Studying the Social: Contemporary Approaches in Sociology and Anthropology

The course is concerned with contemporary social theory and especially with how contemporary sociologists and anthropologists study the social. It is therefore both theoretical and methodological in orientation. In the first part of the course, students are introduced to a number of current social theorists. This is to consolidate and extend the work done in SOCS2200 and other SOCA courses. The second part of the course concentrates on issues of method and methodology and especially on the various methods contemporary sociologists and anthropologists mobilize to study the social. This necessarily involves a confrontation with how new approaches to studying the social have opened out fresh debates regarding the role of ontology, epistemology and ethics for the definition and status of the social sciences as a whole.