Week and main
topic
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Introduction to sociology
Topics lesson by
lesson
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Readings
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Week 1
Introduction: what is
sociology?
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Lesson
1
Introduction: what
is Sociology? Overview of the course, introduction to main themes
Lesson
2 cancelled.
It
will be rescheduled.
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The
Sociological Perspective. 1. Private Troubles, Public issues
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Week 2
Key Figures
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Lesson
3: The Scope of Sociology
Lesson
4: the
founding fathers: Karl Marx
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The
Scope of Sociology / Anthony Giddens
What is Sociology For? / Richard Jenkins ----
Theories
of Society. 4. Human History as Class Conflict / Karl Marx ---
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Week 3
Theory and research methods
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Lesson
5: Max
Weber
Lesson
6: Emile
Durkheim and the study of suicides
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The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
.
Institutions and organizations. 19. The Spirit of Capitalism / Max Weber
From
Mechanical to Organic Solidarity / Emile Durkheim
The
Essence of Religion / Emile Durkheim
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Week 4
Methods and social interaction
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Lesson
7: research methods in
sociology
Lesson 8: Quiz!
Social interaction
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Research
Methods. 9. Quantitative versus Qualitative Methods? / Alan Bryman --
10. What is a Social Survey? / Alan Buckingham & Peter Saunders ---
Researching Individual Lives /Barbara Merrill & Linden West ---
Interaction
and Communication. 34. Presenting the Self in Social Life / Erving Goffman
---
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Week 5
Social interaction and organizations
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Lesson
9: social
inequalities
Lesson
10: gender
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Social
Inequalities. 24. What is Social Stratification? / Wendy Bottero ---
Woman
-the Second Sex? / Simone De Beauvoir ---
Throwing Like a Girl / Iris Marion Young ---
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Week 6
Social
class
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Lesson
11: social
stratification
Lesson
12:
Social class
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Intersecting
Inequalities / Patricia Hill Collins ---
The
Rise, Fall and Rise of Social Class / Rosemary Crompton
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Week 7
Relationships
and the Life-course
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Lesson 14, relationship and
family
lesson 15
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Families
in Global Perspective / Goran Therborn ---
Relationships
and the Life-course. 29. Life Cycle or Life Course? / Stephen Hunt ---
The Normal Chaos of Love / Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim
30. Social Constructions of Sexuality / Jeffrey Weeks ---
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Week 8
Mass media
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9 March
MID TERM EXAM
Lesson
16: media and communication
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Hollywood's
Misrepresentation of Arabs / Jack G. Shaheen ---
38. Building Virtual Communities / Howard Rheingold ----
37. The Internet Galaxy / James Slevin ---
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Week 9
Sociology
and the Body
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Lesson
17: Health and the Body
Lesson
18: Crime and Deviance.
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The
Problem with Medicine / Ivan Illich ---Sociology and the Body / Chris Shilling
44. The Normality of Deviance / Emile Durkheim ---45. Crime as a Deviant Adaptation / Robert Merton ---
46. The Birth of the Prison / Michel Foucault
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Week 10
Key social phenomena: Sport and migration
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Lesson 19:
sport and society
25 March
ESSAY DEADLINE
Lesson 20:
migration and society
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handouts
handouts
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Week 11
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Lesson 21
Politics and power
Lesson 22
social change and movements
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Political
Sociology. 49. Defining Power / Steven Lukes
The
Social Movement Society? / David S. Meyer and Sidney Tarrow
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Week
12
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Spring
break
6-10
April
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Week 13
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Lesson 23 and 24
Modernity and globalization
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Individuality
in the Modern City / Georg Simmel ---
15. Creating Humane Cities / Richard Sennett ---
16. The Global City / Saskia Sassen ---
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Week 13
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Lesson 25
postmodernity
lesson 26
global warming
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Intimations
of Postmodernity / Zygmunt Bauman ---
A New
Ecological Paradigm for Sociology / Anthony Dunlap ---18. A Politics for Global
Warming / Anthony Giddens
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Week 14
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Lesson 27 and 28
Recap
Final
exam from 2-8 MAY
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