Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC3111: Political Sociology

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

This module provides you with the opportunity to learn about and appraise theories used in political sociology. This will help you to learn about and reflect on the drivers of the social basis of political competition, social and political attitudes, processes of political engagement and competition.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Acquire a thorough understanding of recent political sociology explanations of political competition, social and political attitudes, processes of political engagement, the social basis for the formation, change and maintenance of political institutions. 2. Relate this theoretical understanding of political sociology to empirical data and analyses for more than two major industrial countries. 3. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the competing approaches in political sociology.
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Understand in depth the main methods of data collection and analysis in political science and sociology. 5. Demonstrate familiarity with major features of contemporary developed societies that are relevant to political science.
Personal and Key Skills	6. Write analytical essays. 7. Present coherent arguments. 8. Communicate effectively in your written work.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Methodology
Political culture and social capital
Class
Religion
Gender
Ethnicity and race
Political elites
Turnout
Social movements
Media
Citizen participation

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	22	11 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent study	44	Preparing for seminars: reading and thinking through answers to discussion questions
Guided Independent study	84	Preparing for examination and essay

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

Clark, William Roberts, Matt Golder, and Sona N Golder. 2017. Principles of Comparative Politics. Sage.

Crouch, Colin (1999). Social Change in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dalton, Russell (2014). Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies (6th edition). Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.