Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2007-2008 (archived)

Module EDUC3081: NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE

Department: Education

EDUC3081: NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE

Type Open Level 3 Credits 20 Availability Available in 2007/08 Module Cap None. Location Durham

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To give students a good understanding of recent trends in reconceptualising the social sciences against a background of contemporary changes in society.
  • To this end it attempts to delineate and assess the impact on the social sciences of recent movements, such as postmodernism and post-structuralism.

Content

  • This module attempts to delineate and assess the impact on the social sciences of recent movements, such as postmodernism and post-structuralism.
  • In brief, those movements include: a heightened awareness of the ways that power is implicated in knowledge.
  • the rejection of the 'sovereign subject' , with its impact on notions held to be central to the social sciences, eg rationality and autonomy.
  • the challenge to the idea that 'truth' consists in a correspondence to 'reality'.
  • the foregrounding of language, with the concomitant emphasis on 'textuality'.
  • the radical version of relativism sometimes held to be implied by postmodernism.
  • sceptiscm towards linear theories of development and associated conceptions of 'progress'.
  • the challenge to Enlightenment-derived ideas of liberty and equality.
  • the replacement of the ideal of 'knowledge' by that of 'conversation'.
  • 'Incredulity' towards 'grand narratives'.
  • These themes, foreshadowed to some extent in the second year module, Philosophy of Social Science, will be explored with respect to specific social science topics and subjects, and their implications for the future development of the discipline and for research, explored.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • .
Subject-specific Skills:
    Key Skills:

      Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

      • .

      Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

      Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
      Lectures 22 Weekly 1 hour 22
      Tutorials 12 Fortnightly 1 hour 12
      Seminars 12 Fortnightly 1 hour 12
      Preparation and Reading 154
      Total 200

      Summative Assessment

      Component: Examination Component Weighting: 50%
      Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
      two-hour unseen written examination 100%
      Component: Essays Component Weighting: 50%
      Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
      essay 1 2000 word essay 50%
      essay 2 2000 word essay 50%

      Formative Assessment:

      One essay during the first term (2000 words max)

      ■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University