Modern Sociological Theories:explain and critically assess the main features of Marx’s historical materialism

Modern Sociological Theories

Word limit: 4,000 – 5,000 words

  1. Explain and critically assess the main features of Marx’s historical materialism
  2. Critically assess Marx’s account of the alienating effects of capitalism and how it would be overcome under communism
  3. Explain and critically assess Durkheim’s account of ‘social facts’, using his study of Suicide to illustrate your answer
  4. Explain and critically assess Durkheim’s account of the transition from ‘mechanical’ to ‘organic’ solidarity
  5. Outline the main contributions to sociology made by W. E. B. Du Bois and critically assess his frequent absence from the sociological canon
  6. Critically assess the contemporary relevance of ONE or TWO of the theorists studied during the module. To what extent can their works be used to understand contemporary societies?
  7. How and why has the concept of ‘the social’ presented by the ‘founding fathers’ of Sociology (Marx, Weber, Durkheim) been criticised by feminist scholars?
  8. To what extent – if any – does symbolic interactionism explain how individuals might change shared norms?
  9. Explain and critically assess Goffman’s arguments about power and agency being a skilled performance
  10. What, according to Adorno, is the impact of the culture industry on the political life of late-capitalist society?
  11. Compare and contrast the evaluations of popular culture made by the Frankfurt School and the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies