Sociological Theory and Research

2024/2025

Type: Optional course (university)

Delivered by: School of Sociology

When: 1-4 module

Open to: everyone

Instructors: Olga E. Kuzina, Anita Poplavskaya

Language: English

ECTS credits: 8

Full Syllabus

Abstract

Sociological theory and research is a one year course for the BA students in social sciences. The main goal is to develop advanced skills of reading, understanding, and critically discussing different sociological theories and to integrate conceptual thinking with contemporary empirical research.Course enrolment. To put themselves onto the official list of members of this course students should write the motivation letter in which they need to write about themselves, their merits, their expectations for the course, providing arguments why I should enrol them in the course.

Learning Objectives

Throughout the course, students deal with questions relating to the nature of sociology; the methodology and methods which sociologists use; and the major sociological perspectives. The classical foundations of sociological theory, beginning with the works of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, are discussed and followed by those sociologists of the 20th century who had some effect on how we think about and do sociology. The course is designed to • broaden and deepen students' engagement with theory and empirical research in sociology • develop skills of reading, understanding, and critically discussing different sociological theories • integrate theorizing with empirical research for exploration of the ways different theories, methods and evidence can shape our understanding of events and phenomena • develop analytical essay writing skills.

Expected Learning Outcomes

to understand the subject matter of sociology in comparison with other social sciences
to develop students’ understanding of what it is to think like a sociologist with specific focus on the issues of theoretical conceptualization and research methodology
to make students familiar with sociological research methodology
to develop students’ understanding of what it is to think like a sociologist with specific focus on the issues of theoretical conceptualisation and research methodology
to make students familiar with sociological concepts and theories and to challenge commonsense perceptions and understandings on contemporary social issues
to make students able to apply a sociological understanding of class, stratification, race, gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity, nation, deviance, generations, family, social embeddedness of economic actions, consumption, networks, health, media, religion and war
to integrate theorising with empirical research for exploration of the ways different theories, methods and evidence can shape our understanding of events and phenomena

Course Contents

Sociology as a perspective
Key principles of sociological research
Research designs in sociology
Three epistemological approaches in sociology
Research Methods
Ontological debates
Materialist and conflict approach to social process (Marx)
‘Sociologism’ as a way of thinking (Durkheim)
Social action and ‘Verstehen’ approach in sociology (Weber)
Sociology of G.Simmel - content and forms of social interaction
Social construction of reality
Class and social stratification
Markets and money
Race and Ethnicity
Nation and nationalism
Gender and sexuality
Family
Life course
Crime and deviance
Religion
Conflict and warfare
Health and medicine
Digital media
New forms of sociation

Assessment Elements

Home assignment
8 short essays (no more than 1000 words)
Essays for grading
Two long essays of 1500-2000 words
Control work
Two diagnostic tests to identify students' strengths and weaknesses
Exam
An achievement test, designed to show the mastery of the syllabus. It will be made in a form of unseen written examination at the end of the course
Class participation

Interim Assessment

2024/2025 4th module
0.1 * Class participation + 0.3 * Control work + 0.1 * Essays for grading + 0.3 * Exam + 0.2 * Home assignment

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Ace West Don H. Zimmerman, Candace West, & Don H. Zimmerman. (2009). Accounting for doing gender.
Anderson, B. R. O. (2006). Imagined Communities : Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1694834
Beckert, J. (2014). The great transformation of embeddedness: Karl Polanyi and the new economic sociology. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.646B5478
Biggart, N. W., & Wiley InterScience (Online service). (2002). Readings in Economic Sociology. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=231984
Bulmer, M. (2017). Sociological Research Methods: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.
Butler, J. (2007). Gender Trouble : Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=881409
Conrad, P. (1992). Medicalization and Social Control. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.001233
Critical race theory : an introduction, Delgado, R., 2012
Dillon, M. (2014). Introduction to Sociological Theory : Theorists, Concepts, and Their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century (Vol. Second edition). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=667235
Economic sociology : a systematic inquiry, Portes, A., 2010
Economy and society : overviews in economic sociology, , 1990
Gender and research. Vol.1: Contexts and theory, , 2008
Grusky, D. B., & Weisshaar, K. R. (2018). Social Stratification : Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective (Vol. Fourth edition). New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1808213
Lee, David, and Howard Newby. The Problem of Sociology, Routledge, 1983. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=243333.
Mary Kaldor. (2013). In Defence of New Wars. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.96C32171
Max Weber and the idea of economic sociology, Swedberg, R., 2000
Plummer, K. (2016). Sociology: The Basics: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.
Portes, A. (2010). Economic Sociology : A Systematic Inquiry. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=329852
Quantity and quality in social research, Bryman, A., 2004
Race, gender, sexuality,and social class : dimensions of inequality, , 2013
Readings in economic sociology, , 2002
Scott, John. Social Theory : Central Issues in Sociology, SAGE Publications, 2005. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=354958
Sex, gender and society, Oakley, A., 2015
Social research : issues, methods and process, May, T., 2011
Social research methods, Bryman, A., 2016
Sociology of religion : a reader, , 2019
The ethnicity reader : nationalism, multiculturalism and migration, , 2010
The Oxford handbook of the history of nationalism, , 2013
The sociological imagination, Mills, C. W., 2000
Theories of race and racism : a reader, , 2003
Understanding and applying research design, Abbott, M. L., 2013

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Eugenics, race and intelligence in education, Chitty, C., 2009
Introduction to sociological theory : theorists, concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-..., Dillon, M., 2020
Researching race and ethnicity : methods, knowledge and power, Gunaratham, Y., 2003
Rethinking the color line : readings in race and ethnicity, Gallagher, C. A., 2012
The politics of multiculturalism : race and racism in contemporary Britain, Pitcher, B., 2009
Theories of race and ethnic relations, , 1999

Authors

KUZINA OLGA EVGENEVNA

Course Syllabus