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]

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.

Weekly workshops combining tutor-led discussion, directed reading and group critical discussion [total 40 hours], plus independent study [260 hours]

OHP
Video playback
Library facilities

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)