Undergraduate Course: Knowledge and Social Criticism (SCIL10066)

Course Outline
School	School of Social and Political Science	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	Sociologists have been debating and disputing the nature of social scientific knowledge, and the most desirable political orientation for social inquirers to adopt since the discipline came into being. This course explores the interconnections between four different 'images' of sociological inquiry, their conceptions of sociological investigation and their views on the appropriate stance towards political and moral debates. These images range from positivist conceptions, where social inquirers are encouraged to be scientists who set their value-judgements to one side, to postmodernist accounts, where the ideal of sociology as a science and the notion that value-judgements can be set aside, are questioned. Also considered are interpretive approaches, arguing the importance of grasping actors' perspectives on the social world, and critical/emancipatory orientations, seeing social scientific knowledge playing key roles in the liberation of social actors from domination and repression. This course critically assesses these approaches considers and appraises pieces of research linked to each perspective.
Course description	Not entered

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Visiting students should have at least 3 Sociology courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
High Demand Course?	Yes

Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered

Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this course the student will have developed an understanding of theories and debates concerning relationships between knowledge and power, and will be able critically to assess contrasting approaches.