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)

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