BASS Sociology and Criminology / Course details

1. Introduction
2. Capitalism and Modernity: Karl Marx
3. Power/Knowledge and Discipline: Michel Foucault
4. Biopower and Sexuality: Michel Foucault
5. Architecture and Power in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Saree Makdisi 
6. 'Race', Modernity and the Black Atlantic: Paul Gilroy
7. Brands and Commodity Culture: Naomi Klein
8. Sensation and the City: Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin
9. Markets and the Neoliberal Individual: Wendy Brown
10. Cyborg Feminism: Donna Harway

This course examines identity and power in contemporary culture, focusing on themes of technology, sexuality, the city, the commodity, neoliberalism, and racialisation. The first part of the course explores the understanding of modernity developed by Marx and Foucault, an experience that Marx describes as one of continuous change, where 'all that is solid melts into air'. The course then turns to consider a series of substantive themes in the analysis of contemporary culture, exploring each through the work of one prominent social theorist: Saree Makdisi, Walter Benjamin, Georg Simmel, Naomi Klein, Paul Gilroy, Wendy Brown, and Donna Haraway.

On completion of the course students will:
- be familiar with contemporary debates in identity and power
- have developed advanced skills in reading primary texts
- be familiar with advanced critical thought on the nature of modernity

Lecture-style material will be delivered weekly through a 3-hour workshop, comprising a lecture and lecturer-led small-group discussion

One non-assessed portfolio of weekly reading notes.

One assessed end of semester essay (2500 words; 100%). 

These texts are indications of the reading undertaken on the course:
Foucault, M. (1980) 'Right of Death and Power over Life', in The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction, London: Penguin.
Benjamin, W. (1978) 'Naples', in Reflections, New York: Schocken Books.
Gilroy, P. (1993) 'One Nation Under a Groove', in Small Acts: Thoughts on the Politics of Black Cultures, London: Serpent's Tale.

2015/16 timetable

Tuesday 14:00 - 17:00