Currents and Theories in Social Sciences

6 ECTS credits
168 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1007562BNW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Sociology

Educational team

Werner Schirmer (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

8 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
162 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

Introduction to the central theoretical perspectives in the social sciences.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Sociaal-wetenschappelijke theorieën en stromingen, De cursusteksten worden opgegeven bij aanvang van het college

Additional info

Not applicable.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

During this course students get acquainted with the most important theoretical currents and approaches in the social sciences.

The students should:

grasp that social reality can be studied from different perspectives;
autonomously recognize the most important social-scientific perspectives/theories as well as summarize in their own words the core elements of these perspectives/theories;
be able to describe in their own words how the dominant social-scientific perspectives and theories differ from each other;
be able to demonstrate that they can critically scrutinize the perspectives/theories and compare them with regard to relevant insights and limits;
be able to autonomously apply the perspectives/theories to certain, general empirical phenomena as well as analyse these phenomena with help of the perspectives/theories presented in the course; for this purpose, students need to know which theories are suited better or worse;
be able to autonomously interpret and evaluate given social-scientific research from the vantage point of the perspectives/theories presented in the course.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Not applicable.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context