Contemporary Social Theory

Singapore University of Social Sciences

Contemporary Social Theory (SOC309)

Synopsis

Today’s advanced capitalist societies have produced new orders and new complexities for social life and its governance. Contemporary social theories play a role in highlighting and theorizing about the social forces shaping today’s world. The course covers the critical inquiries of selected prominent thinkers from the 20th century onwards, on salient topics such as power and conflict, democracy, new technologies and risk, and will consider what these mean not only for social and public policy but particularly for the individual citizen and social action (the structure-agency debate). It will explore developments in social and political thought and what these bring to current debates surrounding the 4th industrial revolution, new economies and work, digitalisation, identity and the self, and more.

Level: 3
Credit Units: 5
Presentation Pattern: EVERY JAN

Topics

Contemporary social theory and its roots
Theories of society: Parsons, Mills and Merton
Theories of society: interpretive and micro-sociology
Critical theorists on society: technological rationality and the culture industry
Critical theorists on society: democracy and public sphere
Power and conflict; technology and surveillance
Poststructuralism, postcolonial theories, contemporary feminism
Media, postmodernism and society
Risk society
Global society and consequences of globalisation
Contemporary theoretical syntheses
Contemporary social theory: public sociology and policy

Learning Outcome

Appraise the core ideas and concepts of contemporary social theories
Demonstrate knowledge of the major traditions and influences in contemporary social theory
Examine the interactions between the major theoretical schools in explaining social transformations
Assess the applicability of contemporary social theory to understanding the current social order
Analyse problems in current society using contemporary social theories
Apply theoretical ideas to substantive social issues