Social Worlds and the Sociological Imagination

Department of Political Science and International Studies, School of Government and Society

College of Social Sciences

Details

Code 21905

Level of study First Year

Credit value 20

Semester 1+2

Module description

This module is designed to introduce students to the discipline of sociology by exploring the questions that define the discipline. The module has three blocks which are: What is Sociology?, What is Society? and The Structure - Agency Problem. In the first block students are introduced to the debates about the purpose of sociology and whether or not it can be a science of society. The second block students are introduced to the way the concept of society developed as a distinctly modern concept discussed by philosophers, political theorists and social scientists. In the third block, students are introduced to the structure - agency problem and the way in which sociologists have focused on the micro level, the macro level and their possible integration.

Teaching and learning methods

Lecture and Seminar