a) Introduce students to a selection of modern and contemporary theories following on the classical tradition. b) Develop students' understanding of the discipline of sociology in the contemporary context, taking account of changing intellectual and social contexts. c) Demonstrate how these theories have been influenced by classical social theories in terms of how they - challenge key classical presuppositions about the nature and scope of sociology in understanding the social world; - their level of indebtedness to or departure from classical theoretical antecedents. d) Enable students to differentiate between different theoretical approaches in relation to key sociological concepts such as structure and agency, rationality and reflexivity, objectivism and subjectivism, micro-analysis and macro-analysis, realism and constructivism, modernity and postmodernity.

This module aims to broaden and deepen students engagement with and understanding of the development of sociology as a discipline following on from their introduction to the sociological classics. It introduces students to a selection of modern and contemporary theories as a way of understanding how sociological theory has developed to reflect changing social and intellectual contexts. The course will identify the extent to which the selected theories build on key classical presuppositions or offer more radical departures in terms of the key analytical debates within sociology. As a way of elucidating these issues, substantive topics will be discussed in relation to the different theoretical perspectives. The range of theoretical perspectives will encompass the following: social constructionism (Berger and Luckmann); the sociology of the everyday (e.g. Goffman, Blumer); critical theory (e.g. Foucault, Habermas, Feminist Theory and theories of late/post-modernity; theories of rationality (Rational Choice/Rational Action theory); and the theory of social practice (Bourdieu).

- Describe a selection of modern and contemporary sociological theories in terms of historically specific intellectual and social contexts. - Identify the classical roots of selected theories in relation to key presuppositions about the nature and scope of sociology in understanding the social world. - Identify how classical presuppositions have been modified or radically altered in selected modern and contemporary theories and how this changes the scope of sociological research and its understanding of the social world. - Distinguish between different theoretical approaches in relation to key sociological concepts central to the main analytical debates within contemporary sociology.

- Critically evaluate the application of different theoretical approaches to a substantive area in the research field.

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