Key Concepts: Global Foundations in Sociology

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 4
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Ian Sanjay Patel
• Assessment: a 1500-word critical writing exercise (20%) and 2000-word essay (80%)

In this module we introduce you to key ideas within sociology and to sociological theory. We will cover central themes and questions about what sociology is, the ways in which we can analyse and identify ‘the social’, and the ways in which sociologists approach the social world. The module is designed to help you think, and see, like a sociologist.

We begin by examining the core theoretical concepts and writers who belong to classical sociology and consider their contemporary relevance. Having examined sociology’s original ideas and its historical origin stories, we will then turn to modern social theory, including sociological perspectives, approaches and knowledge from the Global South.

Indicative syllabus

• The historical context of the discipline of sociology
• Sociology and modernity
• Major ideas in the canon of classical sociology (with reference to the work of Émile Durkheim and Max Weber)
• The relationship of sociology to other major disciplines in the social sciences
• Class and history (with reference to the work of Karl Marx)
• The critical challenge to existing social thought posed by the work of W.E.B. Du Bois
• Key ideas in modern social theory (including the work of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler and Edward Said)
• Global trends in sociology and the challenges of global sociology
• The contemporary relevance and role of sociology

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of core theoretical, methodological and substantive themes in classical and modern sociology
• demonstrate the analytical skills necessary to interpret key texts from the canon of classical and modern sociology
• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of ‘sociological thinking’ and the relationship between sociology and other major disciplines in the social sciences
• reflect on the contemporary relevance of sociological thought and the challenges of global sociology.