Undergraduate Course: Researching Social Power (SCIL10084)
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 | This course introduces students to key issues in the conceptualisation and theorisation of social power, and explores some of the major fields of power-related research in sociology and related disciplines. It aims to give the student a sense of some of the key issues involved in studying social power, with a strong focus on substantive research areas. |
| Course description |
1. Power: conceptualisation, puzzles, debates (I)
- The challenge of conceptualisation
- Power - a 'dispositional concept'
- Power, will, intention
- The problematic interdependence of power over, to (with?)
2. Power: conceptualisation, puzzles, debates (II)
- Relationship between physical and social power
- Agency and structure
- Concentration and distribution
- Evidencing power (potential vs actual, 'indicators')
3. Closely related concepts: domination, authority, legitimacy
- Standard Anglophone distinctions between these concepts
- Weber's Herrschaft and its theoretical complications
4. The idea of the 'balance of power'
- Basis in International Relations
- Generalising it more widely to the sociological study of power
- Ambiguities: descriptive or normative theory?
5. Interpersonal power dynamics
- Derek Layder
- Erving Goffman
- Max Weber's charisma concept
6. Elites
- A controversial concept?
- Roots of elite theory - Mosca, Pareto, Michels
- Recent work - G William Domhoff, Pierre Bourdieu, etc.
7. Organisations
- Power in organisation studies
- J. K. Galbraith
- Stewart Clegg
8. Cities
- The tradition of 'community power studies'
- The idea of 'growth coalitions'
- Some classic cases: Atlanta, New Haven, Santa Cruz
9. Historical process.
- Power and the study of social change
- Michael Mann
- Charles Tilly
- Michel Foucault
10. The problem of liberal society
- The cultural and historical embedding of our social science concept of power
- The problem of freedom (liberty) as power
- The problem of authority in liberal society
- The social organisation and legitimation of power in liberal society
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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 3 Sociology or closely related 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
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Engage critically with the work of scholars who research social power, and evaluate their arguments.
- Formulate and advance their own position on the relative value and importance of contending conceptions of power.
- Analyse the ways substantive fields of research inform conceptions of power, and how specific conceptions of power may shape empirical research.
- Develop their ability to present - in written and verbal form -- coherent, balanced arguments concerning the topic of social power.
- Improve their writing and argumentation skills through mutual critical feedback with classmates.
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Reading List
Mark Haugaard, (ed.) (2002), Power: A Reader, Manchester UP.
Hearn, Jonathan (2012) Theorizing Power, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Steven Lukes (ed.) (1986), Power, NYU Press.
Steven Lukes (2005), Power: a radical view, Palgrave.
Peter Morris (2002), Power: a philosophical analysis, Manchester U. P.
Gianfranco Poggi (2001), Forms of Power, Polity.
John Scott (2001), Power, Polity.
Dennis H. Wrong (2002), Power: Its Forms, Bases, and Uses, 3rd Edition, Transaction.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
By the end of this course students should have strengthened their skills in:
- Analysing and assessing arguments and texts.
- Orally presenting their ideas to small groups and debating these.
- Working in small groups.
- Presenting ideas and arguments in written form.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Jonathan Hearn
Tel: (0131 6)50 4242
Email: |
Course secretary | |
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