Module SOC2064 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC2064: Critical Theory: The Frankfurt School and Communicative Capitalism
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The aims of this module are:
- to introduce you to 20th century Critical Theory and its Freudo-Marxist concepts
- to practise critical methods and critical reflection
- to learn about philosophical examination of modern-day social changes and problems
- to introduce you to 20th century philosophers who have been greatly influential on current philosophical and political thought.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the theories and texts (readings) for the course 2. Demonstrate sound understanding of the methodological and conceptual problems of critiquing modernity |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Demonstrate critical understanding of the interrelation between epistemology, values, and material social conditions 4. Demonstrate knowledge of a specific current type of philosophical social and political analysis |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse texts with guidance, and discuss complex problems 6. Demonstrate the ability to write short, explanatory summaries of academic texts 7. Demonstrate the ability to research independently and write a critical philosophical essay on a module theme |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
This module studies concepts developed by the philosophers in the Freudo-Marxist Frankfurt School in the 20th century and the relevance or uptake of these concepts in contemporary critiques of society and capitalism.
The module aims to introduce you to critical analyses and reflections on the relationship between social structure and organisation and the individual in Modernity. This will be achieved through lectures on works by some predecessor theories, and some main proponents of critical theory, such as Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse, Theodor W. Adorno, and Erich Fromm.
Three lecture sessions will introduce you to recent works in Critical Theory on alienation and freedom, the role of religion in the 21st Century and the formation of the self and social and political agency, looking at works by philosphers such as Jodi Dean, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser and Christian Fuchs.
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 | 22 | 11 lecture/seminars (approx. 1 hr lecture and 1 hr discussion of set readings) |
| Guided Independent Study | 48 | Reading and research |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Preparation and writing of 2 reading summaries |
| Guided Independent Study | 38 | Preparation and writing of essay |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Other Learning Resources
- Film ‘Hannah Arendt’ (2012) by Margarete von Trotta (organised viewing for the course by Dr Hauskeller).
- BBC4 The Frankfurt School (14 Jan 2010), by Melvyn Bragg and guests.
- BBC Mini-Series: The Century of the Self 2002, parts 1-4.
