Introduction to Sociology

Families and Households

Students will explore:

• The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and to state policies.
• Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course, including the sociology of personal life, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures.
• Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society.
• The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society.
• Demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation.

Continuation of Families and Households

Methods

Students will examine the following areas:

• Quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design.
• Sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
• The distinction between primary and secondary data, and between quantitative and qualitative data.
• The relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’.
• The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research.
• Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories.
• The concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory.
• The nature of science and the extent to which Sociology can be regarded as scientific.
• The relationship between theory and methods.
• Debates about subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom.
• The relationship between Sociology and social policy.

Education

Students will be familiar with sociological explanations of the education system:

• The role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure
• Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary society
• Relationships and processes within schools, with particular reference to teacher/pupil relationships, pupil identities and subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and the organisation of teaching and learning
• The significance of educational policies, including policies of selection, marketisation and privatisation, and policies to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome, for an understanding of the structure, role, impact and experience of and access to education; the impact of globalisation on educational policy.

Continuation of Methods

Students will be able to apply sociological research methods to the study of education.

Theories of Education

Media

Students will gain an understanding of:

• The new media and their significance for an understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society.
• The relationship between ownership and control of the media.
• The media, globalisation and popular culture.
• The processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news.
• Media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability.
• The relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences.