Sociology Reader: Contemporary Concepts in Sociology and Social Sciences 02.06-S2-JANG

The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the basic sociological concepts, methods as well as classic and contemporary theories. The competences of reading, speaking and writing sociology in English are developed.

1. Sociological imagination
Ken Plummer, Sociology: The Basics, London 2010, chapter: Conclusion: The sociological imagination – twenty theses, pp. 206 – 208 & Appendix: Epigrammatic sociology – twenty-five little wisdoms to ponder, pp. 209 – 211.

2. Basic sociological concepts in English. Translation: tips and tricks.
Ken Plummer, Sociology: The Basics, London 2010, chapter: In a world I never made, pp. 1 – 17.

3. Language of sociological enterprise
John Macionis, Society. The Basics, Upper Saddle River 2004, Chapter 1: Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and Method, pp. 1 – 26.
Task for this class: Think briefly about your own master/bachelor research, and try to translate the related keywords into English. Consider the main concepts in the field you are working in, the methods you want to use and all other related vocabulary. We will discuss the ways to look for and to verify the concepts in English when it comes to scientific writing.

4. Reading (and writing) sociology
Jennifer Jones, Sarah Quinn and Hana Brown, Writing Guide for Sociology, Berkeley 2011, chapter: 1. Thinknig and Reading for College, pp. 13-18 (http://sociology.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/documents/student_services/writing_guide/Writing%20for%20Sociology%20Guide%20Second%20Edition.pdf)

5. Sociology: what's up? Current debates in the sociological blogosphere: Why sociology?
Daniel Little, Why a Sociology Major?, Huffington Post, www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-little/college-sociology-major_b_1641546.html
Zuleyka Zevallos, What is applied sociology?, Sociology at Work, http://sociologyatwork.org/about/what-is-applied-sociology/

6. Reading and writing scientific abstracts
Task for this class: Prepare the structure of your thesis: consider your perspective, theory to be used, methods, sampling methodology, the goal of your research and possible outcome. The structure is required on paper – 1 page min.

7. Using scientific databases. Using Google Scholar and other tools for searching, reading and writing in science
Task for this class: Browse Sage (or other available) database and find a single article that would be of your interest (in terms of your graduate thesis or just generally). Make sure:
the journal or article is SOCIOLOGICAL
that you get what the article is about
that you have read at least the abstract and you are able to identify:
the research problem
the methods (including sampling)
the general results and conclusions
that you can say few words about the authors and the journal itself.

8. Classics in sociology (1)
Howard Becker, Outsiders. Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, New York, 1966 – chapter 2.: Kinds od Deviance: A Sequential Model, pp. 19 – 40.

9. Classics in sociology (2)
.Erving Goffman, Gender Advertisements, New York 1977, Chapters: Gender Commercials & Conclusion, pp. 24 – 84.

10. Contemporary sociology (1)
Donna Haraway, The Cyborg Manifesto and Fractured Identities, in: Charles Lemert (ed.) Social Theory. The Multicultural & Classic Readings, Oxford 1993, pp. 597 – 603.

11. Contemporary sociology (2)
Peter Burke, Jan Stets, Identity Theory, New York 2009 – chapter 7.: Multiple Identities, pp. 130 – 154.

12. Contemporary sociology (3)
Randall Collins, Interaction Ritual Chains, Princeton 2004 – chapter 6.: A Theory of Sexual Interaction, pp. 223 – 257.

13. Methods (1) – Classical methodologies
Robert Merton, The Focused Interview. A Manual of Problems and Procedures, New York 1990, Chapter: 1. Purposes and Criteria, pp. 3 – 20.

14. Methods (2) – Classical methodologies
Norman Denzin, The Research Act. A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods, New Brunswick 2007 – chapter 10: The Life History Method, pp. 219 – 259

15. Methods (3) – Information society – consequences for sociological enterprise
Hugh Mackay, Information and the Transformation of Sociology: Interactivity and Social Media Monitoring, TripleC - Communication, Capitalism & Critique Journal 11(1): 117-126, 2013. (http://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/343).