Theoretical Ideas in Sociology 2006-2007

 

Assessed Essay Questions List I

 

1.     ‘It is better to have read the classics than not to have read them’.  To what extent does Calvino’s observation about literary classics apply to sociological classics?

2.     Can and should sociological theory make a difference to the manner in which the sociologist describes society? 

3.     Why does Simmel restrict the concept of ‘society’ to ‘social forms’?        

4.     Is Mary Douglas justified in putting the problem of classification at the centre of social analysis? 

5.     What were the main conceptual devices of Parsons’ sociological theory and how did he deploy them?  

6.     What is distinctive about Adorno’s approach to the study of society?      

7.     What are the main problems confronting the study of ideology?

8.     ‘Political power is power par excellence’.  Discuss.   

9.      A title agreed with your seminar tutor.

 

December 2006