Sociology MA

• Contemporary Social TheoryYour focus in this module will be on two key debates in social theory. The first is the structure-agency debate which asks whether social action exists merely as (the often complex) activities of individuals or it exists sui generis, as a product of social structure and an object in its own right. You will look at four different attempts to reconcile the debate: Anthony Giddens's structuration theory; Pierre Bourdieu's genetic structuralism; the critical realisms of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer; and the neopragmatisms of Richard Rorty and Patrick Baert. Your second focus of attention is the debate over the role of modernity and its ideals of progress and reason, starting with the Frankfurt School and looking at post-modern social theory as well as ‘late’ modernity and concepts like Ulrich Beck's risk society thesis; Anthony Giddens's 'reflexive individual'; or Zygmunt Bauman's 'liquid modernity.' Your assessment for this module will be the submission of two 3,500 words essays.
• Postgraduate Research MethodsThis module will provide you with the research skills and techniques needed both to critically evaluate the literature you will be using in your Masters course, and to put into practice in your own Dissertation. It will explore the methodologies and methods applied in contemporary social science research to enable you to select an appropriate range for your own needs.
• Major ProjectThis module will support you in the preparation and submission of a Masters dissertation, allowing you to explore in-depth a particular topic that reflects your academic interest.

• Nationalism, Diasporas and IdentitiesYou will explore notions of identity related to belonging, rootedness and mobility, examining key concepts such as nationalism, transnationalism, diaspora and migration. Particular attention will be paid to intersections with gender, class and ethnicity. You will investigate the notion of 'home' at different spatial scales, while concepts of hybridity will also be examined, especially the growing importance of multi-generational diasporic communities. Your key focus of interest will be second-generation identities. You will draw on detailed case studies in order to ground these concepts and identify their specificities. You will be encouraged to develop case studies informed by your own backgrounds and localities. Your analyses of comparative diasporic and transnational experiences will be developed and interdisciplinarity will also be encouraged. Your assessment will have two elements based on an individually-selected case study: a presentation and a 5,500 word report.
• Nature, Technology and SocietyYou will explore the relationship between social, technical and natural worlds and, in the process, open up discussion both of the sociology of the future and the future of sociology. You will address a number of contemporary issues such as the changing social, economic and political role of science and how this influences social science. You will look at technological and scientific development as social processes and explore how ideas about 'nature' feature in contemporary life. Other issues you will explore are sociological approaches which can take account of the ways in which people are at once social and biological beings and how the public and policy-makers engage with new forms of scientific and technical practice and their accompanying risks. These questions are considered in relation to case studies such as information and communication technologies that are part of socio-technical systems; biopower, biocapital and biocitizenship; and recent developments in the life sciences that may challenge existing views and experiences of self, life, kinship and citizenship. As part of your assessment, you will contribute a seminar presentation. You will also write weekly abstracts of core reading which form part of their final assessment portfolio, which will also include a project essay based around a case study.
• Independent Learning ModuleThis module will support you in the preparation and submission of an independent learning project. It will allow you to study topics not provided within existing modules but within clearly defined parameters, and where appropriate supervision is available.

Depending on the module, you’ll show your progress through a combination of essays, presentations, case studies and portfolio work, as well as a Major Project at the end of the course.