166-258/358 Contemporary Sociology: Paradigms, Problems and Strategies

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The subject examines major paradigms in contemporary sociology, their construction of sociological problems, the wider paradigms of actor and system they draw upon, and research/intervention strategies they lead to. Each orientation is examined through a case study of a research program it has framed. Approaches examined include the contemporary return of symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, action as strategy, action as reflexivity, movement and experience, gender, community studies, methodological individualism, and the sociology of structures of social reproduction. The subject examines the relationship of research strategies and the production of knowledge to social actors, and ethical issues involved in sociological practice. Students will construct a case study as an exercise in constructing and evaluating a research strategy grounded in one of the paradigms explored.

Assessment:

Prescribed Texts:

• A. Touraine, The return of the actor, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988.
• N. Fielding (ed), Actions and structure: research methods and social theory, Newbury Park: Sage, 1988.
• L. Harvey, Critical Social Research, Unwin Hyman 1990.