This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society, BSc in Social Policy and Sociology and BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option. This course is available with permission to General Course students. This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.
This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society, BSc in Social Policy and Sociology and BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option. This course is available with permission to General Course students. This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.
This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and online materials totalling a minimum of 20 hours in the MT. Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in MT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.
Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT. 1,500 word essay, due after reading week, in which students are asked to analyse an object from the standpoint of one of the theoretical perspectives introduced in the course.?They will additionally submit a short research outline (probably 1-2 A4 sides) on which they can base their work towards the summative assessment.
Drazin, A. & K?chler, S. (eds.) (2015) The social life of materials: Studies in materials and society. Bloomsbury Academic, London.Gunn, W., Otto, T. & Smith, R. C. (2013) Design anthropology: Theory and practice. Bloomsbury Academic, London.Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Lury, C. (2011) Consumer culture, 2nd ed. Polity, Cambridge.Miller, D. (2008) The comfort of things. Polity, Cambridge.Molotch, H. (2003) Where Stuff Comes From: How Toasters, Toilets, Cars, Computers and Many Other Things Come to Be as They Are. New York and London: Routledge.Shove, E., M. Hand, J. Ingram and M. Watson (eds.) (2007) The Design of Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg.
Research report (100%) in the LT. A 3,000 word research report on an object of the student?s choosing in which they are asked to address a clear list of considerations such as design, material properties, social practices and uses, methodological questions and so on. An electronic copy of the assessed essay, to be uploaded to Moodle, no later than 4.00pm on the first Thursday of Lent Term. Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.