Module Code - Title:
SO4087
-
SOCIAL TRENDS AND SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
Aims: via examination of key themes in current sociological research extends advanced students knowledge of substantive theory by applying it to societies using multiple sources of empirical data and deepens their data-analytic skills by applying them to real-life examples. To enhance their ability to see sociology as a source of concrete answers to practical questions about social policy and action.
Objectives: to enable students to apply theoretic and conceptual frameworks to a range of research questions; familiarise them with a range of data sources (surveys, censuses, statistics and official sources, UN/OECD/EU reports, other quantitative research reports); enhance their conceptual and technical skills in using data to address questions; appreciate the importance of micro-macro, agency-structure and local-comparative dimensions in research; enhance their understanding of the principle features of current social change from a theoretical and empirical point of view.
Syllabus:
This course takes insights about contemporary societies drawn from sociological theory, and applies them empirically. The core sociological literature on a number of key, interlocking, themes characterising contemporary societies and social change will be examined (gender roles; the life course; the labour market; education; stratification, class, inequality and social mobility; the welfare state; values and attitudes -- religious change, sexuality, partnership formation). A broad range of empirical evidence relevant to the theoretical claims will be investigated, and students will be encouraged to use data sources and data analysis to critically address the theoretical claims. Linkages between social, economic and cultural change will be tested, in a national and comparative perspective. Students will be encouraged to think about what sociological theory and evidence has to say about the organisation of contemporary society, at a policy, political and personal level.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
By the end of this module students will have:
Apply arguments from the theoretical sociological literature to examples in contemporary societies.
Identify data sources appropriate to applying a theoretical argument to a concrete situation
Identify appropriate methods for applying a theoretically based research question
Carry out a project, using data to address sociological questions applied to a specific context
Identify implications of research findings, at a policy level and for future research.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
N/A
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
C Marsh and J Elliott (2008)
Exploring Data, 2nd edn
, Cambridge: Polity Press
T Fahey, H Russell and C Whelan (eds) (2007)
Best of Times? The Social Impact of the Celtic Tiger
, Dublin: IPA
Other Relevant Texts:
Betty Hilliard and Maire Nic Ghiolla Phadraig (2008)
Changing Ireland in International Comparison
, Dublin: Liffey Press
Daly, M. and Rake, K. (2003)
Gender and the Welfare State: Care, Work and Welfare in Europe and the USA
, Cambridge: Polity Press
Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Sandra Bucholz, Dirk Hofäcker and Kathrin Kolb (eds) (2010)
Globalized Labour Markets and Social Inequality in Europe
, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
Shavit, Yossi and Hans-Peter Blossfeld (eds.) (1993)
Persistent Inequalities: a Comparative Study of Educational Attainment in Thirteen Countries
, Boulder Colorado: Westview Press
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
sindy.j.joyce@ul.ie