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Sociology

Core Courses

Current Issues in Social Theory

Tutor: Dr Robert Gibb
Course Type: Option
Schedule: Semester 1, Thursday 11-1pm

Students come to the course with very different backgrounds as far as their knowledge of the subject is concerned.  Students are encouraged to develop their own interests within the field of social theory in dialogue with the tutor.  Meetings involve small group discussions and seminars.  A number of general themes or topics are explored:

  • What is social theory? What is the relationship between epistemology/ the philosophy of social science and substantive social theory?
  • What is the nature of society?
  • Are theories of identity important for sociological thought?
  • What is the relevance of social theory to global society (world-systems’ theory, globalisation)?
  • What is the nature of power? Is it best thought of in terms of governmentality?
  • What is the challenge of the post-colonial condition to social theory?
  • In what different ways have social theorists defined the concepts of agency and practice?
  • Should social science be critical?

Students will debate these issues in the seminars and write on topics chosen from this list for their essays.

Methods of Social Research

Tutor: Dr Jo Ferrie
Course Type: Option
Schedule: Semester 1, Thursday 3-5pm

This is an advanced introduction to quantitative and qualitative methods in sociology, as well as to issues of epistemology and the ethics of social research.  It has the advantage of being taught by member(s) of staff who have themselves undertaken sociological research.  Whilst the subject is pitched at a level where it can stimulate discussion amongst students with an Honours degree in sociology already, it is also aiming to cater for students with another degree (usually in a cognate subject), who want to convert to sociology.  Like the MRes Sociology and Research Methods, it also caters for international students who may have had a very different training from the benchmarked British sociology curriculum.

Dissertation

The MSc Sociology degree is designed to culmimate in a dissertation (12-15000words) that makes an original contribution to knowledge.  All students progress to this stage, unless they fail to meet the requisite standard in the combined essay/exam assessment.
The dissertation is normally an empirical study based on research involving human subjects; for this reason, it requires permission from the College Ethics Committee before the student is allowed to start the interviews, or any other techniques of data-gathering.  The process of gaining ethical consent is sometimes lengthy and for this reason students are required to present an initial dissertation proposal of 1000 words, by Feb 7th.  They will then be allocated a supervisor who will assist them with the review of the literature, the appropriate method and the request for ethics permission.
Students may opt for a purely theoretical dissertation if they can show their supervisor that they have sufficient library/archival materials and ideas to contribute an original piece of work.