MODULE SPECIFICATION
Code: UPSNPA-30-3 Title: Contemporary Critiques of Modern Society Version: 3
Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Standard
Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: Sociology
Faculty Committee approval: QSC Chair’s Action Date: 18/9/09
Approved for Delivery by: ( indicate name of affiliated institution if module will only be delivered by them)
Valid from: September 2009 Discontinued from:
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA/BSC (Hons)
Pre-requisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Entry requirements:
(If the module is offered as CPD or stand alone, indicate the entry requirements)
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
Students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts and theoretical approaches developed within selected contemporary sociological critiques of modern society (components A and B).
2. Demonstrate an awareness of social context, of social diversity and inequality, and their impact on the lives of individuals and groups (components A and B).
3. Demonstrate an understanding of comparative empirical research findings in selected areas of contemporary sociological research (components A and B).
4. Demonstrate some understanding of social processes underpinning social change (components A and B).
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between sociological argument and evidence (components A and B).
6. Appreciate the complexity of human behaviour and social phenomena, through the evaluation, synthesising and application of evidence and the production of reasoned sociological argument (components A and B).
7. Undertake and present scholarly sociological work (components A and B).
8. Understand the methodological issues which underpin varieties of empirical sociological research and sociological theory (components A and B).
Syllabus outline:
The following are examples of selected areas of contemporary sociological critique and research which might be included in any one year in which the course is taught.
1. Disciplinary Society
Theorist
Michel Foucault
Issues
The growth of detailed, rationalised, regulation and normalisation of the whole social body; the creation of the modern subject.
Research
eg. the nature and history of prisons, of the asylum, of schools and hospitals - and other disciplinary institutions; the nature of micro-power in such settings; and associated methodological issues.
2. Ethnic hatred and mass violence in the modern era
Theorists
Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Slavoj Zizek, Zygmunt Bauman
Issues
Scientific rationality, mass violence and domination; the persistence of ethnic identity and nationalisms; the role of collective affect in social relations etc.
Research
eg. total war, racism and genocidal killing; and associated methodological issues.
3. Mass society, the culture industry, mass consumption, and mass media.
Theorists
Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Jean Baudrillard.
Issues
mass consumption, mass media and the dangers of mindlessness; domination and control in a world of lost of subjectivity and self-reflection etc.
Research
eg. consumption, lifestyle and identity; mass politics and the mass media; fame and notoriety etc; and associated methodological issues.
4. Jurgen Habermas’s defence of Modernity and Enlightenment reason
Issues
Universal human interests; the rescue of substantive rationalisation; communicative action; system and lifeworld etc.
Research
eg. work on new forms of participatory democracy; and associated methodological issues.
5. Globalisation and late capitalism
Theorists
Mike Featherstone, David Harvey, Anthony Giddens, Scott Lash, Manuel Castells, Roland Robertson, Martin Albrow
Issues
Trans-national capitalism; mass consumption; the development and influence of communications technologies; the globalisation of culture; the globalization of everyday life; the mobility of capital and labour; the globalization of political practices; the global city, etc.
Research
e.g. (nation) state; everyday life of global cities; local-global businesses; and associated methodological issues.
6. Postmodernity and Postmodernism
Theorists
Jean Francois Lyotard, Frederic Jameson, Jean Baudrillard, David Harvey, Zygmunt Bauman.
Issues
The totalitarian threats of Modernity, Enlightenment, and grand theory; social and political difference and diversity; critique of late capitalism etc.
Research
Work on social diversity etc; and associated methodological issues.
7. Risk society
Theorists
Ulrick Beck, Anthony Giddens, Alberto Melucci, Scott Lash.
Issues
Environmental destruction; unsteerable political/social/economic processes; risk aspects of scientific research and development, Reflexive Modernity, New Social Movements etc.
Research
e.g. networks of renewal, institutional and individual reflexivity; and associated methodological issues.
Teaching and learning methods:
1. Traditional lectures – is some cases supported by PowerPoint presentations.
2. Weekly seminars – varying format.
3. Use of IT resources where appropriate
Indicative sources:
Adorno T and M Horkheimer. (1979) The Dialectic of Enlightenment, Verso
Baudrillard J. (1993) The Transparancy of Evil, Verso
Baudrillard J. (1996)The System of Objects, Verso
Bauman Z. (1997) Postmodernity and its Discontents, Polity
Bauman Z. (1989) Modernity and the Holocaust, Polity
Beck U. (1992) Risk Society, Sage
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of Network Society, Blackwell
Foucault M. (1971) Madness and Civilisation, Tavistock
Foucault M. (1981) The History of Sexuality, Penguin
Foucault M. (1991) Discipline and Punish, Penguin
Habermas J. (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action, Beacon
Harvey D. (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell
Lyotard J F. (1986) The Postmodern Condition, Manchester UP
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 50% B: 50%
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Examination (3 hours) 50%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Short Essay / Review (1500 words) 25%
2. Short Essay / Review (1500 words) 25%
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)
Component A
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Examination (3 hours) 50%
Component B
Description of each element Element weighting
1. Long Essay (3000 words) 50%
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT: Attendance at taught classes is not required.
Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)