Sociological Theory![]() |
From Here to Post Modernity and All Points
In-between...
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| Anthropological Theories |
Although written from a particular philosophical perspective (the title gives it away...) there's some useful notes here covering the following general perspectives of interest to A-level students: Functionalist; Ecological; Marxist; Feminist; Structuralist; Symbolic & Interpretive and Postmodernist. Each perspective page can be accessed from the nice new menu that's been added to the site and the perspectives are outlined in terms of basic premises, key ideas, writers and works, criticisms and so forth. You need to be aware the material is written for: a. American undergraduates and b. Anthropology students, but this doesn't mean there's not a lot of potentially useful information that can be condensed from these pages by teachers. |
| Astrosociology | It's difficult to know where to begin with this site since it currently exists at the edges of the known sociological universe (okay, you wait 'til the Star Trek jokes kick-in). Its originator suggests it represents the idea of "Understanding space & society from a grounded perspective" - although it's probably easier to visualise it as the "Sociology of Space". There are a range of materials (essays, videos and so forth) currently available on site and a good set of links to sociology / astronomy sites; if the sub-discipline catches-on I'd expect what's on offer to expand quite considerably. |
| Critical Theory |
Although the site hasn't been updated for a few years this is still a
wonderful resource for those students and teachers wanting to gain a deeper
insight into a range of critical perspectives, including: |
| Georg Simmel On-Line | As the name suggests, a site devoted to the memory and work of Georg Simmel (1858-1918). Although it's probably not on every A-level student's "essential research list", Simmel's pioneering (and strangely neglected) work is worth dipping into, especially if you're interested in concepts like mass culture and mass society. Not a sociological giant, but worth investigating. |
| Howard Becker |
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| The Karl Popper Web | Probably not a site for any but the most dedicated of A-level students, but if you're interested in discovering more about Popper's life and work this is as good a place to start as any... |
| Radical Feminism | A range of "theory papers" that discuss various aspects of radical feminism - some of which an A-level audience will find difficult (in terms of language and concepts) but there's enough here that's reasonably accessible to make the link worthwhile (but only if you really want to dig into this particular perspective in some detail). |
| Shaun Best | Shaun Best is probably best known to A-level teachers for his textbooks and articles (in Social Science Teacher in particular) and this site brings together a number of articles and reviews on a range of themes (although the main focus is on various aspects of postmodernism). The articles will probably find most resonance amongst undergraduates and teachers rather than A-level students, but there's no reason why confident A-level students shouldn't gain something from the (always provocative) information and arguments they contain. Sociology teachers, meanwhile, can quietly fume over the full and unexpurgated text of Shaun's strident critique of "School Sociology" (I have Shaun's e-mail address and only small amounts of money will need to change hands for me to make it available to you after you've read the article...). |
| Sociological Frameworks |
A brief set of notes (covering basic assumptions and key concepts) for "four of the most prevalent "ways of doing sociology" current today" - Structural-Functionalist, Conflict, Exchange ("New Right") and Symbolic-Interactionist frameworks. |
| Social Psychology |
Another site from the prolific Mike Kearl, this one covering a variety of aspects of social psychology (from questions of self and identity to science and modernisation, via a helpful table that categorises a range of social psychological theories and their associated methods). The focus is, however, sociological and although there's a shed load of information (and even more shed loads of links to further sheds loaded with information), this is a good starting point if you want to understand and explore this ever-popular general perspective. |
| Sociology 101 |
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| Sociology Timeline |
From 1600 to 1995, to be precise. If you want to locate various "social thinkers" on a timeline then this is probably something you'll go crazy over. Otherwise, for the rest of us, some of the entries are linked to different sites (although he Timeline doesn't seem to have been updated much recently and some of the links are dead - just like the majority of people featured here, spookily enough...). |
| Theoretical Perspectives |
Annotated notes covering a range of different perspectives: |
| Theory Greats | Brief biographical notes covering the life and works of "10 Great Figures in Sociology " (including Marx, Durkheim, Parsons and Weber), with some indication of the main concepts with which their work is associated. Useful if you want an overview of these writers. |
| The Tomorrow Project |
This
very large site looks at a range of topics - from globalisation through media
and technology to individuals, identity and values - and considers each in three
ways: "The story so far", "The next 20 years" and "Implications" for the future.
As such it's both a useful source of information and also provides scope for
discussion material about the implications of social change. The site is fairly
text-heavy with the occasional table to lighten the load. |
| Understanding Globalisation |
If
you're confused about globalisation you may be a little less (or, there again, a
little more) confused after perusing these online notes from the Center (sic) on
Law and Globalisation. The materials are based around work done by Held, McGrew,
Goldblatt and Perraton and while they're pretty comprehensive (too detailed for
A-level students) there's plenty of food for thought here for teachers to turn
into more easily digested bites for their students. |