Undergraduate Course: Dynamics of Social Inquiry (SCIL10078)
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 | Dynamics of Social Inquiry explores key theoretical positions and issues relating to the character, dynamics and status of social scientific knowledge. |
| Course description |
Dynamics of Social Inquiry explores key theoretical positions and issues relating to the character, dynamics and status of social scientific knowledge. The first issue is what exactly knowledge is. The first unit examines three important conceptualizations of knowledge which inform different approaches to sociological inquiry: knowledge as a representation of reality, knowledge as a social construction, and knowledge as an enactment and intervention into reality. The second set of issues examined relate to how the dynamics of social scientific inquiry shape the knowledge produced by inquirers. The second unit considers questions of value and reflexivity and also analyses continuities and clashes between the perspectives of social scientists and lay actors. Exploration of these issues is extended in the third unit through a consideration of the relation of social scientific knowledge to other political and cultural forms, such as comedy, and sociology¿s potential contribution to wider social life.
The course will typically run by having one hour of lecture per week followed by one hour of student discussions and activities. The lectures will discuss the key ideas and reference points, staking out the territory of the course. Each topic is potentially wide in scope so the aim is to focus on key writers/ideas each week to help give students an understanding of central ideas and debates.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 2 social science courses (such as Sociology, Politics, Social Policy, Social Anthropology, etc) at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will be able to identify different conceptions of knowledge and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses
- Students will be able to understand the way in which different kinds of objects of study pose different challenges for social scientists
- Students will be able to understand the significance of values in shaping research and have an ability to evaluate pieces of research in relation to the researcher¿s reflexive recognition of these values
- Students will be able to evaluate the relationship between social scientific knowledge and other forms of understanding
- Students will be able to formulate a reasoned defence of the role of sociology in social life
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Reading List
Indicative Readings
¿ Sayer, A. (1992) Method in Social Science, 2nd edition: London, Routledge
¿ Miller, L. (2000) ¿The Poverty of Truth-Seeking: Postmodernism, Discourse Analysis and Critical Feminism¿, Theory and Psychology, 10(3): 313-352
¿ Woolgar, S. (1988) Science: The Very Idea, Chichester: Ellis Horwood
¿ Gergen, K. J. (1985) ¿The Social Constructionist Movement in Modern Psychology¿, American Psychologist, 40(3)
¿ Haraway, Donna (1988) ¿Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective¿, Feminist Studies, 14(3): 575-599
¿ Law, J. (2004) After Method: Mess in Social Scientific Research, London: Routledge
¿ Mol, A. (2002) The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice, Durham: Duke University Press
¿ Bhaskar, R. (1998) ¿Societies¿, in The Possibility of Naturalism, 3rd edition, London: Routledge
¿ Lakatos, I. (1976) Proofs and Refutations, Cambridge: Cambridge UP
¿ Lather, P. (1993) ¿Fertile obsession: Validity after Poststructuralism¿, The Sociological Quarterly, 34(4): 673-693
¿ Mauthner, N. S., & Doucet, A. (2003) ¿Reflexive accounts and accounts of reflexivity in qualitative data analysis¿, Sociology, 37(3): 413-431.
¿ Geuss, R. (1981) The Idea of a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School
¿ Stacey, J., & Thorne, B. (1985) ¿The missing feminist revolution in sociology¿, Social Problems, 32(4): 301-316
¿ Seidman, S. (1994) Contested Knowledge: Social Theory in the Postmodern Era, Blackwell: Oxford
¿ Said, E. (2003) Orientalism, 3rd edition, London: Penguin
¿ Harrington, A. (2004) Art and Social Theory: Sociological Arguments in Aesthetics, Cambridge: Polity
¿ Friedman, S. (2011) ¿The cultural currency of a ¿good¿ sense of humour: British comedy and new forms of distinction¿, The British Journal of Sociology, 62(2): 347-370.
¿ Burawoy, M. (2005) ¿For public sociology¿, American Sociological Review, 70(1): 4-28
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will help foster students¿ sense of the value of enquiry given that it is concerned to promote understanding of the dynamics of knowledge.
The course will contribute to students¿ sense of engagement between the university and the rest of the social world given its examination of the place of social science in wider social life. This in turn should promote students¿ ability to communicate with the interlocutors of the social sciences in wider society, be these social and political movements or representatives of other cultural traditions. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Stephen Kemp
Tel: (0131 6)50 3978
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Lizzie Robertson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3079
Email: |
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