Sociology Dual Honours (Level 2)
Sociology Major (Level 2)
Sociology Minor (Level 2)
Sociology Single Honours (Level 2)
We live on an urbanising planet. Rather than being a historical phenomenon urbanisation and the study of the city are of contemporary concern, not only to sociologists but to other academic disciplines (geography, criminology, social policy, politics, public health, etc.). The issues and problems that arise as populations migrate from traditional rural environments, traditions and societies is one that has been investigated and analysed in respect of the developed world of the northern hemisphere from the 19th century onwards. These analyses identified not only characteristic features of the experience of urban life but also the problems and associated political and structural arrangements that accompanied the expansion of the urban as a key site for modernity. These are still significant and crucial concerns and issues for understanding urbanisation in the 21st century.
This module provides an introduction and overview of the historical development of the urban concentrating on key approaches and perspectives and analyses of the transition to and experience of urban life in modernity. It will trace key elements and factors that distinguish characteristic features of the city and the urban and discuss the development of new forms of urbanisation in respect of post-modern debates and globalisation. It therefore links historical and extant urban issues and problems with those of wider sociological relevance such as class, gender, ethnicity, governance, social and environmental sustainability etc. to consider the contemporary experience of urban growth and expansion as well as issues of security, quality of life and opportunity.
The lectures will focus on
The City as Historical Form
Classical Sociology and the City: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tonnies, and Urban Sociology in Modern Germany
Walter Benjamin: Phantasmagoria, Flaneurie and Paris, City of Modernity
The Industrial City in Britain
The Chicago School: American Urbanism
Ameliorating the Consequences: Urban Plans and Designs for the 'good city'
20th century Reconstruction and Re-generation
Post-modern Cities
Global Cities or cities in a Global World
Formative Assessment and Tutorial Activities
The lecture topics serve as the basis for the seminars where students will be asked to participate in a number of individual and group activities. Students will be required to complete and submit various formative assessments throughout the course of the module to make up a portfolio of formatively assessed work which includes the following:
Short presentation on a lecture/ seminar topic/theme
View film screening(s) and discuss the themes/issues presented
Submit 500 word formative assessments on 2 of the lecture themes
Complete in class group exercises and discuss in plenary the various answers/responses
Complete a KLE multiple choice quiz as formative assessment
Essay planning
Exam revision and techniques
- To encourage students to think about the urban as a continuing (historical, social, spatial etc.) process
- To develop students understanding of key theories, issues and methods relating to the study and analysis of the urban
- To enhance students abilities to link concepts, evidence and perspectives in a comparative approach to the analysis of various cities in different eras and cultural contexts
- To study contemporary urban issues and relate these to historical processes and examples (e.g. demographic and spatial growth, industrialisation, social and spatial infrastructures, negative consequences, etc.)
- To provide opportunities through seminar/tutorial activities and essay preparation to develop scholarship skills in dealing with complex ideas, theories, concepts, evidence, etc.
- analyse the historical processes involved in the development of the city
- review the key theories, concepts and approaches to the analysis of the urban
- make informed and independent judgments concerning the veracity and applicability, strengths and weaknesses of a variety of theories and perspectives
- summarise key aspects and characteristics of urban societies and deploy these in the construction of arguments
- explain the socio-historical development of urban sociology and its relationship to broader issues and themes in sociology as a whole (e.g. social divisions and differences such class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality)
- discuss the ideological elements in key urban processes (e.g. infrastructural investment, planning, place marketing, etc) and articulate these through argumentation
60 hours seminar preparation
70 hours assessment preparation
Students will complete a 500 word essay plan laying out the details to be covered in the project The deadline for submission of the assessment will be approximately mid-semester This work will be returned to students in time for them to make use of feedback before completing the project assessment.
Students will complete a 3000 word project providing a detailed comparative analysis either of two cities OR of two areas within a city using theories and evidence
Formative Assessment Various group and individual exercises to be completed in class, as homework, or on KLE as formative assessments including reviews of texts, quizzes, summaries of theories/theorists etc. The lecture topics serve as the basis for the fortnightly 2 hour seminars/tutorials where students will be asked to participate in a number of individual and group activities. These will include the following: (a) Give a short presentation on a lecture/ seminar topic/theme (b) View film screening(s) and discuss the themes/issues presented (c) Submit 500 word formative assessments on 2 of the lecture themes (d) Complete in class group exercises and discuss in plenary the various answers/responses (e) Complete a KLE multiple choice quiz as formative assessment The seminar/tutorials will also include sessions on essay planning and exam revision and techniques. Students will be required to complete and submit various formative assessments throughout the course of the module
This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.