ASOK05237U Critique of society: The Frankfurt School, Foucault and Boltanski
Sociology has seldom been restricted to the task of only describing and explaining what goes on in a society. Critique of society has also played a significant role and was already a crucial part of the writings of the “founding fathers” of the discipline; e.g. Marx (alienation), Simmel (anonymization), Weber (the iron cage of instrumental rationality), Durkheim (anomie). Sociology was in this sense institutionalized as a scientific analysis of the paradoxes (or pathologies) inherent in the epochal transition from “tradition to modernity”. The course will take such an understanding of sociology as its point of departure and apply it to contemporary society.
A general aim of the course is to investigate how critique within a scientific context should be understood. The material of this investigation will be three of the most important versions of critique of society after the founding fathers: The Frankfurt School, Foucault (and some of his followers) and French pragmatism (Boltanski and his co-authors). Further, these three versions of critical theory will be related to the structural transformation of modern society. An important thesis that will be developed in the course is that also some of the most fundamental theoretical conditions of critique are affected by social change. By relating critique of society to the ongoing transformation of modernity, the course will provide theoretical tools for an analysis of the possibility of critique in and of contemporary society.
SAMF IT has created a page for installing Software on personal computers: http://samf-it.ku.dk/english/stud/software/
- Category
- Hours
- Exam
- 123,5
- Lectures
- 28
- Preparation
- 123,5
- Total
- 275,0
Deadline for signing up for Spring courses is December
1st, 2013. When signing up you are automatically signed up
for exam.
International students must sign up by filling in an application
form which you find here: course
registration
Meritstuderende: klik
her
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written assignmentSize: A Free written take-home essay of maximum 15 pages of 2400 characters each page (incl. spaces). If written by a group, the essay may be 50 % of 2400 characters each page longer per additional student. Attention: When handing in as a group, the contribution of each student must be pointed out
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
- Exam period
- Handing in of papers: 12.00 o’clock in the secretariat (16.1.34) Submission dates will be available on Absalon.
Criteria for exam assesment
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- ASOK05237U
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Spring
- Schedule
- See schedule
- Course capacity
- 20 students
- Continuing and further education
- Price
- Læs mere om Åbent Universitet og priser her.
- Study board
- Department of Sociology, Study Council
Contracting department
- Department of Sociology
Course responsibles
- Signe Pedersen (4-7b69766c487b69756e36737d366c73)
Lecturers
Mikael Carleheden
Kontor: CSS 16.1.43
Telefon: +45 353-23286
E-mail: MC@soc.ku.dk