History and Philosophy of Science

SOC1050 SHE1: Society, History, Environment

Barred combination: None - Prerequisites: None
Level: 1 - Credits: 20 - Semester: 1 Enfield
Assessment: Coursework (20%), essay (80%)
Module Co-ordinator: Andrew Roberts

SHE1 is an interdisciplinary introduction to European theories about society history and environment from the 17th century to the 20th century. It provides an opportunity to discuss what science is, and to look at how social science developed from theology and philosophy. Theorists discussed include Hobbes, Filmer, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, Adam Smith, Robert Owen, Malthus, Bentham, Durkheim, Weber; Merton and Goffman. There is a special focus on the relation of theory to the French revolution; and to total institutions such as workhouses, prisons and asylums in the 19th century.

Aims and Objectives:

SHE1 is a course about the history of social science theory that helps you to develop some of the skills most needed to make a success of university study:

self management of learning
theoretical abilities
academic writing
using the internet
You will work with, and write about, theories from the 17th to 20th century that shaped today's academic approach to the individual, society and the environment. The development of your writing skills is an integral part of the course, as is learning and developing skills in electronic communication. If you choose to, you can continue developing these skills in SHE2: Gender, Family, Sex, Society and Politics (SOC1750).
Syllabus:

Theories of science, Hobbes and state of nature theory, Filmer and Locke, Rousseau and the French revolution, Adam Smith and the wealth of society, Jeremy Bentham and utilitarianism, Robert Owen and cooperation, Poor law and social policy, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber's contrasting approaches to society.

Teaching Mode:

Flexible, self directed study using the ABC Study Guide and Social Science History (printed and internet books) plus the course web site at:

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/

Supported by lectures, groups and tutor contact.

Learning Outcomes:

Will help develop skills in self managed learning, using feedback, theory interpretation and construction, academic writing, self-assessment and electronic communication.

Student choices vary, so the knowledge gained by each student differs. The understanding gained should relate to the philosophical roots of the social sciences, the role of creative thinking in the development of science and the relevance of academic theories to public and professional practice.

Minimum requirements for successful completion of the course include web submissions of:

A personal record outlining the student's aims
An essay plan with practice referencing paragraphs
A draft essay, with comments from colleagues and plans for improving
The finished essay, fully referenced by the Harvard method
A self assessment using benchmarks from a marking guide
A report on the learning experience
Key Texts:

The ABC Study Guide, All Saints Bookshop, Enfield Campus. (and/or the web version)
Social Science History, All Saints Bookshop, Enfield Campus.

Contact and study hours

This is a flexible study course on which attendance at lectures and groups is arranged with the tutor to suit the learner's needs. Participation in the dialogue in groups is strongly recommended. Students who are not able to attend are expected to make good use of tutorials via the telephone helpline. At Middlesex University, students are recommended to set 180 hours per semester aside for study on each module. This is divided between "contact hours", when you are in contact with a tutor, and self-directed study.

On SHE1, there are about ten (one hour) lectures. Notes for these are also provided on the web, with links to relevant resources. Students are initially allocated to one hour tutor led seminar groups. As the course progresses the time of these may be altered (in consultation with students) to allow for seminars on specific essay subjects. You should also allow time for telephone tutorials with the tutor. Total contact hours for SHE1 are about 22 per semester. (10x1 lectures = 10) + (10 tutor led seminars) + (nominal 2 hours for telephone tutorials).

Most of your study time will be self directed with colleagues or on your own. It will include making contacts, learning how to make the most of the course, writing the record of your aims, reading the recommended texts, taking notes, forming ideas and drafting your essay, learning how to reference effectively, using the web, discussing ideas, getting and acting on feedback, finishing and submitting your essay, writing your report, getting feedback from the web on your draft and your essay and (possibly) revising and resubmitting your essay.

As a model, an average of ten hours a week over fifteen weeks is recommended for self-directed study - a total of 150 hours. Notice that self-directed study continues after the contact study period.

This description of SHE2 is called a learning narrative. I do not know why. Perhaps it tells the story of how you may learn? It should match the official copy at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mdx/pip/module_view_ext.asp?ModCode=SOC1750


SOC1750 SHE2: Gender, Family, Sex, Society and Politics

Barred combination: None - Prerequisites: None
Level: 1 - Credits: 20
Semester: 2 Enfield
Assessment: Coursework (20%), essay (80%)

Module Co-ordinator: Andrew Roberts

SHE2 looks at some basic issues of social and political theory by focusing on what different theorists (from Plato to Freud) have made of the difference between men and women, the family as a model for political society and the relation between sexuality, society and politics. There is a special focus on the development of gender, family and class theories in Britain during the 1830s and 1840s. This includes an opportunity to relate the themes to crime in the early 19th century.

Aims and Objectives:

SHE2 can be taken as a stand-alone module or as a follow-on from SHE1: Society, History, Environment (SOC1050). Like SHE1, it is relevant to the social sciences and the humanities, and will help develop skills in self managed learning, theory interpretation and construction, academic writing and electronic communication.

You will discuss and write about some of the most basic theories of social and political thought from ancient Greece to psychoanalysis. To cover such a broad range, you will focus on what the theorists have made of the difference between men and women, the family as a model for political society, and the relation between sexuality, society and politics.

Syllabus:

Reason in Plato and Aristotle; Utilitarianism, Owenism, Thompson and Wheeler and feminism; Lord Ashley and Mill and Taylor in 1848; Marx and Engels in 1848; The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Freud and psychoanalysis.

Teaching Mode:


Flexible, self directed study using the ABC Study Guide and Social Science History (printed and internet books) plus the course web site at:

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/

Supported by lectures, groups and tutor contact.

Learning Outcomes:

Will help develop skills in self managed learning, using feedback, theory interpretation and construction, academic writing, self-assessment and electronic communication.

Student choices vary, so the knowledge gained by each student differs. The understanding gained should relate to the philosophical roots of the social sciences, the role of creative thinking in the development of science and the relevance of academic theories to public and professional practice.

Minimum requirements for successful completion of the course include web submissions of:

A personal record outlining the student's aims
An essay plan with practice referencing paragraphs
A draft essay, with comments from colleagues and plans for improving
The finished essay, fully referenced by the Harvard method
A self assessment using benchmarks from a marking guide
A report on the learning experience
Key Texts:

The ABC Study Guide, All Saints Bookshop, Enfield Campus. (and/or the web version)
Books selected according to the essay chosen

Contact and study hours


This is a flexible study course on which attendance at lectures and groups is arranged with the tutor to suit the learner's needs. Participation in the dialogue in groups is strongly recommended. Students who are not able to attend are expected to make good use of tutorials via the telephone helpline. At Middlesex University, students are recommended to set 180 hours per semester aside for study on each module. This is divided between "contact hours", when you are in contact with a tutor, and self-directed study.

On SHE2, there are about six (one hour) lectures. Notes for these are also provided on the web, with links to relevant resources. Students are initially allocated to one hour tutor led seminar groups. As the course progresses the time of these may be altered (in consultation with students) to allow for seminars on specific essay subjects. You should also allow time for telephone tutorials with the tutor. Total contact hours for SHE2 are about 18 per semester. (6x1 lectures = 6) + (10 tutor led seminars) + (nominal 2 hours for telephone tutorials).

Most of your study time will be self directed with colleagues or on your own. It will include making contacts, learning how to make the most of the course, writing the record of your aims, reading the recommended texts, taking notes, forming ideas and drafting your essay, learning how to reference effectively, using the web, discussing ideas, getting and acting on feedback, finishing and submitting your essay, writing your report, getting feedback from the web on your draft and your essay and (possibly) revising and resubmitting your essay.

As a model, an average of ten hours a week over fifteen weeks is recommended for self-directed study - a total of 150 hours. Notice that self-directed study continues after the contact study.