ASOK05249U Cognitive Sociology: Self, Identity and Self-Esteem - closed for further registration

This course offers an introduction to the growing field of Cognitive Sociology. It also takes a closer look at how the self, identity and even self-esteem may be better understood by combining established social theory on the self (such as Mead, Butler and Foucault) with a cognitive perspective. While Cognitive Sociology draws upon cognitive psychology it specifically studies the social in cognition. Thought processes are approached as socially contingent, thereby questioning individualized and universalist models of thought. Of particular interest here is the relationship between macro level culture and micro level cognition, i.e. role of culture both in what and how we think, on conscious and subconscious levels. By studying this, the interdisciplinary ambitions of Cognitive Sociology have the potential both to critique psychological theories on the self as well as to expand the horizons of sociology in a range of fields, some of which will be discussed during the course.