Undergraduate Course: Invitation to Sociology (SCIL08017)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces some of the key ideas of the discipline by examining the relationship between 'individuals' and 'societies'. Among the topics will be the social nature of the self, the influence of groups, digital identities, migration and the city. |
| Course description |
Academic description
This course introduces you to the key ideas of sociology by examining the relationship between individuals and societies. The course explores how social processes shape individual lives, and how changes that occur around us influence our sense of self. It draws on C. Wright Mills idea of the sociological imagination. Mills makes three claims: that individuals live within society, that they live a biography or a personal history, and that this takes place within a distinct historical sequence. It is the sociological imagination that provides a means of mapping and understanding the relationships among these three elements, and allows us as individuals to relate our personal lives to the often impersonal social world around us. That is the promise of sociology.
Content
The course has four units, each covering a different area in sociology. Recent topics include: the social nature of the self, violence in social life, the sociological significance of race, transnationalism and global society, digital technologies and the networked society.
Student learning experience
The course is taught through lectures and tutorials. Tutorials are your chance to discuss the ideas you learn in the course with other students, test them out and have feedback on them from your tutor. We encourage you to participate fully in the tutorials so you get as much out of the course as possible. We give you tasks to complete outside of class which you discuss with other students in the tutorials.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Midterm essay 50% , Final essay 50%
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| Feedback |
The mid-semester essay is the formative assessment for the course. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of major sociological perspectives.
- Utilise key sociological concepts to examine social life
- Contrast diverse sociological theories on defining features of society
- Apply foundational skills used in the craft of social research
- Relate sociological perspectives and concepts to topics in public discourse that they encounter in their civic life
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Reading List
Mills, C.W. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford University Press.
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York.
Savage, Michael. 2015. Social Class in the 21st Century. Penguin Random House.
Rainie, J. & Wellman, B. (2012) Networked: The New Social Operating System. Cambridge MA: MIT Press
Mann, M. (2013) ¿Globalizations¿ (Ch. 1) Sources of Social Power Vol. 4: Globalizations, 1945-2011, Cambridge, pp. 1-12 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, negotiate, create and communicate understanding
make constructive use of social analysis skills in personal, professional, and community life;
be able to sustain intellectual interest by remaining receptive to both new and old ideas, methods, and ways of thinking;
Library, information location and retrieval skills |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Kennedy
Tel: (0131 6)50 4250
Email: j.kennedy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Karen Leung
Tel:
Email: Karen.Leung@ed.ac.uk |
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