SCLG2601: Sociological Theory - Ulrich Beck’s Conception - Essay Writing Assessment Answer

Internal Code: 1AGJGF Code: SCLG2601

Sociological Theory Essay Writing Assessment Answer

Assignment Task: SCLG2601

Sociological Theory -

Please write a 2000 words essay answer to one of the following questions: How convincing is Ulrich Beck’s conception of a transition from industrial society to the risk society? Does Beck’s notion of reflexive modernization represent a radical break with the understanding of modernity to be found in the work of one of the following classical sociological theorists: Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel or George Herbert Mead?  How has Pierre Bourdieu sought to theorise and verify the claim that social life involves struggles for recognition? Is the criticism that Bourdieu’s theory prioritises structures of domination over social actors’ capacities to enact change justified? Explain Nancy Fraser’s claim that the ‘ambiguous legacy’ of feminism is due to the presence in feminism of individualising and socialising conceptions of emancipation. Evaluate the extent to which Fraser’s claim applies to a particular work of feminist theory. SCLG2601  (Please confirm with your tutor the suitability of the work of feminist theory that you wish to discuss in your essay. You may analyse a work of Nancy Fraser, but this would be in addition to the text in the Course Reader.) With reference to two approaches to globalization, address the question of whether the concept of globalization leads to a new framework of sociological explanation? Is it the case that existing conceptions of globalization impede an informed understanding of the global and multiple forms of contemporary modernity? SCLG2601 How has the work of Michel Foucault contributed to our understanding of the nexus between power and knowledge? Assess the criticism that Foucault’s analysis of this nexus produces potentially irresolvable dilemmas, such as in relation to the issues of morality, truth and politics. SCLG2601 Why does Herbert Marcuse claim that in advanced capitalist society domination is perpetuated through scientific and technological progress? How valid is Marcuse’s interpretation of technological rationality and its implications? Explain and assess Georg Simmel’s dialectical approach to the relationship of the individual and society. In your answer, refer to Simmel’s depiction of some aspect of social life (eg. the city, travel, flirting, eating, fashion, etc) and his disclosure of its formal properties. SCLG2601 What does Jürgen Habermas mean by ‘the new obscurity’? Is Habermas right to claim that utopian aspirations have changed and that communication is central to current attempts to transform capitalist society?  What is distinctive about Anthony Giddens’s vision of ‘what sociology is about and how it should be done’? Does the theory of structuration successfully account for the relationship between individual action and large-scale social processes? SCLG2601  Critically analyse Max Weber’s idea of rationality and the conclusions that Weber drew about the effects of rationalization on modern life. How justified is Weber’s assessment of modern bureaucracy in light of the negative effects associated with rationalization?  Assess the strengths and weaknesses of Emile Durkheim’s explanation of the sources and types of suicide in modern society. How is Durkheim’s study of suicide an application of the ‘rules of the sociological method’ that Durkheim proposed? SCLG2601

1. Outline George Herbert Mead’s account of the development of the self through social interaction and assess its implications for social progress. Has Mead resolved the dilemma of the relationship betweent the individual and society?
2. The sociological theories of Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu have been viewed as contributing to a ‘practical turn’ in sociology. Outline and evaluate how either Anthony Giddens or Pierre Bourdieu developed a sociological theory of social practice. In your answer, explain the significance that the theorist attributes to ‘practice’ and assess how this interpretation of practice is reflected in this theorist’s analysis of oneparticular theme, topic, institution, conflict, or similar, such as ‘taste’, ‘education’, ‘inequality’, ‘intimate relations’, ‘self-identity’, ‘the state’, ‘class’, ‘tradition’.

Explain and evaluate Karl Marx’s arguments that capitalist society is intrinsically contradictory and transitory. Is Marx right to claim that the contradictions of capitalist society prefigure a socialist society?

1. Ulrich Beck argues that to properly understand the most important contemporary social developments it is necessary to overcome the ‘methodological nationalism’ that has shaped sociological theory and the social sciences more generally. Explain and evaluate Beck’s criticisms of ‘methodological nationalism’. Is Beck’s demand for a cosmopolitan sociological vision viable and desirable?
2. How has Jürgen Habermas sought to demonstrate that a democratic society is founded on open public communication? What are the main strengths and weaknesses of Habermas’s theorising of the relationship between communication and democracy?

 Please keep a copy or copies of your essay. SCLG2601  Essay Assessment Criteria - SCLG2601  The following list is indicative of some of the criteria that will be applied in assessing your essay:  The relevance of the answer to the question Structure and development of argument Extent of research Effective use of sources/data/evidence Critical use of sources Originality of argument Written expression

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