Comparative social structures
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
M Stevenson and B Hough
8 points * 3 hours per week * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: Appropriate first-year ANY or SCY sequence or permission of head of department
All contemporary societies face change and experience uncertainty about where that change is heading. This subject explores these issues in a selection of societies, including our own. It looks at these problems in society and culture from the perspective of long-term comparative sociology and introduces students to some of the central debates in the literature. It raises basic issues about the nature of intellectual inquiry in sociology and anthropology. Some of these issues are conceptual, particularly debates about the analysis of social change, or the ways in which we account for social and cultural diversity in the modern world. Others are concerned with debates about how to compare and interpret major contemporary trends linking changes in work, lifestyle and culture with the processes of rapid industrial growth, economic integration and restructuring in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the debates that arise in the latter context are the arguments about the possible emergence of post-industrial societies.
Assessment
Written (4000 words): 70% * Examination (2 hours): 30%
Recommended texts
Davis M City of quartz Verso, 1990
Frankel B The post-industrial utopians Polity, 1987
Harvey D The condition of post-modernity Basil Blackwell, 1989
Holton JR The transition from feudalism to capitalism Macmillan, 1985
Resch R The work of nations Simon and Schuster, 1991
Wallerstein I The modern world system Academic Press, 1974
Wolf ER Europe and the people without history U California P, 1982