Preparatory & Key First Year Reading, BSc Sociology
Dear Prospective Student,
1st August 2012
We are delighted that you have chosen Brunel as your place to study and we look forward to welcoming you in
person to the University in September. This letter suggests some ways in which you may want to prepare for
your first year, and is accompanied by a list of preparatory reading suggested by the tutors who teach our Year
One modules.
If you do join the Department of Sociology & Communications this Autumn, you will be a member of a first year
intake of approximately 100 students following one of three degrees: Sociology, Communication & Media
Studies and Sociology & Media Studies. Each degree consists of six modules in each year. All of our first year
students take four compulsory introductory modules: Introduction to Social & Cultural Research, Individual &
Social Processes, Introduction to Social Enquiry, and Media, Culture & Society. The two other core modules
taken vary according to your degree. The reading list below will give degree-specific preparation, but there are
a couple of general points which it is important for you to understand as well.
Many of our students will have taken A-level’s in Media Studies and/or in Sociology. For the benefit of those
who have not taken one of these courses at A-level, I’d like to stress that you will not be disadvantaged in any
way. Our first year modules do not presume any existing familiarity with these areas or with the key approaches
to the study of these subjects. That said, if you have studied Sociology and / or Media Studies before, you will
not find that the first year at Brunel simply duplicates a lot of the teaching you’ve already experienced. This is
because we study a much broader range of topics, and University study is far more critical and independent
than is possible at A-Level. The leap from Sixth Form to University is a big one, something like the leap from
GCSE to A-level, and all students find making this jump exciting, challenging and rewarding.
With regard to the reading lists below, I’d like to stress the fact that degree-level study involves a lot more
independent reading than was expected of you at A-Level. This is true for all Social Science and Arts subjects
at University. So, it would be to your great benefit to undertake as much preparatory reading as you can over
the summer. It’s always good to hit the ground running!
READING FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENTS
Introduction to Sociology
This is a core course that navigates the transition from ‘school’ to University Sociology. There are a number of
large, comprehensive and engaging textbooks for First Year Undergraduates of the discipline. All these books
assume no prior knowledge of the subject, and yet take the reader to quite an advanced level. Our course
allows students to choose from one of three established textbooks (the relevant parts of each are referenced in
your handbook for this module). This is a good example of the way in which University encourages you to be a
critical and independent reader. Which book will you buy and why? The texts are: Fulcher, J. & Scott, J.
(2011) Sociology, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press: Oxford; Giddens, A. (2009) Sociology, Sixth Edition,
Polity: Cambridge; Macionis, J.J. & Plummer, K. (2011) Sociology: A Global Introduction, Fifth Edition,
Prentice-Hall: New Jersey.
Introduction to Social & Cultural Research
The biggest difference between School and University is that at University you are taught by academics who
are pushing back the boundaries of the subject. New topics are taken up, old topics are examined in radical
new ways, and the conventions of the field are subject to on-going critique. This contested nature of
‘knowledge in the making’ is what makes being at University so stimulating (for staff and students!) To create
new knowledge we need a firm grounding in the main approaches to social and cultural research. Again, I
want to emphasise that even though many of you will have some knowledge of social research, both this
course and the related second year module on Research in Practice are taught at a much higher level. Having
a sound grasp of research methods matters, as one of the highlights of being a student is planning and
executing your own research project in your final year (Dissertation). The set book is by the Professor who
teaches this module: Seale, C. (2011) Researching Society & Culture, Third Edition, Sage: London.
Globalisation
We are constantly told we live in a global world – and our jobs depend on this. Higher Education is now made
up of Global Universities, and the campus at Brunel can be seen as a Global Village where students and staff
from most countries in the world mix together. Is the nation state less important now than the global
corporation? How are we affected by globalisation in our daily lives? How are the local and global related?
Can the forces of globalisation be resisted, and if so how? How do sociologists research globalisation? These
are just some of the issues that you will engage with in this module. The literature is vast, and the best way
into the main debates is the set text: Cohen, R. & Kennedy, P. (2007) Global Sociology, Second Edition,
Palgrave: London.
www.brunel.ac.uk
Preparatory & Key First Year Reading, BSc Sociology
Introduction to Social Enquiry
This module aims to do two things: first, to equip students with the skills needed to study independently at
degree level. So - how do you find the key literature on a topic when there are hundreds if not thousands of
academic journal papers and books? How do you sort through this great pile of material you have gathered?
How do you write balanced, critical and compelling essays? The second part takes you to the various research
frontiers being explored by eleven members of staff in our Department. Why do they find these topics exciting?
What sparked their interest in the questions they ask? Why do they study some topics and not others? What
are the new issues in their research field? What can we learn from neighbouring – or perhaps seemingly
remote – disciplines and areas? The aim here is to get you thinking about what topics and approaches you may
want to choose for your Dissertation. Although this is done in your final year, it is a double weighted module
and by far the longest piece of writing you will do as an undergraduate, so having early insights into what
makes research exciting and rigorous matters. Two very useful books here are: Redman, P. & Maples, W.
(2011) Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide, Fourth Edition, Sage: London; and Crow, G. (2005) The
Art of Sociological Argument, Palgrave: London (this is a superb, short overview of key sociological thinkers).
Media, Culture & Society
If the twentieth century was the Age of Media, then our current century seems to be the Age of New Social
Media. What do we mean by these grand labels? Are we really living in a different world? What are the
factors driving these changes in the Media? Where does power lay in these new Media landscapes and to
what degree are we free to choose the sorts of lives that we now live? How have notions of Culture and
Society shifted in the last 50 years or so? What are the dominant conceptual approaches to social and cultural
research on Society & Culture? How are Cultural Sociology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies similar and
different? The key text is: Hodkinson, P. (2010) Media, Culture & Society: An Introduction, Sage: London.
Students will also find another recent book valuable: Jones, P. & Holmes, D. (2011) Key Concepts in Media &
Communications, Sage: London. In addition, a classic critique of the mass media in American society is worth
looking at: Chomsky, N. & Herman, E.S. (1995) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass
Media, Vintage: New York. We also recommend two thought-provoking films / DVDs that critically examine the
nature of the media and the corporation: Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992), and
The Corporation (2006) – also see: www.thecorporation.com/
Individual & Social Processes
This module brings together first year students from across the three Departments of Anthropology, Psychology
and Sociology & Communications. How do these related but distinct disciplines study the social world? How
similar or different are the ways in which anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and Media Studies
academics approach topics like genetic testing? Which is the key ‘unit of analysis’: individual behaviour, social
groups, or cultural norms? Given the unusual and wide-ranging nature of this module there is no ‘set text’.
However, it is valuable to get a grasp of how the different social sciences potentially fit together. One short
book that does this very well is designed for students who are new to the Social Sciences at the Open
University: Woodward, K. (2009) Social Sciences: The Big Issues, Second Edition, Routledge: London. A
second book, edited by Backhouse, R.E & Fontaine, P. (2011) The History of the Social Sciences Since 1945,
Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, covers the six classic disciplines of Anthropology, Economics,
Geography, Politics, Psychology and Sociology, and I recommend all students read the relevant parts. As an
Undergraduate, it’s good to have an overview of where, how and why academics – including the ones who
teach you – are embedded (and sometimes trapped!) in a particular approach to the social world.
What if I want to read a short book in preparation?
Finally, it’s often not much fun reading a large textbook (even for me!) So, if you want to read a whole book or
two before you arrive, then I strongly recommend two extremely useful, readable, and inspiring books. The first
is an excellent short paperback by Ken Plummer (2011) Sociology: The Basics, Routledge: London. The
second is a fluently written, clear and balanced overview by Paul Hodkinson (2010) Media, Culture & Society:
An Introduction, Sage: London. Both will prove invaluable throughout your degree, so buy and read these
books. Happy reading!
Professor Steven Wainwright
Head of Department
Professor of Sociology of Science, Health & Culture
Department of Sociology & Communications
School of Social Sciences
Brunel University London
Phone: 0779305659
Email: steven.wainwright@brunel.ac.uk
www.brunel.ac.uk