Module Code - Title:
SO4218
-
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES SEMINAR SERIES
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The aim of this core module is to provide students with a conceptual understanding of the role of Sociology in contemporary society. Speakers will be drawn from local, national and international organisations and academic departments / institutions in order to share their experience and expertise on the many issues that students will engage with during their degree programme. For those students intending to pursue post-graduate study the module will inform them of the need for and type of sociological research that can best inform the field.
The module will provide the opportunity for students to critically engage in targeted discussion and analysis of key areas of contemporary interest for sociology and their real world applications through presentations and discussions delivered and directed by academics and practitioners. The module will be supported by an assessment in the form of presentation reviews.
Syllabus:
This module will provide students with a critical insight into the operationalisation of the key concepts / theories that they have engaged with in their degree programme. The seminars will inform them of key sdtate of the art research findings and methodologies in the discipline. National and international invited speakers will cover targeted topics; including the positive and negative impacts of key policy decisions affecting the field and the central role of sociological research in influencing policy and informing understandings about inequality, social exclusion, social policy, gender, education, globalization, urban regeneration, youth and community.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On completion of the module students will:
Be aware of the current debates in the discipline of Sociology.
Have developed both critical and practical insight into the research methodologies utilised in current sociological research.
Have developed both the critical and practical awareness and understanding needed to apply a well-rounded sociological perspective to contemporary media and public debates on inequality, social exclusion, social policy, gender, education, globalization, urban regeneration, youth and community.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
On completion of the module students will:
Demonstrate a critically informed awareness of the work of practitioners in the field. This will be in support of the theoretical sociological knowledge gained across other modules.
Display a critically informed understanding of the role and impact of sociological research on the lives of the general public.
Display an awareness of the central role played by sociological research in the creation and direction of policy.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Demonstrate basic proficiency in writing seminar reports.
Demonstrate basic proficiency in reviewing texts of sociological significance
Use communication and information technology to retrieve and present information
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
The module will provide the opportunity for students to critically engage in targeted discussion and analysis of key areas of contemporary interest for sociology and their real world applications through presentations and discussions delivered and directed by academics and practitioners.
The module will be supported by an assessment in the form of presentation reviews.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Power, M., Devereux, E., Haynes, A., Hannan, C., Neville, P. And Barnes, C. (2011)
An
Introduction to Irish Society: Transitions and Change.
, Pearson
Share, P., Corxcoran, M. and Conway, B. ( (2012)
Sociology of Ireland, 4th Edition
, Gill and Macmillan
Considine, M. and Dukelow, F. (2009)
Irish Social Policy: A Critical Introduction
, Gill and Macmillan
Pascale, C.M. (2013)
Social Inequality and the Politics of Representation
, Sage
Silfen Glasberg, D. and Shannon, D. (2011)
Political Sociology: Oppression, Resistance, and The State
, Sage
Lindsey, L. (2011)
Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective 5th edition
, Pearson
Harrington, A. (2005)
Modern Social Theory: An Introduction
, Oxford
Other Relevant Texts:
Devereux, E. (2014)
Understanding the Media, 4th Edition
, Sage
Hourigan, N. (ed.) (2010)
Understanding Limerick: Social Exclusion & Change
, Cork University Press
Power, M., Devereux, E., Haynes, A. (Eds.) (2013)
Socheolas: The Limerick Student Journal of Sociology
, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
sujood.momani@ul.ie