and group critical discussion [total 40 hours], plus independent study [260 hours]
Module Additional Assessment Details
Taking as the departure for each essay a substantive issue raised in the module, and pursuing its wider implications within a contemporary social theory framework.
The first coursework essay will assess [Learning Outcomes 1 & 2]
The second essay will assess [Learning Outcomes 1 & 3]
The first coursework essay will assess [Learning Outcomes 1 & 2]
The second essay will assess [Learning Outcomes 1 & 3]
Module Texts
J Baudrillard (1981) Simulations (Galilee)
J Baudrillard (1989) America (Verso)
Z Bauman (1999) Culture as Praxis (Sage)
U Beck, A Giddens and S Lash (1994) Reflexive Modernization (Polity)
M Berman (1983) All that is Solid Melts into Air (Verso)
P Bourdieu (1984) Distinction (Routledge)
C B ryant and D Jary (1991) Giddens' Structuration Theory (Routledge)
J Butler (1990) Gender Trouble (Routledge)
J Derrida (1973) Speech and Phenomena (Northwestern UP)
N Elias (1994) The Civilising Process (Blackwell)
M Foucault (1976) The History of Sexuality (Penguin)
A Giddens (1991) The Consequences of Modernity (Polity)
J Habermas (1975) Legitimation Crisis (Beacon)
D Harvey (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity (Blackwell)
J-F Lyotard (1993) Libidinal Economy (Athlone)
J O'Neill (1992) The Poverty of Postmodernism (Routledge)
J Baudrillard (1989) America (Verso)
Z Bauman (1999) Culture as Praxis (Sage)
U Beck, A Giddens and S Lash (1994) Reflexive Modernization (Polity)
M Berman (1983) All that is Solid Melts into Air (Verso)
P Bourdieu (1984) Distinction (Routledge)
C B ryant and D Jary (1991) Giddens' Structuration Theory (Routledge)
J Butler (1990) Gender Trouble (Routledge)
J Derrida (1973) Speech and Phenomena (Northwestern UP)
N Elias (1994) The Civilising Process (Blackwell)
M Foucault (1976) The History of Sexuality (Penguin)
A Giddens (1991) The Consequences of Modernity (Polity)
J Habermas (1975) Legitimation Crisis (Beacon)
D Harvey (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity (Blackwell)
J-F Lyotard (1993) Libidinal Economy (Athlone)
J O'Neill (1992) The Poverty of Postmodernism (Routledge)
Module Resources
OHP
Video playback
Library facilities
Video playback
Library facilities
Module Indicative Content
1. An overview of contemporary developments in social theory, concentrating especially on those that raise issues of
general relevance across the arts and social sciences eg 'post-empiricism', structuralism and post-structuralism,
feminist theory, postmodernity (Lyotard, Baudrillard) and the critiques and defence of modernity (Giddens, Jameson,
Habermas)
2. A more in-depth consideration of selected topics in or areas of contemporary social theory, including:
Interpretive sociology/hermeneutics, feminist theory, reflexive modernization and risk society, postcolonial theory,
history and modernism, neo-Marxism, critical theory and postmodernism, globalization, structuralism and
poststructuralism, structuration theory, actor-network theory.
general relevance across the arts and social sciences eg 'post-empiricism', structuralism and post-structuralism,
feminist theory, postmodernity (Lyotard, Baudrillard) and the critiques and defence of modernity (Giddens, Jameson,
Habermas)
2. A more in-depth consideration of selected topics in or areas of contemporary social theory, including:
Interpretive sociology/hermeneutics, feminist theory, reflexive modernization and risk society, postcolonial theory,
history and modernism, neo-Marxism, critical theory and postmodernism, globalization, structuralism and
poststructuralism, structuration theory, actor-network theory.