BSC Sociology Handbook 09-10

BSc Sociology & Diploma
Handbook
2010-2011
Contents
SIGNIFICANT DATES............................................................................................... 1
WELCOME ............................................................................................................... 2
Sociology at LSE ................................................................................................... 2
Policy Statement on Equality and Diversity ............................................................ 3
Aims of this BSc Programme ................................................................................. 3
The LSE Environment............................................................................................ 4
If You Need Help ................................................................................................... 4
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION .......................................................................... 5
Department Contact Information ............................................................................ 5
Key Departmental Staff.......................................................................................... 5
Communication...................................................................................................... 5
Change of Address ................................................................................................ 6
Departmental Meetings.......................................................................................... 6
Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) .............................................................. 6
Quality Assurance.................................................................................................. 6
Student Teaching Surveys..................................................................................... 7
Undergraduate Students/Staff Liaison Committee ................................................. 7
Parties ................................................................................................................... 7
Locations of Department Facilities ......................................................................... 7
STAFF DIRECTORY................................................................................................. 8
Faculty................................................................................................................... 9
PROGRAMME GUIDE ............................................................................................ 17
The BSc Programme Structure............................................................................ 17
YEAR 1 ............................................................................................................ 17
YEAR 2 ............................................................................................................ 17
YEAR 3 ............................................................................................................ 17
Description of the Compulsory Courses............................................................... 18
SO100 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory ..... 18
SO110 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to Contemporary
Sociology ......................................................................................................... 19
ST103 Statistical Methods for Social Research ................................................ 20
SO201 Sociological Analysis............................................................................ 20
SO221 Issues and Methods of Social Research............................................... 21
SO302 Sociological Project .............................................................................. 22
Sociology Suggested 1st Year Options................................................................ 23
Sociology Selection List (Years 2 and 3).............................................................. 23
Descriptions of Optional Courses......................................................................... 24
PS102 Self, Others & Society: Perspectives on Social & Applied Psychology.. 24
PS203 Societal Psychology: Theory and Applications...................................... 25
SO203 Political Sociology ................................................................................ 25
SO208 Gender and Society.............................................................................. 26
SO210 Crime, Deviance and Control ............................................................... 27
SO211 Sociology of Health and Medicine ........................................................ 28
SO212 Work, Management and Globalisation.................................................. 29
SO215 Evolution and Social Behaviour ............................................................ 30
SO224 The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity .................................................... 31
SO250 Multi-Culture and Multi-Culturalism Not Available 2010/11 ................... 32
SO305 Environmentalism: theory, politics and practice Not Available in 2010/11
......................................................................................................................... 33
SO306 Atrocity, Suffering and Human Rights Not Available 2010/11 ............... 34
LSE100 The LSE Course: Understanding the causes of things ........................... 35
Study Methods ........................................................................................................ 36
Structure of Teaching at LSE............................................................................... 36
Lectures............................................................................................................... 36
Classes................................................................................................................ 36
Accessing Sociology Lectures (Public Folders).................................................... 37
Tutorials............................................................................................................... 37
Organising Your Time.......................................................................................... 37
Formal Contact Hours.......................................................................................... 38
What You Will Be Required To Produce .............................................................. 38
Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA) ................................................................... 38
The Hobhouse Memorial Prizes........................................................................... 39
Course Readings................................................................................................. 39
Formative Assessment ........................................................................................ 39
Feedback............................................................................................................. 40
Formal Assessment ............................................................................................. 40
Examinations ................................................................................................... 40
Undergraduate Mark Frame ............................................................................. 40
Classification Schemes........................................................................................ 41
Assessed Essays and The Sociological Project (‘Dissertation’) ........................... 41
Feedback on Assessed Essays ........................................................................... 42
Plagiarism Detection............................................................................................ 42
Plagiarism / Academic Dishonesty / Assessment Offences.................................. 42
Preamble.......................................................................................................... 42
What is Plagiarism? ......................................................................................... 42
Regulations.......................................................................................................... 42
Late Submission of Assessed Course Work ........................................................ 43
Notes on the Presentation of Scholarly Writing .................................................... 44
Requesting a Reference ...................................................................................... 46
Word-processing: Notes for Sociology Students .................................................. 47
EndNote Plus....................................................................................................... 50
Code of Good Practice for Undergraduate Programmes: Teaching, Learning and
Assessment ............................................................................................................ 52
Introduction.......................................................................................................... 52
Academic Advice ................................................................................................. 52
Teaching.............................................................................................................. 53
Responsibilities of the student ............................................................................. 54
Examination and Assessment.............................................................................. 55
DIPLOMA IN SOCIOLOGY 2010/2011.................................................................... 57
About the Diploma Programme............................................................................ 57
Compulsory Courses ........................................................................................... 57
Options ................................................................................................................ 57
Programme Guide ............................................................................................... 57
Diploma in Sociology ........................................................................................... 57
Scheme for the Award of a Diploma .................................................................... 58
1. Responsibilities of Sub-Boards of Examiners ............................................... 58
2. External Examiners ...................................................................................... 58
3. Mark and Grade for a Course....................................................................... 58
4. Eligibility for Award of Diploma ..................................................................... 59
5. Treatment of Half Units ................................................................................ 59
6. Calculation of the Award of Diploma............................................................. 59
7. Failure to Achieve an Award of Diploma....................................................... 59
8. Appeals and Offences .................................................................................. 60
9. General Proviso ........................................................................................... 60
Regulations for Diplomas..................................................................................... 60
General ............................................................................................................ 60
Entrance qualifications ..................................................................................... 60
Programmes of study ....................................................................................... 61
Entry to examinations....................................................................................... 61
Examinations and assessment......................................................................... 62
Late submission of coursework ........................................................................ 63
Re-examination ................................................................................................ 63
Illness............................................................................................................... 63
The award of a degree ..................................................................................... 64
Notification of results........................................................................................ 64
Appeals against decisions of boards of examiners ........................................... 64
Schedule to the Regulations for Diplomas........................................................ 64
Code of Good Practice for Taught Diploma Programmes: Teaching, Learning and
Assessment ......................................................................................................... 65
Supervisory Arrangements............................................................................... 65
Teaching .......................................................................................................... 66
Responsibilities of the Student ......................................................................... 67
Examination and Assessment .......................................................................... 68
SIGNIFICANT DATES
2010/2011
Start of Michaelmas Term 30 September 2010
Start of Teaching 4 October 2010
During November/Early
Candidate Examination Numbers Allocated
December 2010
End of Michaelmas Term 10 December 2010
Start of Lent Term 10 January 2011
End of Lent Term 25 March 2011
Announcement of Examination Timetable End of Lent Term
Start of Summer Term 3 May 2011
Sociological Project Due Second Friday of ST
BSc Sat Examination Period Mid May – June 2011
End of Summer Term 1 July 2011
Presentation Ceremonies 14 /15 July 2011
The School will also be closed on English public holidays. In 2010/2011 these will be
Christmas Closure Thursday 23 December – Friday 31 December 2010

New Year's Day Holiday Monday 3 Jan 2011
Easter Closure Thursday 21 April – Wednesday 27 April 2011
May Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2011
Spring Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 2011
Summer Bank Holiday Monday 29 August 2011
1
WELCOME
Welcome to the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics and
Political Science.
This handbook aims to provide an introduction to the Department and the facilities
available in the School. It is also designed to help you understand the requirements
of this programme, and plan your course of study. The book is divided into four main
sections: a practical introduction to the School, Departmental administrative
information, information specifically about your programme, and study support
material.
Sociology at LSE
As a Department, we are strongly committed to rigorous intellectual and empirical
work, building upon the traditions of the discipline and developing research that is
responsive to both local and global challenges.
LSE Sociology embraces a theoretically and methodologically diverse range of

approaches, focussing upon the following key areas:
Human Rights, Citizenship and Social Justice: dimensions of inequality

and injustice, nationally and internationally, gender and sexual divisions, the
political implications of emerging "human rights regimes", issues of human
rights in a global context, human rights in transitional justice and post-conflict
reconciliation, human rights in the context of biotechnology and bio-ethics, in
new forms of legal regulation, and associated with security, war and terror.
Cities, Architecture and Urbanism: the nature, transformations and
implications of the spatial, social and cultural relations of cities, in a global
context.
Economy and Society: the nature of contemporary economic knowledges,
including a critical engagement with both economics and economic sociology,
the role of economic knowledges in economic life, and the reconstruction of
economic categories from within social research, there is a strong concern
with transnationalism, development and globalization, engaged through clear
empirical focuses, the cluster has a strong track record in several substantive
areas that group members in diverse ways, above all: work and employment,
risk and regulation, money and value, consumption and market society,
technology and economy.
Politics and Society: the social, economic, institutional and ideological bases
of politics, and the interaction of states and societies. Social and political
movements, especially the comparative, historical and contemporary study of
labour movements and the left. Political power and ideas. Political and
economic democracy. International regulation and risk. Fundamental social
and political change.
Race, Racism and Ethnicity: the social, cultural and governmental aspects
of colonial and post-colonial societies. Nationalism, challenges and
transformations in geo-politics, governance and citizenship in an era
characterized by migration, flight, asylum, multiculture, cultural hybridity,
cosmopolitanism and supposed 'civilisational' conflict.
Crime, Culture and Control: criminological theory, criminal cultures,
organisations and markets, victimology, criminal investigation, the changing
2
nature of crime, alcohol and public disorder, punishment and control, the
relationship between privatised control strategies and urban regeneration,
gender and social control, the emergence of cross border criminal activity,
violence.
Biomedicine, Bioscience, and Biotechnology: the new social, political,
legal and ethical challenges facing individuals and society in the era of
biotechnology, biomedicine and genomics.
Our teaching is informed by these commitments and by our active research in these
areas. LSE Sociology aims to provide a learning environment in which students are
encouraged to think critically and independently. Many of the key issues in the
discipline worldwide are the subject of contestation, and our teaching aims to equip
students to understand and evaluate these disputes and adopt a position in relation
to them. Rigorous, critical, independent thought is the most transferable skill of all,
and the overarching objective of what we seek to provide to our students.
Policy Statement on Equality and Diversity

The School will promote equality of opportunity for students and staff from all social,
cultural and economic backgrounds and ensure freedom from discrimination on the
basis of disability, gender, race, age, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
Equality and diversity are integral to the School's priorities and objectives. We will
support inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue and understanding and engage all
students in playing a full and active role in wider engagement with society.
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/planningAndCorporatePolicy/legalandComplianceTeam/De
fault.htm
Aims of this BSc Programme

We aim to equip our students with the intellectual tools and methodological
competences to
understand our rapidly changing world,

critically evaluate claims and arguments about societies and social change,
and
conduct rigorous sociological investigations of key issues.
Our students have the opportunity to study a wide range of substantive topics and
theoretical and methodological approaches, and to explore critically the interrelations
and tensions between them. The programme is organized systematically and
developmentally over the three years, through a combination of carefully structured
core courses, related in each year to a selection of specialist optional courses. Within
the overall degree programme we aim to use the fullest possible range of teaching
and assessment methods and these are carefully tailored to be appropriate to
specific courses.
3
The LSE Environment
The School is located in a complex of buildings situated in the centre of London (off
the Aldwych). It is close to the Royal Courts of Justice, the BBC World Service and
the City of London. West End theatres are all close by, along with the shops and
markets of Covent Garden. The National Gallery is a short walk down the Strand,
while the South Bank Arts complex (containing the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward
Gallery, the National Theatre and the National Film Theatre) and Tate Modern are
located on the opposite bank of the river. Within the School there is a mix of students
from all over the world and this generates a great deal of intellectual energy and
excitement. The geography of the School can seem complicated at first, but you will
find direction signs spread around the buildings, and maps and diagrams in various
School publications. All of the staff in the Department have a room in the St
Clements Building on floor 2.
If You Need Help

If you find that you need help, it is most important that you discuss your problems
with your Academic Adviser or with the BSc Programme Convenor. Academic
Advisers are intended to have a pastoral as well as an academic role. You should
feel able to discuss anything with your Academic Adviser that affects your ability to
benefit academically from your time with us. You should certainly keep him or her
informed of any medical difficulties or illness that may prevent you from studying or
may affect your academic performance. If you have difficulties of a personal nature
that you do not wish to discuss with your Academic Adviser, you may wish to make
use of the School’s Student Health Centre’s counselling services. For an
appointment, call 0207 955 7016, or visit the emergency drop-in centre between 4-
5pm daily.If you are female, you may also speak to the Adviser to Women Students,
or male, the Adviser for Male Students.
If you have difficulties, you should tell someone within the Department or School -
they will usually know who to put you in touch with.
4
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
In this section you will find essential reference information about the Department.
Also included is the staff directory and their research interests, and descriptions of
LSE and University of London facilities.
Department Contact Information

Address: Department of Sociology
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
Tel No: (+44) (0)20–7955–7708
Fax No: (+44) (0)20–7955–7405
Email: f.hewson@lse.ac.uk
Web Address: www2.lse.ac.uk/sociology/
Key Departmental Staff

There are several people in the Department with formal administrative roles on your
programme who you will come into contact with over the course of your degree.
The Head of Department (HOD) Professor Judy Wajcman can be located in Room
S203. The HOD is responsible to the School for the running of the Department.
The Director of Undergraduate Studies for the 2010/11 academic year is Dr Suki
Ali who is in Room S216. The Director of Undergraduate Studies coordinates the
allocation of Academic Advisers to students. Any student who feels that he or she
has concerns, which cannot be dealt with by their Academic Adviser, should see Dr
Ali.
The Departmental Manager, Louise Fisher is responsible for much of the day to
day administrative work and, as such, works closely with the HOD, Director of
Undergraduate Studies and other academic officers of the Department. One of the
Departmental Administrators is Mrs Frances Hewson, who is located in room
S219a. She is also the administrator for the BSc programme.
In the first instance, your 'contact person' for the course will be your Academic
Adviser. If he or she cannot deal with your question/problem, you should contact the
Departmental Tutor. The assignment and role of your Academic Adviser is
discussed in more detail later in this handbook.
Communication
You are expected to check your email regularly (using your School-supplied
email address), since both academics and administrators routinely use this medium
in order to communicate with students.
Notices of interest to students and staff will be placed on the Departmental notice
boards. These are located outside Room S219a, and inside The Robert McKenzie
Room, also known as the Common Room, (S202), which is the Department’s
seminar and meeting room. Personal messages will reach you via the pigeonholes
(in Room S202). Please check this location regularly, since members of staff
and the School Administration will send post for you there.
5
Change of Address
If you change your term-time address you must inform the Registry located in the
new Student Services Centre and your Academic Adviser. This change can be made
by you, using LSEForYou, located on the front page of the LSE website. Your
address is protected information and will not be disclosed to a third party without your
permission unless it is for reasons of official School business. It is important that you
keep us informed of your private address (and telephone number). If changing your
address, please notify the Student Services Centre via LSEForYou.
Departmental Meetings
Broad decisions on academic issues, curriculum and teaching matters are made by
the teaching staff in consultation with the students where appropriate. Most issues
are raised and resolved within the Departmental Meetings, which take place once a
Term. The first part of the meeting (on Wednesdays at 2.30 pm) is a closed meeting
for academic staff. Those on the Undergraduate Students/Staff Liaison Committee
may be invited to attend the open part of the meeting (usually from 3.30 pm
onwards).
Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC)

The TLC is a committee designed to maintain and improve upon teaching, learning
and assessment in the Department. It meets once a term and presents reports to the
Departmental Meetings. Student representatives are invited to TLC meetings for
consultation and participation under specific agenda items, as well as other members
of academic staff. Students are advised to approach their student representative on
the Graduate Students/Staff Liaison Committee if they have queries or comments
related to the Department’s teaching and learning environment. The TLC welcomes
constructive comments on all aspects of the Department's teaching, learning and
assessment activities. It is chaired by Dr Fran Tonkiss, who can be contacted by
telephone at ext. 6601, or by email at f.tonkiss@lse.ac.uk.
Quality Assurance
The School’s approach to quality assurance is set out in the document ‘Towards a
Strategy for Managing Academic Standards and Quality’:
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/TQARO/TowardsAStrategy.htm. It sets out broad
principles for assuring academic standards and for enhancing the quality of
educational provision.
The School’s Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee (TLAC) is the body
responsible for ensuring that the School and Departments discharge their
responsibilities under ‘Towards a Strategy’. It does this by receiving reports on a
range of related areas: degree and course outcomes, external examiners’ reports,
reviews of Departments and Institutes, and national developments in quality
assurance, to name but a few. It also monitors the outcomes of the quality
assurance processes that Departments and Institutes operate locally, e.g. Staff-
Student Liaison Committees, course and programme monitoring/review,
Departmental/Teaching meetings, consideration of teaching surveys, etc.
TLAC is serviced by the Teaching Quality Assurance and Review Office (TQARO).
This office is responsible for supporting the School’s quality assurance infrastructure.
6
This includes acting as the School’s point of contact with the Quality Assurance
Agency, a national body that safeguards quality and standards in UK higher
education.
Student Teaching Surveys

The Teaching Quality Assurance and Review Office (TQARO) conducts two School-
wide surveys each year to assess students’ opinions of teaching. They provide
teachers with important information about the perceived quality of their teaching, and
the School with a measure of general teaching standards. The Graduate Teaching
Assistant survey covers classroom teaching by hourly paid lecturers and takes place
in the Michaelmas term. The permanent teacher survey takes place in both the
Michaelmas and Lent terms. The surveys produce both quantitative and qualitative
results. The paper questionnaires are distributed in classes and lectures to
encourage higher response rates.
Teaching scores are made available to individual teachers, heads of department,

course convenors, the Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre and Pro-
Director (Teaching and Learning). In addition to producing reports for individual
teachers, TQARO produces aggregated quantitative data for departments and the
School, which provide important performance indicators.
Undergraduate Students/Staff Liaison Committee

This Committee, usually chaired by the Departmental Tutor, meets twice a Term
(usually weeks 3 and 8) to discuss issues of interest to undergraduate students.
There are two student representatives drawn from each year of the undergraduate
degree and from General Course students, elected by their peers. Each year should
ensure representatives are elected within the first few weeks of session. This
Committee reports to the Departmental Meeting.
Parties
There is normally a staff–student party at the end of the Michaelmas Term, to which
all members of the Department are invited.
Locations of Department Facilities

Most of the teaching staff of the Department have rooms on the second floor of the St
Clements Building (rooms prefixed with 'S'). Do not confuse the St Clements Building
and Clement House, which is on Aldwych.
The Robert McKenzie Room (S202) can be used by students for quiet study periods.
If you wish to hold a more formal meeting in this room, please book through Tia
Exelby or Frances Hewson in S219a.
7
STAFF DIRECTORY
Department of Sociology
Name Ext Room Admin Support Ext Room
Dr Claire Alexander (from outside:

3765 S277 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
020 7852 3765)
Dr Suki Ali (from outside: 020 7852-
3781 S216 Frances Hewson 7708 S219a
3781)
Dr Robin Archer 7944 S283 Tia Exelby 7305 S219a
Dr Christopher Badcock 7288 S282 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
Prof. Eileen Barker (Emeritus) 7289 S211
Prof. Chetan Bhatt 6262 S285
Prof. Ricky Burdett 6865 V805 Katherine Wallis 7706 V801
Dr Alasdair Cochrane 6787 V504
Prof. Stan Cohen (Emeritus) 7576 S211
Dr Ayona Datta (Cities Programme) 6593 S209 Anna Livia Johnston 6828 TBA
Dr Manali Desai (from outside: 020
7852-3719)
Dr Nigel Dodd 7571 S266 Frances Hewson 7708 S219a
Dr Janet Foster (on research buy-
Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
out / sabbatical 2010/11)
Prof. Sarah Franklin (on sabbatical
LT and ST 2010/11)
Dr Carrie Friese 7984 S207
Prof. David Frisby (Emeritus) 6213 S206 Tia Exelby 7708 S219a
Prof. Paul Gilroy (on sabbatical LT
and ST 2010/11)
Prof. Frances Heidensohn
5316 S211
(Emeritus)
Dr Ursula Henz (on sabbatical MT
and LT 2010/11)
Prof. Dick Hobbs 7076 S217
Dr Christopher Husbands (Emeritus) 7293 S287 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
Prof. Bridget Hutter 7287 G311
Dr Pat McGovern 6653 S276 Frances Hewson 7708 S219a
Dr Claire Moon S267 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
Dr Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (from
5007 S265
outside: 020 7107 5007)
Dr Paddy Rawlinson 6010 S279 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
Prof. Paul Rock (Emeritus) 7296 S211
Prof. Nikolas Rose (on sabbatical
7533 V1103
2010/11)
Dr IIina Singh 6432 B803
Prof. Leslie Sklair (Emeritus) 7299 S211
Dr Don Slater (on sabbatical LT
4653 S218A Frances Hewson 7708 S219a
2010/11)
Prof. Robert Tavernor 7753 TBA Anna Livia Johnston 6828 TBA
Dr Fran Tonkiss 6601 S219 Tia Exelby 7309 S219a
Prof. Judy Wajcman (Head of Dept) 7300 S203 Louisa Lawrence 4938 S205
8
Faculty
Dr Claire Alexander: Reader in Sociology. Her research interests are in the area of
race, ethnicity, migration, masculinity and youth identities. Her main publications
include The Art of Being Black (OUP 1996) and The Asian Gang (Berg 2000). She is
co-editor of Beyond Difference (Ethnic and Racial Studies July 2002),and Making
Race Matter: Bodies, Space and Identity (Palgrave 2005), and editor of Writing Race:
Ethnography and Difference (Ethnic and Racial Studies, May 2006). She is also
currently co-director of an AHRC funded project on ‘The Bengal Diaspora: Bengali
settlers in South Asia and Britain’. She has recently joined the Board of Trustees of
the Runnymede Trust.
Dr Suki Ali: Senior Lecturer in Gender and Social Theory. Current research interests
centre on gendered racialisation and embodiment (especially mixed-race),
identification, visual culture, and kinship and transnational belonging. She teaches
courses on gender, sexuality and societies and gender and postcolonial theory.
Recent publications include Mixed Race, Post-Race: Gender, New Ethnicities and
Cultural Practices (Berg, 2003), and co-edited collections Gender and the Politics of
Education: Critical Perspectives (Palgrave 2004) and Global Feminist Politics:
Identities in a Changing World (Routledge 2000).
Dr Robin Archer: Reader in Sociology. He teaches political sociology and is the

program director of the MSc in that subject. Prior to joining the LSE he taught political
sociology, comparative government and political theory at Oxford University, where
he was the Fellow in Politics at Corpus Christi College. His interests focus on: the
comparative study of social movements, especially labour movements; political
culture, especially the influence of liberalism, religion and race in the United States;
comparative political economy, especially the development of industrial relations and
welfare states; the effects of political institutions; and questions of social and political
philosophy, especially questions concerning liberalism, socialism, freedom and
democracy.
Dr Christopher Badcock: Reader in Sociology. His current research is devoted to

elaborating the imprinted brain theory which he developed along with Prof Bernard
Crespi (Killam Research Professor, Department of Biosciences, Simon Fraser
University, Burnaby, Canada) and which seeks to explain brain evolution, the mind,
and mental illness in terms of genetic conflict. He teaches courses on Evolution and
Social Behaviour and Genes and Society. His recent publications include: 'An
evolutionary Theory of Mind and of Mental Illness: genetic conflict and the mentalistic
continuum', in C. Crawford and D. Krebs (eds) Foundations of Evolutionary
Psychology: Ideas, Issues and Applications, (Erlbaum 2008);
Professor Eileen V Barker, OBE, FBA: Professor of Sociology with Special

Reference to the Study of Religion (Emeritus Professor from October 2003). Her
main research interest over the past 35 years has been ‘cults’, ‘sects’ and new
religious movements - and the social reactions to which they give rise; but since 1989
she has spent much of her time investigating changes in the religious situation in
Eastern Europe. She has conducted several surveys including the British section of a
large international study of religious and moral pluralism. In 1988, with the support of
the Home Office and mainstream Churches, she founded Inform, a charity based at
the LSE, which provides information about minority religions that is as objective and
up-to-date as possible. All LSE students are welcome to make use of Inform’s
extensive library and other resources.
9
Professor Ulrich Beck: Visiting Professor of Sociology at LSE and Professor for
Sociology at the University of Munich, and The British Journal of Sociology Visiting
Centennial Professor at the LSE. Ulrich Beck is co-editor of Soziale Welt; editor of
Zweite Moderne at Suhrkamp (Frankfurt a.M.). His interests focus on 'risk society',
‘globalization’, 'individualization', 'reflexive modernization' and ‘cosmopolitanism’. He
is founding-director of a research centre at the University of Munich (in cooperation
with four other universities in the area) - Reflexive Modernization, financed since
1999 by the DFG (German Research Society). His recent publications include the
trilogy Cosmopolitan Vision (2006), Power in the Global Age (2006) and
Cosmopolitan Europe (2007), all Polity Press.
Professor Chetan Bhatt: Chetan Bhatt is Professor of Sociology and Director of the
Centre for the Study of Human Rights. He joined the LSE in April 2010.
He was previously Professor of Sociology and Head of Department at the
Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London. Before this, he taught at
the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex and the Department of
Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Southampton (the latter as an ESRC
research fellow). His gained his PhD (Politics and Sociology) at Birkbeck College,
University of London and his BA Hons (Social and Political Sciences) at Sidney
Sussex College, University of Cambridge. In addition to extensive work over many
years on human rights, discrimination and social justice, Chetan Bhatt's research
interests include modern social theory and philosophy, early German Romanticism,
philosophical idealism, the religious right and religious conflict, nationalism, racism
and ethnicity, and the geopolitical sociology of South Asia and the Middle East.
Current projects include work on the emergence of virtue in modern political
ideologies, new forms of the regional state in South Asia and the sociology of
religious paramilitia groups.
Professor Ricky Burdett: Ricky Burdett is Centennial Professor in Architecture and

Urbanism at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and
founding director of the LSE Cities Programme, a research and teaching centre
which explores links between architecture, urban design and urban society. At the
LSE he directs the 'Urban Age', an international investigation on cities organised with
Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Society. He is Chief Adviser on Architecture and
Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and was architectural adviser to the Mayor
of London from 2001 to 2006. He has curated numerous exhibitions including 'Global
Cities' at Tate Modern (summer 2007), was Director of the 2006 Architecture
Biennale in Venice and is chairman of the Jury for the 2007 Mies van der Rohe Prize.
He is architectural adviser to the City of Genova.
Dr Alasdair Cochrane: Lecturer in Human Rights. He joined the Department in

2007 and is a member of Centre for the Study of Human Rights, where he teaches
on the core course for the MSc Human Rights. Prior to joining the Centre, Alasdair
taught in the Department of Government at the LSE, where he completed his PhD.
He holds a First Class BA in Politics from the University of Sheffield, an MSc in
Political Theory, and a PGCHE, both from the LSE. Alasdair Cochrane’s research
interests include the philosophical justification of rights, contemporary political theory,
environmentalism, animal ethics and bioethics. Current and future research projects
include: an examination of the scope of the right to a decent environment; the role of
human rights (if any) in tackling controversies in bioethics; and a monograph based
on his thesis, ‘Animal Rights Without Liberation’. He has published articles on animal
ethics and environmental ethics in Res Publica, Political Studies, Utilitas and the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
10
Professor Stanley Cohen, FBA: Emeritus Professor of Sociology. He came to LSE
as a Visiting Professor in 1994, was appointed Martin White Professor of Sociology in
1996 and retired from this post in 2005/6. He taught courses on crime, deviance and
control as well as being responsible for the teaching on “the sociology of atrocities”
on the new inter-disciplinary MSc organized by Centre for the Study of Human
Rights. His most recent book is States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and
Suffering (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2001. His current research continues his interest
on media and public reactions to news about atrocities and suffering.
Dr Ayona Datta: Lecturer in the Cities Programme, and co-convenor of the MSc
Culture and Society Degree. She has an interdisciplinary background in architecture,
environmental design, and gender studies. Her research interests span overlapping
and interlinking themes of gender, space, and power; Politics of place; Home,
migration, and the city; Spatiality of social agency; and Critical geographies of
architecture. She recently completed a British Academy Research Grant titled
'Mapping the Architecture of Control and Resistance'. Based on this work, her
forthcoming book ‘Illegal Geographies of the city: Spatial Politics of Gender and
Social Agency in a New Delhi Squatter Settlement’, explores the relationships
between gender, place, and social agency in squatter settlements of the global
South.
Dr Manali Desai: Lecturer in Sociology. A historical sociologist by training, her

research interests span state formation, left parties and anti-poverty policies, ethnic
violence, and post-colonial studies. She has written on class formation and poverty in
India, anti-colonial nationalism, and the left, and has recently written about urban
ethnic violence in India. Her publications include State Formation and Radical
Democracy in India, 1860-1990 (Routledge 2006) and States of Trauma: Gender and
Violence in South Asia, co-edited with P. Chatterjee and P. Roy (Zubaan,
forthcoming). In addition, she has published a number of articles in journals such as
American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Social Science History, and
Comparative Studies in Society and History. She is currently working on a project on
neoliberalism in India and South Africa, as well as two comparative projects on
political articulation and racial/ethnic formations.
Dr Nigel B Dodd: Senior Lecturer. His research interests span the Sociology of
Economic Life, Money and Financial Markets, Consumerism, and Contemporary
Social Theory. His publications include The Sociology of Money (Polity Press,
Cambridge, 1994), and Social Theory and Modernity (Polity Press, Cambridge,
1999). Currently, Dr Dodd is researching the Euro, particularly its social, cultural and
political aspects.
Dr Janet Foster: Senior Lecturer. She has extensive experience as a qualitative

researcher on crime, community and policing issues. She has published three major
studies: Villains: crime and community in the inner city (1990), an observational study
of crime, offending, and policing, in one area of South London; Housing Community
and Crime (1993), part of a major collaborative project between the London School of
Economics, Home Office and the Department of the Environment to evaluate the
Priority Estates Project and its impact on crime and community in London and Hull;
and Docklands: Cultures in Conflict, Worlds in Collision (1999) based on a two year
ethnographic study of urban change and conflict on the Isle of Dogs in London's
Docklands which documents the competing visions of urban change, and the social
exclusion and racism which emanated from it.
Professor Sarah Franklin, FSB: Professor of Social Studies of Biomedicine joined

the Department in September 2004. Her areas of specialist expertise include social
11
dimensions of new reproductive and genetic technologies, kinship and gender theory,
the anthropology of reproduction, and science studies. She has written, edited, and
co-authored more than 20 books and reports on assisted conception, cloning, stem
cell research, embryo research, and genetic screening, as well as over 100 articles
on these and related topics. She is committed to theoretically-informed empirical
research working closely with clinicians and scientists and has held research grants
from the Leverhulme Trust, the Wellcome Trust, the ESRC, the MRC, the EU, and
the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. She has held Visiting
Professorships at the University of California, New York University, the University of
Sydney, the University of Tarragona and Hannover University. She has advised on
UK policy in the areas of IVF, Stem Cell Research and PGD and in 2010 she was
made a Fellow of the Society of Biology.
Dr Carrie Friese: Lecturer in the Sociology of the Life Sciences and Biomedicine.
Her research interests are in reproduction, genetics, assisted reproductive and
genetic technologies, and qualitative field methods. She is particularly interested in
the role of animal models in these biomedical developments, which she explores at
the intersections of medical sociology, science and technology studies, animal
studies, and feminist theory. Carrie received her B.A. in Anthropology from New York
University in 1997 and her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC San Francisco in 2007. Her
thesis was entitled "Enacting Conservation and Biomedicine: Cloning Animals of
Endangered Species in the Borderlands of the United States", which was awarded
the Illinois Distinguished Dissertation Award by the International Association of
Qualitative Inquiry in 2009. From 2007-2008, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the
Center for Society and Genetics at UC Los Angeles. She joined Sociology and the
BIOS Centre in January 2009 as a lecturer.
Professor David Frisby, FRSE: Emeritus Professor. He joined the Department in

2005 as Professor of Sociology and member of the Cities Programme. His research
interests focus upon metropolitan modernity, architecture and urban cultures,
German social theory in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the social
theory of Georg Simmel. He maintains an interest in critical social theories of
modernity, originally developed in his Fragments of Modernity (third printing 2003)
and elsewhere. His recent publications include Georg Simmel in Wien (2000),
Cityscapes of Modernity (2001), Georg Simmel.Revised Edition (2002), editor of the
third enlarged edition of Simmel’s Philosophy of Money (2004) and of volume 18 of
Simmel’s collected works (2008). Current projects include a forthcoming study of Otto
Wagner’s Vienna and, with Iain Boyd Whyte, a sourcebook on Berlin: 1890-1940.
Professor Paul Gilroy: Anthony Giddens Chair in Social Theory. Was chair of the
department of African American Studies, and Charlotte Marian Saden Professor of
Sociology at Yale before coming to the department in July 2005. His current research
is divided into several projects: the social conditions of convivial interaction between
post-colonial populations particularly in situations where multicultural society has
been pronounced dead, the ongoing relevance of the history and politics of colonial
government; the morbid memory of world war two in contemporary British politics
and, lastly, the “moral economy” of blackness in the twentieth century. His most
recent book was published last year as “Postcolonial Melancholia” in the US but
entitled “After Empire” in the UK. “The Cry of Love” a new study of black political
culture is forthcoming.
Professor Frances Heidensohn: is Emeritus Professor in the Sociology Department

at LSE and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, University of London. She graduated
in Sociology from LSE, gaining the Hobhouse Memorial Prize, and went on to study
and teach at the School until 1974, when she moved to the Civil Service College and
12
thence to Goldsmiths College. At Goldsmith's she held the Chair of Social Policy
from 1994-2004. She is best known for her work on gender and crime and as a
pioneer of feminist perspectives in criminology, and has published several studies in
this area. She has also developed work on gender and law enforcement and on
international and comparative studies on crime and justice. She was Ginsberg Fellow
in the Sociology Department in 1991 and has been a Visiting Professor at Queens
University, Belfast, Universite de Montreal and Macgill University. In 2000 she
received the Book Award of the International Division of the American Society of
Criminology and in 2004 she received the Sellin Glueck Award of the ASC for
contributions to international criminology
Dr Ursula Henz: Senior Lecturer in Social Research Methods. Prior to joining the
LSE, she held research fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for Human
Development and Education in Berlin, Germany, at Stockholm University
(Demography Unit and Swedish Institute for Social Research), Sweden, and at King's
College, London. She is a docent in sociology at Stockholm University. Her studies
have been concerned with longitudinal aspects of compulsory and post-compulsory
educational participation, poverty, women's labour market participation, informal
caregiving and family dynamics using a number of large-scale surveys.
Professor Dick Hobbs: Joined the department in September 2005 having previously
taught at Durham University. He is interested in ethnography, working class
entrepreneurship, professional and organised crime, violence, the political economy
of crime and the night-time economy. His most recent books are Bouncers: Violence
and Governance in the Night-time Economy (2003, Oxford), with Phil Hadfield, Stuart
Lister and Simon Winlow, and The Sage Handbook of Fieldwork (2006, Sage), edited
with Richard Wright. Dick Hobbs is currently working on an edited collection on Gun
Crime (2007, Dartmouth), on a number of papers looking at female doorstaff in the
night-time economy, and on a collaborative project based upon over 200 interviews
with drug traffickers.
Dr Christopher T Husbands: Emeritus Reader in Sociology. His current interests

are racist political parties in western Europe, migration and political asylum in
western Europe, the assessment of teaching quality in higher education, and the
sociology of lexicography. He has published extensively in each of these research
areas. He is an associate editor of Ethnic and Racial Studies and is on the editorial
board of Patterns of Prejudice. He is a former member of the editorial boards of the
British Journal of Sociology and of Sociology. He is a member of the British
Sociological Association and the Society for Research into Higher Education. He is
also an Associate of the Incorporated Institute of Linguists. He is President of the
local branch of the University and College Union at LSE.
Professor Bridget Hutter: Professor Bridget Hutter has a Chair in Risk Regulation.
She studied sociology at the Universities of London and Oxford (D.Phil). Her previous
appointments include a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship, a Research
Fellowship at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford, a Senior Research
Fellowship in Sociology at Jesus College, Oxford, a Lectureship and then Readership
in Sociology at the LSE. Professor Hutter's teaching interests centre on regulation,
risk and social control. Her research interests are in the broad area of the sociology
of regulation and risk management; the regulation of economic life with particular
reference regulatory enforcement and corporate responses to regulation; and
organisational risk management and social control. She is author of numerous
publications on the subject of risk regulation. She is currently examining recent trends
in regulating risk in economic life, a project which will result in a monograph and
variety of papers. In addition she is conducting a major research project in the area of
13
corporate regulation of risk.
Dr Patrick McGovern: Senior Lecturer whose research interests relate to issues in

economic sociology, especially the sociology of work and labour markets, and
international migration. He is one of the authors of Market, Class, and Employment
(Oxford University Press, 2007), a major ESRC funded study of social class, social
inequality, and the (supposedly) changing nature of the employment relationship.
Recent articles that draw on this and other research can be found in the British
Journal of Industrial Relations, Sociology, Work & Occupations, and Work,
Employment & Society.
Dr Claire Moon: Lecturer in the Sociology of Human Rights. Her recent publications
concentrate on transitional justice, post-conflict reconciliation, war trauma,
reparations for human rights violations and apologies and forgiveness for past
atrocities. Dr Moon is the author of a book about South Africa’s political transition,
Narrating Reconciliation: South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2008).
She teaches courses on War and Genocide, Political Reconciliation, and
Foundations and Key Issues in Human Rights from an interdisciplinary perspective
that draws upon sociology, critical legal studies and international relations.
Dr Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra: Lecturer in Sociology, joins the Department

September 2010.
Dr Paddy Rawlinson: Lecturer. Her research interests cover transnational and

organised crime in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe on
which she has published over the past ten years. Her book From Fear to Fraternity: A
Russian Tale of Crime, Economy and Modernity (Pluto Press forthcoming) is a critical
look at Russia’s illegal economies and what these ‘mean’ for the West. Other
interests include the development of policing in former communist states. She is
currently researching the problem of sex trafficking across and out of Russia and
Eastern Europe.
Professor Paul E Rock, FBA: Emeritus Professor of Social Institutions. His interests
focus on the development of criminal justice policies, particularly for victims of crime,
but he has also published articles on criminological theory and the history of crime.
His most recent books include The Social World of an English Crown Court (1993,
Clarendon Press); Reconstructing a Women's Prison (1996, Clarendon Press); After
Homicide: Practical and Political Responses to Bereavement (1998, Clarendon
Press); (with David Downes) Understanding Deviance (fifth edition 2003, Oxford
University Press); and Constructing Victims' Rights (September 2004, Clarendon
Press).
Professor Nikolas Rose: Martin White Professor of Sociology and Director of the
LSE’s BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and
Society. He was managing editor of Economy and Society from 1999 to 2005, and is
joint editor of BioSocieties, an international journal on social aspects of the life
sciences. In 1989 he founded the ‘History of the Present’ network of researchers
influenced by the writings of Michel Foucault and he is co-editor, with Andrew Barry
and Thomas Osborne, of Foucault and Political Reason (1996) and with Paul
Rabinow, of The Essential Foucault (2005). His research has examined the social
and political history of the human sciences, the genealogy of subjectivity, the history
of empirical thought in sociology, changing rationalities and techniques of political
power, and changing strategies of control.
14
Professor Saskia Sassen: Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia
University and Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology LSE. Saskia is an
internationally known scholar, who has published widely on globalisation and the city.
Her books include The Mobility of Labour and Capital (1988), The Global City: New
York London Tokyo (1991), Cities in a World Economy and Losing Control?
Sovereignty in an Age of Globalisation (1996). She is currently working on a research
project concerned with the Governance and Accountability in a World Economy.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Sassen emerged as a prolific author in urban sociology.
She studied how the impact of globalisation such as economic restructuring, and how
the movements of labour and capital influence urban life. She also studied the
influence of communication technology on governance. Sassen observed how nation
states begin to lose power to control these developments, and she studied increasing
general transnationalism, including transnational human migration.
Professor Richard Sennett: Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the LSE and Bemis
Professor of Social Sciences at MIT. In the School, he teaches in the Cities
Programme and trains doctoral students in the sociology of culture. His three most
recent books are studies of modern capitalism: The Culture of the New Capitalism
[Yale, 2006], Respect in an Age of Inequality, [Penguin, 2003] and The Corrosion of
Character, [Norton, 1998]. He is currently writing a book on craftsmanship. Professor
Sennett has been awarded the Amalfi and the Ebert prizes for sociology. He is a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of
Literature, the Royal Society of the Arts, and the Academia Europea. He is past
president of the American Council on Work and the former Director of the New York
Institute for the Humanities.
Dr Ilina Singh: Reader in Bioethics and Society. Her primary research area is the
psycho-social and ethical implications of advances in biomedical technologies, for
children and families. At present her focus is on neuroscientific advances, such as
psychotropic drugs, brain scans, mind-reading, and biomarker discovery and
translation. Her research has several goals: To contribute empirical evidence to
social, political and ethical debates about the benefits and risks of biomedical
technologies; to enable evidence-based policymaking in child and family health and
education; and to improve public, scientific and clinical understanding of children’s
experiences with behavioural and developmental difficulties, interventions and
treatments. Ilina’s research has a wide-ranging impact; she has been published in
scientific, clinical, ethics and social science journals, including Nature, Social Science
& Medicine, American Journal of Bioethics, & Child & Adolescent Mental Health. She
is co-editor of the journal BioSocieties and sits on the editorial board of American
Journal of Bioethics- Neuroscience.
Professor Leslie Sklair: Emeritus Professor of Sociology. He works on two related

themes around globalization, theory and research on capitalist globalization and its
alternatives and the relationship between architecture and globalization. The first
edition of his Sociology of the Global System was published 1991, with a second
updated edition in 1995. This book has been translated into Portuguese, Japanese,
Korean, Persian and Spanish. A third edition completely revised and updated, was
published by Oxford University Press in 2002 as Globalization: Capitalism and its
alternatives and an Arabic edition is forthcoming. He has also published The
Transnational Capitalist Class (Blackwell, 2001, Chinese edition 2002, German
edition forthcoming) and many journal articles, book chapters and encyclopaedia
entries on globalization and capitalism. Journal articles on his current research on
"Iconic architecture and capitalist globalization" were published in 2005 and 2006 and
a book on Globalization in/and Architecture is in progress. He is currently President
of the Global Studies Association.
15
Dr Don Slater: Reader in Sociology. Don Slater's work focuses on the relations
between culture and economy, and on ethnographies of new media in development
contexts. His work on sociology of economic life includes Consumer Culture and
Modernity (Polity: 1997) and Market Society: Markets and Modern Social Thought,
with Dr Fran Tonkiss (Polity: 2001); and The Technological Economy, with Dr
Andrew Barry (Routledge, 2005). His Internet research has focused on ethnographic
approaches to new media, and has so far included an ethnography of Internet use in
Trinidad -The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, with Prof Daniel Miller (Berg:
2000).
Professor Robert Tavernor: Professor of Architecture and Urban Design in the

Cities Programme. He is an architect and architectural historian with an active
London-based urban planning consultancy advising on major urban design projects.
His publications focus on the classical tradition of European architecture and
cities, body and building, and on the urban development of London. They include
translations of key 15th and 16th century architectural texts by Alberti and Palladio (for
The MIT Press), and a new translation of Vitruvius’s, De architectura (On
Architecture) for Penguin Classics (2009). He is the author of Palladio and
Palladianism (Thames & Hudson, 1991); On Alberti and the Art of Building (Yale UP,
1998); and Smoot's Ear: The Measure of Humanity (Yale UP, 2007); and co-editor of
Body and Building: Essays on the changing relation of Body to Architecture (The MIT
Press, 2002).
Dr Fran Tonkiss: Director of the Cities Programme from October 2008. Reader in
Sociology, with research interests in economic sociology and urban studies. Her work
in economic sociology is concerned with issues of markets and marketisation; trust
and social capital; capitalism and globalisation; inequality and economic governance.
In the field of urban studies her focus is on urban development and governance;
space and social theory; urban communities and spatial divisions. She is the author
of Contemporary Economic Sociology: Globalisation, Production, Inequality
(Routledge 2006) and Space, the City and Social Theory (Polity, 2005), the co-author
(with Don Slater) of Market Society: Markets and Modern Social Theory (Polity,
2001), and the co-editor of Trust and Civil Society (Macmillan 2000).
Professor Judy Wajcman: Head of the Sociology Department. She was previously
Professor of Sociology in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian
National University. She has held posts in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester,
Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, Warwick and Zurich. She is currently a Research Associate
of the Oxford Internet Institute, and she is President (2010-2011) of the Society for
the Social Studies of Science. Professor Wajcman's research interests focus on the
sociology of work and employment, science and technology studies, sociology of
information and communication technologies, gender theory, and organizational
analysis. Her books include The Politics of Working Life with Paul Edwards (OUP,
2005), TechnoFeminism (Polity Press,2004), Managing Like a Man: Women and
Men in Corporate Management (Polity Press, 1998), Feminism Confronts
Technology (Polity Press,1991), and the co-editor of The Social Shaping of
Technology with Donald MacKenzie (Open University Press, 1999), and The
Handbook of Science and Technology Studies with Ed Hackett, Olga Amsterdamska
and Mike Lynch (MIT Press, 2008).
*For a more comprehensive information please view the LSE website at:
www2.lse.ac.uk/sociology/
*For more extensive descriptions of staff research interests,
please view the LSE website at:
www2.lse.ac.uk/sociology/whoswho/Home.aspx
16
PROGRAMME GUIDE
This section provides essential information for planning your course of study. The
introductory remarks give you general guidance as to the BSc programme aims,
requirements and timeline. Following this is detailed information about the courses
available in 2010/11.
The BSc Programme Structure

YEAR 1
COURSE TITLE COURSE CODE
1 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory

SO100
2 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to

Contemporary Sociology SO110
3 Statistical Methods for Social Research ST103
4 One first level option from inside or outside the department chosen from the
suggested list below or another option which must be approved by your
Academic Adviser. This may also include courses from the Language Centre.
YEAR 2
5 Sociological Analysis SO201
6 Issues and Methods of Social Research SO221
7 One approved 2nd year Sociology option
8 One approved 2nd year Sociology or outside option
YEAR 3
9 Sociological Project SO302
10 One approved 2nd or 3rd year Sociology option
11 One approved 2nd or 3rd year Sociology option
12 a) One approved ‘outside’ option OR

b) One approved 2nd or
c) 3rd year Sociology option
Year 1: The first year aims to provide a foundation. All students take Key Concepts
in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory (SO100) and Key Issues in
Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to Contemporary Sociology (SO110).
All students also take one methods course, Statistical Methods for Social
Research (ST103). Students also take at least one level one course from inside or
outside the Department. These courses provide a platform for more specialised work
in later years. Furthermore, the average of the three best papers in the first year can
count towards your final degree classification, so it is essential to work hard at these
17
foundation courses.
Year 2: In the second year, students build upon their foundational knowledge by
taking two compulsory courses, Sociological Analysis (SO201) and Issues and
Methods of Social Research (SO221). In addition, they take one or two specialist
Sociology courses from a list of options (see below). Students can, if they wish, take
an outside option but this should be discussed with their Academic Adviser. Students
will need to think ahead and take the pre-requisite courses for the third year courses
they wish to follow.
Year 3: The third year allows students to specialise further, and to pursue
independent research in the form of a 10,000 word dissertation in The Sociological
Project (SO302). Besides this, the main aims of the third year are for students to
fully develop their own specialist interests. They take a further two Sociology courses
from a list of options, in addition to another option which can be taken either inside
outside the Department.
Description of the Compulsory Courses

SO100 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory
Teacher responsible
Dr Nigel Dodd, S275
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Sociology. Optional for BSc Actuarial Science, BSc
Environmental Policy, BSc Human Resource Management and Employment
Relations, BSc International Relations, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the
Diploma in Sociology. Available as an outside option.
Course content
The course aims to introduce students to sociological analysis by examining the
origins sociological classical theories of modern society (ten lectures) and then by
exploring the development of classical themes in twentieth century sociological
theory (ten lectures). Sociological theories of modernity, industrialisation and
capitalism (Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel) and the relationship between them will
be covered, as will key twentieth and twenty-first-century social theorists – Adorno,
Benjamin, Foucault and Baudrillard.
Teaching
20 lectures and 23 discussion classes.
Formative coursework
Four 2,000 word formative essays (two in MT; two in LT), for feedback from class
teachers.
Course requirement
Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.
Indicative reading
A detailed reading list will be available at the first lecture, but for general preparatory
reading, students might wish to consult the following: D Lee & H Newby, The
Problem of Sociology; Z Bauman, Thinking Sociologically; S Bruce, Sociology: A
Very Short Introduction.
18
Assessment
A three-hour unseen examination in the ST. The paper will be divided into two
sections, corresponding to the two parts of the course. Three questions must be
answered, at least one from each section.
SO110 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to Contemporary

Sociology
Teacher responsible
Dr Carrie Friese, S207
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Sociology. Optional for BSc Social Policy, BSc Social Policy and
Sociology and the Diploma in Sociology. Available as an outside option.
Course content
The course provides an introduction to different substantive areas of work in
contemporary sociology. Students will gain an understanding of leading-edge
research within the discipline worldwide. Topics can vary from year to year. They
normally include: Class, power and inequality; Nation states, war and conflict; Money,
markets and work; Identity, cosmopolitanism, nationalism and religion; Gender,
sexuality and the body; Punishment, illness and deviance; Science, technology and
biomedicine.
Teaching
20 Lectures held weekly in MT and LT; 22 classes held weekly in MT, LT & ST.
Two formative essays in MT, one formative essay in LT.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
S Hall & B Gieben (Eds), Formations of Modernity (1992); R Sennett, The Corrosion
of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism (1998); S
Sassen, Global Networks, Linked Cities (2002); M Castells, The Rise of the Network
Society (2000); S Hall, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying
Practices, (1997); D Held et al, Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and
Culture (1999); N Dodd, The Sociology of Money: Economics, Reason &
Contemporary Society (1994); V Zelizer, The Social Meaning of Money (1997); D
Slater, Consumer Culture and Modernity (1997);S Jackson & S Scott (Eds), Gender:
A Sociological Reader (2002); S Jackson & S Scott, Feminism and Sexuality A
Reader (1996); K Woodward (Ed), Identity and difference (2002); P Gilroy, After
Empire: melancholia or convivial culture?(2004); D Downes & P Rock, Understanding
Deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule breaking (2003); U Beck & E
Beck-Gernsheim, The Normal Chaos of Love (1995).
Assessment
Two copies of one assessed essay (2,500-3,000 words) to be handed in to the
Sociology Administration Office, S219a, by 4.30pm on the first Tuesday of ST (30%
of the total mark) a third copy to be uploaded to Moodle; and a three-hour unseen
examination (70% of the total mark).
19
ST103 Statistical Methods for Social Research
Teachers responsible
Dr Wicher Bergsma, B602 and Dr James Abdey, B710
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Sociology students. Optional for BSc Human Resource
Management and Employment Relations and the Diploma in Sociology. Also
available as an outside option. This course cannot be taken with ST102 Elementary
Statistical Theory or ST107 Quantitative Methods (Statistics).
Course content
An introduction to statistical methods and statistical reasoning, with particular
reference to application in the social sciences. No prior knowledge of statistics is
assumed.
The place of statistics in the social sciences. Descriptive statistics: levels of
measurement. The summarization and presentation of data using graphic methods.
The normal distribution. Basic ideas of sampling and statistical inference. Sampling
from finite populations. The sampling distributions of proportions and means
estimation and hypothesis testing. Testing goodness of fit. The measurement of
association and correlation and simple tests of significance. Simple linear regression.
Two-sample tests for means.
Teaching
Lectures ST103:10 MT, 20 LT, 4 ST.
Classes ST103.A: 9 MT, 10 LT and 5 ST.
Written answers to set exercises are expected weekly. The exercise marks form part
of the course assessment.
Indicative reading
Each week a set of notes covering the lecture topics for that week will be distributed.
These notes will provide a framework for further reading, and will indicate where
further material on the topics may be found.
Assessment
Exercise assessment (30%); three-hour open-book examination in the ST (70%).
SO201 Sociological Analysis
Dr Fran Tonkiss, S219 and Dr Ayona Datta, S209
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Sociology and BSc Social Policy and Sociology. Optional for the
Diploma in Sociology. Also available as an outside option.
Course content
The course provides students with an in-depth introduction to major alternative uses
and applications of theory and methodology within sociological analysis. The first
term is based on close readings of critical texts in the methodology of social science,
together with social research studies that bring together original theoretical
standpoints with practical methods of enquiry and analysis, focusing on such core
20
themes in sociological analysis as class, race, gender and community. The second
term considers key qualitative methodologies within contemporary sociological
research, exploring both qualitative research practice and the ethics and politics of
such research.
Teaching
Lectures: SO201 20 lectures, weekly in MT and LT. Classes: 20 classes, weekly in
MT and LT.
Selected reading: There is no set textbook for this course - each week's teaching is
based on the critical reading of key texts.
Two coursework submissions each term are a course requirement.
Course requirement
Assessment
One three-hour formal examination in ST, based on the whole syllabus of the lecture
course and the classes. Students are required to answer three out of twelve
questions.
SO221 Issues and Methods of Social Research
Teacher responsible
Dr Christopher T Husbands, S287
Availability
Compulsory course for BSc Sociology and Diploma in Sociology.
Course content
The aim of the course is to introduce students to central issues and basic techniques
in the conduct of research in sociology. The course examines issues and methods of
social research. It covers elementary aspects of the philosophy of science, the
relationship between research and theory, study design and sampling, social
surveys, experiments and quasi-experiments. Students are made familiar with the
concepts of reliability and validity, with specific techniques of data-gathering (such as
interviews and questionnaires) and with the problems of concept formation and
measurement in social research. The course covers differing approaches to data
analysis, including particular various techniques for handling confounding variables.
There are also introductions to contemporary survey research techniques by
telephone and by the Internet. Students apply some of the techniques taught in the
course to a small project using the SPSS computer package.
Teaching
The course comprises a series of 15 lectures and five computer workshops (SO221)
in MT and LT and 23 weekly classes in small groups (SO221.A) in MT, LT and ST.
There are three compulsory assignments.
Course requirement
Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework are required.
21
Indicative reading
There is no single textbook that covers the content of the whole course but students
are encouraged to buy: A Bryman, Social Research Methods (3rd edn 2008) or R H
Hoyle, M J Harris & C M Judd, Research Methods in Social Relations (7th edn 2002).
Other useful textbooks are: D A de Vaus, Surveys in Social Research (5th edn 2001);
C Marsh, The Survey Method (1982); C A Moser & G Kalton, Survey Methods in
Social Investigation (2nd edn 1971, reprinted 1985); and A N Oppenheim,
Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement (new edn 1992).
Assessment
A three-hour written examination in the ST based on the full syllabus (60 per cent).
The remaining 40 per cent is awarded for two pieces of the student’s coursework.
The first is due on the last Thursday of the LT and the second is due on the first
Thursday of ST. Two hard copies of each piece of coursework are to be handed in to
the Department of Sociology’s Administration Office, S219A, no later than 1630 on
the due date, with a further copy being posted to Moodle.
SO302 Sociological Project
Teacher responsible
Dr Christopher Badcock, S282
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Sociology.
Course content
The project is to be in the form of an essay on a sociological topic to be approved by
the Department of Sociology. The purpose is to allow the student to study in depth an
interest of his or her own choosing. Many approaches are possible in the work for the
essay, but there are three main variants: original fieldwork, secondary analysis, and
literature review.
Selection of topic: The topic must be within the general field of sociology and
should fall within the range of competence of a member of the staff, normally a
member of the Sociology Department. However, it need not be chosen from those
areas of sociology which are at present taught within the Department. The topic
should not overlap too closely with the content of other units that the student is
taking. Students may follow up a theme suggested to them by their coursework, but
the topic must allow the material and arguments to be developed in greater depth
than is possible in the lectures and seminars for the course.
Arrangements for supervision

The Project Workshop, which meets formally during the first term, is convened by Dr
Badcock, who will also make himself available for individual consultations with
students during the second term. Students should also consult their academic
advisers. The role of the third year academic adviser is not to give detailed
instruction, but to suggest ways of tackling or limiting a topic, lines of enquiry and
preliminary reading; their suggestions are not intended to be seen as exhaustive or
definitive. How far the student can use and develop the help that he or she is given
is, to a large extent, what the examination of the essay is concerned with. The third
year academic adviser should not help with planning or writing the essay in detail, but
may read and comment critically on an outline or a draft section if the student
submits one. Students must submit a final title to Dr Badcock by the fifth week in the
MT of their third year in order for that title and topic be approved.
22
Assessment
The completed project must be of not more than 10,000 words in length; it may
include tables and diagrams as appropriate. Two hard copies, typescript, must be
submitted to the Sociology Administration Office, Room S219a, by 4.30pm on the
second Friday of ST, with a third copy posted to Moodle. Accidental loss of data or
text on a computer will not be accepted as a reason for non-submission.
Sociology Suggested 1st Year Options

• Either Introduction to Social Anthropology AN100
• The Structure of International Society IR100
• Reason, Knowledge and Values: An Introduction to Philosophy PH103
• Self, Others and Society: Perspectives on Social and Applied Psychology

PS102
Or another paper taught outside the Department subject to the approval of your
Academic Adviser and the Department Tutor.
Sociology Selection List (Years 2 and 3)

• Societal Psychology: Theory and Applications PS203
• Political Sociology SO203
• Gender and Society SO208
• Crime, Deviance and Control SO210
• Sociology of Health & Medicine (not available 2009/10) SO211
• Work, Management and Globalisation SO212
• Evolution and Social Behaviour SO215
• Sociology of Race and Ethnicity SO224
• Multi-Culture and Multi-Culturalism (half-unit – MT) SO250

Not available 2010/11
• Environmentalism: Theory, Politics and Practice (half-unit LT)

Not available 2010/11 SO305
• Atrocity, Suffering and Human Rights (half unit -LT)

Not available 2010/11 SO306
23
Descriptions of Optional Courses
PS102 Self, Others & Society: Perspectives on Social & Applied Psychology
Teacher responsible
Dr Bradley Franks, S313
Availability
Compulsory for BSc Criminal Justice and Psychology. Optional for BSc Sociology,
BSc Social Policy, BSc Actuarial Science, BSc Business Mathematics and Statistics
and BSc Human Resource Management and Employment Relations. The course is
also available as an outside option to students on other programmes, with permission
of the tutor.
Course content
This course introduces major perspectives on social and applied psychology:
theories used to explain social perception, cognition and behaviour, and their
application to real, practical social problems.
Theories and concepts including: Personality, self and identity; relationships, bonds
and family; making sense of the social world; communication, influence and
persuasion; groups, organisations and crowds. Applications including: health and
illness, sexuality and intimate relationships; crime and eyewitness testimony; effects
of media on children; leadership and motivation.
Teaching
Lectures, 20 weekly, MT, LT (SO107), classes 20 weekly, MT, LT (SO107.A).
Course requirement
Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required
Students are expected to either (a) write four essays of 1500 words each, OR (b)
write THREE essays AND take part in TWO research projects as participants AND
write a 500 word Report of the experience and the issues it raises for the nature and
quality of data collection in social psychology. These will be assessed by the class
teachers. Students are also expected to give class presentations.
Indicative reading
Recommended reading: C Brotherton, Social Psychology and Management, Open
University, 1999; J L Carroll & P R Wolpe, Sexuality and Gender in Society, Harper
Collins, 1996; M Hogg & G Vaughan, Social Psychology, 4th edn, Prentice Hall,
1998; C R Hollin, Criminal Behaviour: a Psychological Approach to Explanation and
Prevention, Falmer Press, 1992; R M Kaplan, J F Sallis & T C Patterson, Health and
Human Behaviour, McGraw-Hill, 1993; A Lewis, P Webley & A Furnham, The New
Economic Mind, Prentice Hall, 1995; E R Smith & D M Mackie, Social Psychology,
Worth, 1995; V Walkerdine & L Blackman, Psychology and the Media, Macmillan,
1999. Additional references and a synopsis of lectures and class topics are
distributed in the first lecture of the series and available in S302.
Assessment
A formal three-hour examination in ST: three questions from a choice of 12.
24
PS203 Societal Psychology: Theory and Applications
Teacher responsible
Dr Andy Wells, S305
Availability
Optional for BSc Sociology. Students on degrees without a psychology component
may attend subject to numbers, their own degree regulations and at the discretion of
the teacher responsible.
Course content
This course discusses major areas of application of social psychology to real-world
issues. Emphasis is put on the complexities of translating theory into practice and on
the theoretical developments which are prompted by research on topical social
issues. A recurrent theme is the reciprocal interaction between theory and practice in
relation to social issues of theoretical interest and practical importance. The interplay
of theory and practice will be examined in relation to selected topics which illustrate
the application of social psychology in real world settings, such as: crime and anti-
social behaviour; mass media; gender and sexuality; evolution and social
relationships; identity and community; prejudice and racism; language and
communication; religion and cultural beliefs.
Teaching
20 weekly lectures and 20 weekly classes.
Students are expected to write four essays during the Session, which will be
assessed by the class teachers, and to give class presentations. These will not count
towards the final examination result.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
Detailed reading lists will be distributed at the beginning of the course. The following
are useful preliminary reading: . P Boyer, Religion Explained: The Human Instincts
That Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors. Vintage, 2002; D. Sperber, Explaining
Culture, Blackwell, 1996; D M Buss, The Evolution of Desire. Strategies of Human
Mating, Basic Books, New York, 1994; X Chryssochoou, Cultural Diversity: Its Social
Psychology, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2004; H Himmelweit & G Gaskell, Societal
Psychology, Sage, 1990; D Matsumoto & D Juang, Culture and Psychology (3rd
edn), Thomson Wadsworth, 2004; F M Moghaddam, Social Psychology: Exploring
Universals Across Cultures, W H freeman and Co. 1998; J McGuire, Understanding
Psychology and Crime: Perspectives on theory and action, Open University Press,
2004. Additional references and a synopsis of lectures and class topics are
distributed in the first lecture of the series and are also available in Outlook/Public
Folders/Departments/Social Psychology/ PS203
Assessment
A formal three-hour examination in ST: three questions from a choice of 10.
SO203 Political Sociology
25
Dr Robin Archer, S283 and Dr Manali Desai, S284
Availability
Optional course for BSc Sociology, BSc Accounting and Finance, BSc Social Policy
and Sociology, Diploma in Sociology and for interested BSc students in Government
and other departments.
Course content
Political Sociology concerns the way in which political and social factors interact to
produce the societies in which we live. This course aims to discuss some central
empirical and theoretical questions in the field. The course begins by examining
classic debates about the relationship between the development of the state and
democracy on the one hand, and the rise of capitalism and liberalism on the other.
We will then examine the impact that social cleavages like class, religion, race and
gender have on parties, elections and other political institutions in a number of
different countries. We will also examine the strength and political impact of both
labour movements and other important social movements. And we will examine why
similar countries can develop very different social and economic policies. In addition
we will examine some large scale historical changes like revolutions,
democratisation, the impact of colonialism, and globalisation. Throughout the course
we will also consider some of the main theoretical approaches that are used in the
study of political sociology.
Teaching
Lectures: 24 one-hour MT, LT, ST.
Classes: 22 one-hour MT, LT, ST
At least one class presentation and a termly paper in both MT and LT.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
R Dalton, Citizen Politics, 3rd edn; G Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare
Capitalism; A Giddens, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory; John Goldthorpe,
Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism; R Inglehart, Culture Shift in
Advanced Industrial Society; J Manza & C Brooks, Social Cleavages and Political
Change; B Moore, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy; T Skocpol,
States and Social Revolutions; S Steinmo, et al, Structuring Politics; S Tarrow, Power
in Movement.
Assessment
A three-hour formal examination in ST (70% of the total mark) and an assessed
essay, 2,500 words, (30% of the total mark) to be handed in to the Sociology
Administration Office, Room S219a, no later than 4.30pm on the first Thursday of ST.
SO208 Gender and Society
Teacher responsible
Dr Suki Ali, S216
Availability
Optional course for BSc Sociology, BSc Human Resource Management and
Employment Relations, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the Diploma in
26
Sociology.
Course content
The course will explore the meaning of gender in contemporary society. It considers
gendered relations of power and the articulation of gender with other kinds of social
difference such as 'race', class and sexuality. A variety of theoretical perspectives will
be applied to a number of substantive issues of contemporary concern.
Indicative topics are: gender and sexuality; the body; families; employment; violence;
nation and citizenship; reproductive technologies; globalisation; sex work;
representation; body modification.
Teaching
The course will consist of 20 lectures (SO208) and 23 classes (SO208.A).
Students will be expected to prepare one essay per term and at least one class
paper per term which will be written up and handed to the class teacher.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
S Jackson & S Scott (Eds), Gender, London and New York: Routledge, 2000; H
Mirza (Ed), Black British Feminism: A Reader, London and New York: Routledge,
1997; R. Parker and P. Aggleton (eds.) Culture, Society and Sexuality: A Reader
(2nd edn), 2007; D Bell & J Binnie, The Sexual Citizen: Queer Politics and Beyond,
London: Polity, 2001; P Abbott & C Wallace, An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist
Perspectives (3rd edn), 2005; R W Connell, Gender and Power, 1987; Littlewood, B
Feminist Perspectives on Sociology. Essex: Pearson Education. 2005; I Grewal & K
Caplan (Eds), An Introduction to Women's Studies: Gender in a Transnational World;
M Mac an Ghaill, Understanding Masculinities, 1996; The Polity Reader in Gender
Studies, 1994; J M Alexander & C T Mohanty (Eds), Feminist Genealogies, Colonial
Legacies, Democratic Futures, London & New York: Routledge, 1997; Essed et al, A
Companion to Gender Studies, 2005; C Wright & G Jagger (Eds), Changing Family
Values, London & New York, 1999.
A more detailed reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Assessment
A three-hour unseen examination in the ST (100%).
SO210 Crime, Deviance and Control
Teacher responsible
Dr Paddy Rawlinson, S279.
Availability
Optional course for BSc Sociology, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the Diploma
in Sociology.
Pre-requisites
Students should have completed introductory courses in sociological theory and
social structure.
Course content
27
Criminological theories used to explain crime and deviance; applications; social
control.
The social construction of crime and deviance, sources of information about crime,
the major sociological perspectives on deviance and control, informal and formal
social control, crime prevention.
Teaching
This course will consist of 20 lectures (S210) during MT and LT and 23 one hour
classes (S210A) during MT, LT and ST.
One formative essay in both the MT and LT.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
There is no set text for the course, and a full reading list covering all classes is
provided at the first class. The following is basic reading: R White & F Haines Crime
and Criminology (2nd edn), 2000; J Muncie & E McLaughlin The Problem of Crime,
2001; D M Downes & P E Rock, Understanding Deviance, 2003; J Tierney,
Criminology: Theory and Context, 1996; J Muncie et al (Eds), Criminological
Perspectives; M Maguire et al, The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (3rd edn), 2002.
Assessment
A three-hour unseen examination in the ST (70%) and a 1,500-2,000 word essay
(30%). The essay must be submitted to the Sociology administration office, Room
S219a, no later than 4.30pm, on Tuesday week 2 of ST.
SO211 Sociology of Health and Medicine
Dr Ilina Singh, B803 and Dr Carrie Friese, S207
Availability
Optional Course for BSc Sociology, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the
Diploma in Sociology.
Course content
This course provides an overview to sociological perspectives on health, sickness,
health care, and the development of medicine as a social institution. This includes a
discussion of: the role of medicine, medicalisation and the social production of
medical knowledge and practices; the social bases of health, health inequality, and
the politics of health and health activism; the sociology of sickness, sick role, stigma,
illness and identity; the social causes of mental disorder, mental illness and social
control; the coproduction of genetics, biomedicine and social order; eugenics,
disability, and racialisation; and reproductive and genetic technologies.
Teaching
This course will consist of weekly lectures during MT, LT, and ST and weekly classes
during MT, LT and ST.
Students will be expected to produce two essays and one class paper per term and
to make a class presentation.
28
Course requirement
Indicative reading
S Taylor & D Field, Sociology of Health and Health Care (3rd edn), 2002; D Field & S
Taylor, Sociological Perspectives on Health, Illness and Medicine, 1998; M Bury,
Health and Illness in a Changing Society, 1997; B Davey, Health and Disease, 1995;
Townsend, N Davidson & M Whitehead, Inequalities in Health, 1992; B Turner,
Medical Power and Social Knowledge (2nd edn), 1995; Duster, T. (2003) Backdoor
to Eugenics. New York: Routledge; Habermas, J. (2003) The Future of Human
Nature. Cambridge: Polity; Nelkin, D and Lindee, M.S. (1995) The DNA Mystique:
The Gene as a Cultural Icon. New York: W.H. Freeman; Rapp, R. (2000) Testing
Women, Testing the Fetus: The Social Impact of Amniocentesis in America. New
York: Routledge.
Assessment
A three-hour unseen examination (70% of the total mark) from which three questions
are to be answered; and an assessed essay of 2,500-3,000 words, two hard copies
to be handed in to the Sociology Administration Office, Room S219a, before 4.30pm
on the first Wednesday of ST (30% of the total mark); a third copy uploaded to
Moodle.
SO212 Work, Management and Globalisation
Teacher responsible
Dr Patrick McGovern, S275
Availability
Optional for BSc Accounting and Finance, BSc Human Resource Management and
Employment Relations, BSc Management, BSc Social Policy and Sociology, BSc
Sociology and the Diploma in Sociology.
Course content
Coverage of contemporary sociological perspectives on the employment relationship,
labour market divisions, contemporary management, globalization and labour.
Work: The employment contract; theoretical perspectives on the employment

relationship; control and consent at work; scientific management and
McDonaldization; labour market divisions; women in the labour market; discrimination
at work; the changing employment relationship; employment in Japan; self-managing
teams; management gurus; globalization and labour; immigrant workers.
Teaching
There will be 20 lectures (SO212) given by Dr P McGovern (convener) and a guest
lecturer (Dr Catherine Hakim).
One essay and one class paper per term.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
There is no recommended textbook. Books of a general nature that cover substantial
parts of the syllabus are: K Grint, The Sociology of Work (3rd edn); M Noon & P
29
Blyton The Realities of Work (3rd edn); C Tilly & C Tilly, Work under Capitalism; P
Dicken Global Shift (4th edn). A more comprehensive bibliography will be available to
students taking this course.
Assessment
A three-hour formal examination in the ST (70%) and an assessed essay (30%) of
2,500-3,000 words. Two hard copies must be submitted to the Sociology
Administration Office, Room S219a, no later than 4.30pm on Tuesday, week 2 of ST,
a third copy must be uploaded to Moodle.
SO215 Evolution and Social Behaviour
Teacher responsible
Dr C Badcock, S282
Availability
Optional course for BSc Sociology, BSc Social Policy and Sociology and the Diploma
in Sociology. Available as an outside option.
Note: this is the last time this course will be offered.
Course content
Fundamentals of evolution; selection and adaptation; Eugenics. Mendel, and
inheritance; DNA and development; the group-selectionist fallacy; the evolution of co-
operation; inclusive fitness and kin altruism; the theory of parental investment; the
sociobiology of sex; parent-offspring and genetic conflict and genomic imprinting;
reciprocal altruism, deceit and the evolution of consciousness and the emotions; sex
roles, socialization, and evolved cognitive differences between the sexes; autism
research and its implications for the understanding of normal social behaviour; the
imprinted brain theory and its implications for psychiatry and the social sciences;
incest; the nature/nurture controversy; the relevance and validity of evolution; the
Standard Social Science Model, Evolutionary Psychology and the crisis in sociology.
Teaching
This course will consist of weekly lectures (SO215) MT and LT, accompanied by
weekly classes (SO215.A) MT and LT.
No formal course work, but students are expected to make one class presentation
(preferably PowerPoint) and hand in one essay per term.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
C Badcock, Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction; The Imprinted Brain; L
Betzig (Ed), Human Nature: A Critical Reader; M Henderson, 50 genetics ideas you
really need to know; K Browne, Biology at work: rethinking sexual equality; J
Cattwright, Evolution and Human Behaviour; C Crawford & D Krebs, Foundations of
Evolutionary Psychology; C Crawford & D Krebs (Eds), Handbook of Evolutionary
Psychology; C Crawford & C Salmon, Evolutionary Psychology: Public Policy &
Personal Decisions; M Daly & M Wilson, Sex, Evolution & Behaviour (2nd edn); D
Buss, The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating; R Dawkins, The Selfish
Gene; W D Hamilton, Narrow Roads of Gene Land; J R Harris, The Nurture
Assumption; J Lopreato & T Crippen, Crisis in Sociology: The Need for Darwin; M
30
Ridley, The Origins of Virtue; S C Stearns, Evolution in Health and Disease; R
Trivers, Social Evolution; J Wind (Ed), Essays in Human Sociobiology, Vols 1 & 2; G
Williams, Plan & Purpose in Nature; R Wright, The Moral Animal: The New Science
of Evolutionary Psychology. An LSE Students' Union Course Pack is also available,
containing key readings for the course.
Assessment
A three-hour unseen examination in ST.
SO224 The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
Teacher responsible
Dr Claire Alexander, S277
Availability
Optional Course for BSc Sociology for 2nd and 3rd years and the Diploma in
Sociology.
Course content
The course provides an introduction to theoretical, historical and contemporary
debates around race, racism and ethnicity. It firstly explores the main theoretical
perspectives which have been used to analyse racial and ethnic relations, in a
historical and contemporary framework. It then examines the historical, social and
political context of racial relations in contemporary societies, focusing primarily on
Britain, although it also draws on comparative examples. Topics include: Race
relations and social theory; race and ethnicity in historical perspective; race and
class; race and gender, race and the nation-state; multiculturalism; diaspora and
hybridity; whiteness; mixed race; racism and the legacy of Empire; race and
immigration; race relations and public policy; race, racism and riots; community
cohesion; Muslim identities; asylum and new migrations; the Far Right and the white
working class.
Teaching
20 Lectures held weekly in MT and LT; 22 classes held weekly in MT, LT and ST.
A 2,000 word formative essay in MT and LT.
Course requirement
Indicative reading
L Back & J Solomos (Eds), Theories of Race and Racism (2nd Edition, Routledge
2009); M Bulmer & J Solomos (Eds), Racism (OUP 1999); M Banton, Racial
Theories (CUP 1998), J Solomos & L Back, Racism and Society (Macmillan 1996), R
Miles, Racism after Race Relations (Routledge 1993); J Bulmer & J Solomos (Eds),
Racial and Ethnic Studies Today (Routledge 1999); H Mirza (Ed), Black British
Feminism (Routledge 1997); K Owusu (Ed), Black British Cultural Studies (Routledge
1999); D T Goldberg, Racist Culture (Blackwell 1993); P Gilroy, Between Camps
(Allen Lane 2000); P Gilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (Hutchinson
1987); J Donald & A Rattansi (Eds), Race, Culture and Difference (Sage, 1992); J
Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain (3rd edn), (Palgrave, 2003); P Hill Collins,
Black Feminist Thought (Routledge 1991); CCCS, The Empire Strikes Back
(Hutchinson 1982); B Hesse (Ed), Un/Settled Multiculturalisms (Zed 2000); A
Sharma, J Hutnyk & A Sharma (Eds), DisOrienting Rhythms (Zed 1996), D T
31
Goldberg (Ed), Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader (Blackwell 1994); D McGhee, The
End of Intolerant Britain? (Open University Press 2005); D. McGhee, The End of
Multiculturalism? (Open University Press 2008); N Finney & L Simpson,
Sleepwalking to Segregation? (Policy Press 2009).
Assessment
An assessed book or article review (2,000 words), two copies to be handed in to the
Sociology Administration Office, S219a, no later than 4.30pm on the first Friday of
week 2, LT (30%) with a third copy posted onto Moodle; a three-hour examination
(70%) in the ST.
SO250 Multi-Culture and Multi-Culturalism Not Available 2010/11
Teacher responsible
Prof Paul Gilroy, S200
Availability
BSc Sociology
Course content
This course will explore debates in historical, political and cultural sociology that have
been articulated around the ideas of multi-culture and multi-culturalism. It will situate
contemporary discussion of these matters in a longer history of reflection and debate
showing also that these conversations have important antecedents that grew from
the administration of colonial contact zones and the government of empires. The
larger theoretical contexts created by anthropological theories in general and by
theories of racial difference and hierarchy in particular will be explored in detail. We
will track changing ideas about cultural difference through the nineteenth century and
eventually see where they were transformed by conflicts over colonial power. The
course will conclude with a consideration of the sociological and governmental issues
deriving from plurality and diversity in post-colonial and post-industrial societies. We
will also explore the very different versions of multi-culturalism that have emerged
from a number of different contexts: from negotiations with indigenous groups, from
the political demands of immigrants and the responses of xenophobes to their
presence, and from the political and sociological experiments that followed attempts
to un-make racial orders in the US and in South Africa.
Introduction to twentieth-century theories of culture, race and ethnicity; Philosophical
traces of early colonial rule; Enlightenment approaches to Alterity; Orientalism; Time,
race and imperial administration; Segregated cultures in the USA’s Civil Rights
settlement; Culture and nationality in the new South Africa; Culture, multi-culturalism
in contemporary Britain; Civilisationism and Islamophobia; Heterogeneity and post-
colonial societies.
Teaching
Ten one-hour lectures and ten one-hour seminars (MT).
Course requirement
Indicative reading
Tzetan Todorov The Conquest of America; Enrique Dussel The Invention of the
Americas; Sankar Muthu Enlightenment against Empire; Charles Taylor
Multiculturalism and The Politics of Recognition; Edward Said Orientalism; Nikhil
Singh Black Is A Country; Mahmood Mamdani (ed.) Race Talk and Culture Talk;
Wilmot James et al (eds.) After the TRC; Stuart Hall Policing The Crisis; Bhiku
32
Parekh et al. The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain; Jacques Derrida Of Hospitality; Aimé
Césaire Discourse on Colonialism; Samuel Huntington Who Are We? Susan Moller
Okin (ed.) Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women? Robert Cooper The Breaking Of
Nations; Derek Gregory The Colonial Present.
Assessment
The course is formally assessed by one 2-hour examination (70%), and one 1,500-
2,000 word essay (30%) from a selection of topics handed out in the ninth week of
the course. Two hard copies of the essay to be handed in to the Sociology
Administration Office, S219a, by 4.30pm on Wednesday, week 2 of LT, with a third
copy uploaded to Moodle
SO305 Environmentalism: theory, politics and practice Not Available in 2010/11
Teacher responsible
Dr Alasdair Cochrane
Availability
BSc Sociology and Diploma in Sociology. Available as an outside option. The course
will be available mainly to third year students (second year students may be
accepted onto the course with the permission of their tutor and where their
programme regulations permit) and to General Course students with the permission
of the course tutor and where programme regulations permit.
Course content
The course examines environmentalism on three different levels. First of all, it
investigates the theory and philosophy underpinning environmentalism, critically
examining the debates over how to value nature, and how to delineate our
obligations in respect of the natural world. Second, the course examines the political
movements and politics of environmentalism. Here, the emergence and practices of
environmental NGOs and green political parties are considered, as well as the
development of the relevant international reports, declarations and treaties. Finally,
the course evaluates the various instruments that have been put forward to enable a
more sustainable future: regulation through command and control; market-based
instruments such as taxation and emissions trading; and finally, radical societal
transformation.
Teaching
10 weekly lectures and 10 seminars in the LT.
One formative essay of 1,500 words in the LT.
Indicative reading
Andrew Dobson, Green Political Thought, (London: Routledge, 1997); John Dryzek,
Daid Downs, Hans-Kristian Hernes and David Schlosberg, Green States and Social
Movements Environmentalism in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and
Norway, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Michael Zimmerman (ed.)
Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology, (Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice- Hall, 1993); Neil Carter, The Politics of the Environment: Ideas,
Activism and Policy, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); James
Connelly and Graham Smith, Politics and the Environment: From Theory to Practice,
(London: Routledge, 2002); Matthew Paterson (2007) Automobile Politics: Ecology
and Cultural Political Economy (Cambridge University Press).
33
Assessment
Two hard copies of one 2,000 word essay (worth 30% of the overall mark) to be
handed in to the Sociology Administration Office, S219a, before 4.30pm on the first
Wednesday of ST, with a third copy uploaded to Moodle; and one two-hour unseen
examination (70% of the overall mark) in which two questions must be answered out
of six.
SO306 Atrocity, Suffering and Human Rights Not Available 2010/11
Teacher responsible
Dr Claire Moon
Availability
BSc Sociology and Diploma in Sociology. Available as an outside option. The course
will be available mainly to third year students (second year students may be
accepted onto the course with the permission of their tutor and where their
programme regulations permit) and to General Course students with the permission
of the course tutor and where programme regulations permit.
Course content
The course introduces students to sociological perspectives on atrocity, suffering and
human rights in a theoretically driven empirical programme of study. It distinguishes
sociological from legal and philosophical perspectives on human rights, drawing on
classical and contemporary debates within sociology. Theoretical frameworks are
brought to bear on a sequence of human rights based empirical problems and cases:
genocide, the perpetration of atrocity, trauma and social suffering, knowing about
atrocities and suffering (the reporting of atrocity by NGOs, the media etc., on one
hand, and denials of atrocity on the other), and dealing with past atrocity: retributive
and restorative approaches (war crimes tribunals and truth commissions).
Teaching
10 weekly lectures and 10 seminars in the LT.
One formative essay of 1,500 words in the LT.
Indicative reading
Stanley Cohen, States of Denial (Cambridge: Polity, 2000); Freeman, Michael,
Human Rights: an interdisciplinary approach (Cambridge: Polity, 2002), chapters 1,
5, 7. Priscilla Hayner, Unspeakable Truths (London: Routledge, 2001); Michael
Humphrey, The Politics of Atrocity and Reconciliation (London: Routledge, 2002);
Arthur Kleineman et al (eds), Social Suffering (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1997); Lydia Morris (ed) Rights: Sociological Perspectives (London:
Routledge, 2006), introduction; Woodiwiss, Anthony, Human Rights (London:
Routledge, 2005), chapters 1 and 2.
Assessment
Two hard copies of one 2,000 word essay (worth 30% of the overall mark) to be
handed in to the Sociology Administration Office, S219a, before 4.30pm on the first
Wednesday of ST, with a third copy uploaded to Moodle; and one two-hour unseen
examination (70% of the overall mark) in which two questions must be answered out
of six.
34
LSE100 The LSE Course: Understanding the causes of things
All incoming first year undergraduate students from 2010–11 are required to
take the new course LSE100 The LSE Course: Understanding the causes of things
which begins in January 2011. This is an interdisciplinary and innovative course
which is taught over two terms: the Lent term of students' first year and the
Michaelmas term of their second year. The course is taught in three-week modules,
with a two-hour lecture and a one-hour class each week.
LSE100 introduces students to the fundamental elements of thinking as a social

scientist by exploring real problems and real questions, drawing on a range of
disciplines across the social sciences. This distinctive course actively challenges
students to analyse questions of current public concern and of intellectual debate
from a rigorous social science perspective. Focusing on ‘big questions’ – such as
‘How should we manage climate change?, ‘Does culture matter?’ and ‘Who should
own ideas?’ – LSE100 students explore the different approaches to evidence,
explanation and theory that are used in the different social sciences. In this way, the
course aims not only to broaden the students’ intellectual experience, but also to
deepen their understanding of their own discipline. The course also helps students to
develop the critical methodological, information and communication skills that
underpin the study and application of the social sciences.
LSE100 is assessed through five pieces of summative work: three assessments

carried out during classes, an essay due at the end of the Lent Term and a final
examination at the end of the course. Marks for LSE100 appear on students’
transcripts but do not affect their degree classification. The LSE100 classification
scheme is non-numeric: Pass, Merit, Distinction or Fail.
The course ran as a pilot in 2009–10 with students who volunteered to take the
course. The LSE100 course team gathered extensive feedback from students on the
content, structure and resources during the first term and consulted widely with class
teachers, lecturers and academic departments in order to provide a course which is
challenging but accessible to all students.
The opportunities provided by LSE100 - to engage in big issues and debates while
strengthening key skills - will help students get the most out of their degree in
Scoiology.
For more information on the course see lse.ac.uk/LSE100 or visit the LSE100
Moodle site.
35
STUDY METHODS
The first section of this part of the handbook provides information about the day-to-
day organisation of your BSc degree. The next section describes the assessment
structure including information on examinations and a mark frame. The final section
includes notes on scholarly writing, word processing, public folders, a list of
significant dates in the course and the dissertation cover sheet.
Structure of Teaching at LSE

Teaching normally begins in the first week of Term. Details of lecture times and
locations are posted on the web at http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/timetables/
Undergraduate courses are taught via lectures and classes, complemented by
individual meetings called tutorials. Students pursue four taught courses each year
and are examined in these subjects in the Summer Term.
Lectures
The lecture is the most common teaching method, especially for courses taken by
large numbers of students. Lectures are normally 50 minutes long - starting at five
minutes past the hour and finishing at five minutes to the hour - and involve a lecturer
addressing students on a subject. The lecturer will speak at a normal rate and will
expect students to absorb the material while taking notes. It is important to learn
quickly how to take notes.
The important points to remember about lectures are:

Lectures provide a crucial guide to the subject and a framework for your own
reading.
Try to follow the arguments made by the lecturer while taking notes.
Try to follow-up the reading as soon as possible. If you leave it until later in
the year you will have forgotten some of the ideas.
Classes
Small group teaching (10-15 students) takes place in classes attached to lecture
courses. For most courses, meetings take place. Classes can take various forms.
The class teacher will expand on lecture topics or explain more fully difficult concepts
or techniques, on other occasions students will give oral presentations of pre-
prepared papers or have debates. If there are issues you do not understand in the
lectures or in your reading, you should seek clarification in the classes. Classes aim
to help students resolve academic problems, to develop oral and written presentation
skills. Classes are interactive meetings between staff and students so students
are also expected to contribute to these sessions. Students are usually asked to
produce two pieces of written work for each course each Term, except in the case of
methods courses where several assignments are set. Essays are marked by class
teachers, and are returned to students within two weeks. Classes are an essential
element of the educational process, which is why they are compulsory.
Classes also form the main means of monitoring student progress. Student
attendance and performance is regularly recorded and failure to attend classes
or to complete written work are reported to tutors and may result in refusal to
grant permission to enter for the written examinations. At the end of each Term
class tutors write reports.
36
Students discuss their reports with their tutors at the beginning of the following Term.
These reports form a permanent record of performance at the school.
Accessing Sociology Lectures (Public Folders)

You can find most lecture and class notes on Public Folders. Please take a look at
the link below for instructions how to access this information. Please note: due to the
heavy traffic of email, Public Folders is also the place where events, lectures, etc.,
both in the LSE and outside, are listed.
http://ittraining.lse.ac.uk/Documentation/OnlineGuides/Public-Folders.htm
Moodle
Moodle is the name of the School's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) run by the
Centre for Learning Technology. Moodle is a password protected web environment
that may contain a range of teaching resources, activities, assignments, information
and discussions relating to your course. The content of Moodle is the responsibility of
your teacher and so it will vary from course to course. Not all teachers choose to use
Moodle.
Moodle can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet, on and off
campus. You can access Moodle using your School user name and password from
http://moodle.lse.ac.uk/. This page also has links to help and advice on using
Moodle.
To get started with Moodle see http://moodle.lse.ac.uk/file.php/1/generic_flyer.pdf.

You will also find links to Moodle from a number of web pages including the main
School homepage for staff and students. If you have any technical problems with
Moodle you should contact the IT helpdesk.
Tutorials
You will be assigned an Academic Adviser, a member of the Department’s full-time
teaching staff, who has responsibility for you during the three years of your degree.
It is your responsibility to make sure you see your Academic Adviser regularly.
You will usually meet with your Academic Adviser 6-7 times in the year. As the
major objective of the tutorial is to help individual students with their learning needs,
there is no set pattern with regard to their content. You can make an appointment
to see your Academic Adviser via his/her support person or by email. A list of
members of staff is given earlier in this handbook. All members of the academic staff
also have office hours when they are available to see students without an
appointment. The time will be indicated on their office door.
Your Academic Adviser is academically responsible for you during your course of
study, although he or she is clearly not the only person with such a responsibility;
your course lecturers and class teachers have such duties too. The Academic
Adviser is the person to whom you should turn for academic advice on issues other
than those arising directly from the courses that you are studying. You may also
discuss pastoral issues with your Academic Adviser.
Organising Your Time

This skill may be new to some of you so below is an idea of the amount of time we
think you should be allocating to your Degree Programme. The guidance given is
37
based on a typical selection of courses, so slight variations can arise.
Formal Contact Hours

4 one-hour lectures per week during the Michaelmas and Lent Terms,
4 hours of classes per week, and
6-7 tutorial meetings with your adviser spread over the three Terms. This
probably totals about 167 hours of formal contact over the year in both
classes and lectures. Thus, a further 720 hours is available for private study
and individual work (i.e. roughly four hours and twenty minutes of individual
work and private study for every formal contact hour!). During this time you
will need to prepare essays and assessed pieces of work. During the Easter
Vacation and Summer Term you will need to prepare for the examinations
and revise.
What You Will Be Required To Produce

On average, four pieces of written work for each class spread over the
Michaelmas and Lent Terms, which will be marked and returned to you.
Completion of this written work is a requirement for entry into the summer
written examinations. This is known as ‘formative assessment’ (refer to
Contents page).
Assessed work (i.e. it contributes to your final mark) on some compulsory
courses (e.g. Issues and Methods of Social Research) and some optional
courses (e.g. Work, Management and Globalisation). This forms part of
your ‘formal assessment’ (refer to Contents page).
Examinations: two or three-hour unseen written examinations in the second
half of May or early June, where typically, candidates will be required to
answer two or three questions from a choice of between six and twelve. This
forms part of your ‘formal assessment’ (refer to Contents page). What is
expected of you Getting a good degree is not a one-way process. Merely
turning up at lecture is and classes is not enough. There has to be
commitment on your part to:
Work in your own time between lectures, classes and tutorials (the so-called
CONTACT HOURS) so as to achieve a 38-hour working week during Term-
time and 10 to 20 hours per week during the Christmas and Easter vacations.
(N.B. The vacations are not holiday periods but merely breaks from ‘formal’
teaching to allow you to read, reflect and work on your own).
Prepare thoroughly for classes, make sure that you have done the necessary
reading and have questions ready to ask.
Make the most of advice, guidance and feedback provided by academic staff.
Manage your own work schedule and produce your work according to the
deadlines.
Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA)

While we expect a lot of commitment from you, you of course have every right to
have high expectations of us as lecturers, class teachers and tutors. Students have
the opportunity to comment on the quality of lectures and classes in the TQA's
(Teaching Quality Assessments) that take place at least once a year for each course
taken. Should students be unhappy about their classes for any reason, they should
speak to the class teacher, their tutor, the Departmental Tutor or the Convenor as
soon as the problem arises. You do not need to wait for TQA, however. There is a
staff-student liaison committee for you to express your feelings about the programme
38
(either good or bad!).
Through this form, and the Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC), we will do our
best to respond to your comments. (See page 8 for the different Departmental
Committees, and what they are responsible for.)
The Hobhouse Memorial Prizes

This prize has traditionally been given to students who achieve an overall first class
classification upon completing their undergraduate degree. The Department also
gives out prizes, based solely on academic merit, to completing first and second year
students.
These prizes are normally in the form of book tokens. Winning the Hobhouse Prize
makes a valuable addition to your CV, especially if you plan to compete for places on
postgraduate programmes.
Course Readings
All courses make use of the Course Collection in the Library. This is a collection of
photocopied articles and book chapters that are available for short-term loan (periods
range from one hour to one week, but most are on loan for three days or so) only to
LSE students and staff. Please be aware of the punitive fines that apply to these
books when they are overdue, especially ‘SET TEXTS’. Additionally on some
courses, photocopies of key readings are placed in the ‘Offprint’ collection (these will
have class marks on the reading-list beginning with P, followed by four digits).
Offprints are available for loan periods of several hours, and often students will make
their own copies of the offprint. The shortened loan period for these key readings
enables a large number of students to borrow the same items within a short space of
time.
Many current journal articles can be accessed online from computers that are within,
or connected to the School’s network. It is worth checking if articles on your course
reading lists are available this way, since printing these is cheap and straightforward.
In addition to the Library main collection and course collection, some teachers are
utilising Web reading packs, known as 'WebCT'. E-packs are set up by course
teachers prior to the start of the year and they will guide you through the use of
WebCT materials.
Formative Assessment
‘Formative’ assessments are usually essays, book reviews, short response papers or
discussion pieces that do not count towards your final mark. Their purpose it to
provide you with informal feedback from class teachers which helps you to develop
your analytical and writing skills ahead of formally assessed essays and
examinations. This is an opportunity to try out different ideas and approaches without
the pressure of being ‘examined’. Formative assessments are handed into, and read
by, your class teachers. Formative assessment is an important source of feedback
on your work.
Please refer to the mark frame below for classifications.
39
Feedback
You will receive feedback from class teachers and supervisors over the course of the
programme to support the development of your work. The Department provides
feedback in a number of forms:
(i) verbal feedback during office hours, individual and/or group tutorials and
supervisions;
(ii) verbal feedback in response to class presentations and in the dissertation
workshop;
(iii) written feedback on formative coursework, and – where appropriate – on class
presentations and drafts of dissertation work;
(iv) written feedback may be provided in hard copy, or electronically via e-mail,
Moodle or LSEforYou.
The Department’s policy is to provide feedback within two weeks of submission of

formative coursework or draft written material.
Formal Assessment
Examinations
Towards the end of the Michaelmas Term you will be allocated your candidate
examination number by the Undergraduate Registry, which organises examinations.
Examination entry forms have to be returned to the Undergraduate Registry, located
in the Student Services Centre, by mid-January. Information on dates and location of
examinations will be announced on the website. Unofficial examination results are
normally available after the School’s Examination Board. No results are disclosed
before this examiners’ meeting. An external (non- LSE) examiner participates in all
stages of the examining process, including vetting examination papers, grading
scripts, dissertations and course work – as is usual in all in all British universities.
This mark frame is what the examiners work with when marking assessed papers:
Undergraduate Mark Frame
First Class Honours (70- 100%) This class of pass is awarded when the essay
demonstrates clarity of analysis, engages directly with the question, and shows an
independent and critical interpretation of the issues raised by it. The essay shows
exemplary skill in presenting a logical and coherent argument and an outstanding
breadth and depth of reading. The essay is presented in a polished manner, and all
citations, footnotes and bibliography are rendered in the proper academic form.
(>80%) Answers in the upper range will be outstanding in terms of originality,

sophistication and breadth of understanding of relevant themes and material.
Upper Second Class Honours (60-69%) This class of pass is awarded when the
essay attempts a systematic analysis of the issues raised by the question and
demonstrates independent thought. The essay shows appropriate skill in presenting
a clearly reasoned argument, and draws on a good range of relevant literature. The
essay is well-presented and citations, footnotes and bibliography are rendered in the
proper academic form.
Lower Second Class Honours (50-59%) This class of pass is awarded when the
essays shows an understanding of the issues raised by the question, and
40
demonstrates some engagement with relevant literature. The discussion may rely
more heavily on description than on independent analysis. There may be some
inconsistencies, irrelevant points and unsubstantiated claims in the argument.
Presentation and referencing is adequate but may contain inaccuracies.
Third Class Honours (40-49%) This class of pass is awarded when the essay
shows a limited understanding of the question and demonstrates a partial familiarity
with the issues raised by it. The essays contain a minimal attempt at analysis and
argumentation and demonstrates limited knowledge of the relevant literature.
Presentation may be poor and referencing incomplete.
Fail (0-39%) The essay shows little understanding of the subject and does not
adequately address the question. It may be based entirely on lecture material, poorly
structured and contain significant errors of fact. The essay may be poorly presented
with inadequate referencing, and fail to demonstrate knowledge of the relevant
literature.
Bad Fail (0-19%) A bad fail is awarded to essays that demonstrate no understanding
of the question nor of the relevant literature. The essay may be incomplete, and is
likely to be poorly presented with little or no referencing.
Classification Schemes
Undergraduate and graduate degrees are classified according to the classification
scheme which may vary depending on the year a programme started. Classification
schemes are applied by the Boards of Examiners at their meetings in July and
November each year.
Please refer to the following web link for further details.

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/academicRegulations/TaughtMastersDegree
sFourUnits.htm
Assessed Essays and The Sociological Project (‘Dissertation’)

All formally assessed work must be submitted to the Department’s Administration
Office (S219a). Although you should refer to specific course guides for the precise
deadlines, these are usually during the first and second weeks of the Summer Term.
Two securely bound copies of the assignment are to be submitted to the
Administration Office, S219a. On both copies, the front cover should be transparent
to allow the title and your candidate examination number (but not your name) to be
read without opening. The title page must also include the word count. The word
count does include footnotes and endnotes but not the bibliography or references.
Submitted copies must be identical in every respect. Finally, to repeat: do not put
your name on your dissertation. A third copy of your dissertation is to be posted to
Moodle. It is also acceptable, in the interests of the environment, to submit this work
in double-sided format.
At the time you submit these two copies, you will be asked to complete and sign a
form entitled ‘Plagiarism Statement’. The bottom part of this form is also your receipt.
Plagiarism (unacknowledged borrowing and quotation) is an examination offence and
carries heavy penalties. The form you will be asked to sign states the following:
I declare that, apart from properly referenced quotations, this dissertation is

my own work and contains no plagiarism; it has not been submitted
previously for any other assessed unit on this or other degree courses.
I have read and understood the School’s rules on assessment offences as
41
stated in the Graduate/Undergraduate School Calendar.
It is suggested that, for your own records, you prepare and retain a third copy, since
the two submitted copies will not be returned to you.
Feedback on Assessed Essays

The School recommends that no feedback be given on assessed essays, however, it
does not prevent individual departments from doing so. Within the Sociology
Department is it left up to individual lecturers to decide whether feedback will be
given. On courses where the grade is based solely on assessed coursework, no
feedback will be given. As the feedback on assessed work is given by candidate
number, thereby maintaining the anonymity of the student, there can be no
discussion with the lecturer about the content of the feedback. This feedback can be
helpful whether you are preparing for another piece of assessed coursework or a sat
exam in that particular course or any other. It is not a custom at the School to supply
formal feedback on examination performance.
Plagiarism Detection
As well as submitting two hard copies of your work, you will also be required to post a
copy of your coursework into a specific Moodle site against which JISC Plagiarism
Detection service software can be run. You can take a look at their website at
www.submit.ac.uk to see how it all works. Further details will be provided by the
course convenor.
Plagiarism / Academic Dishonesty / Assessment Offences

Preamble
Assessment is the means by which the standards that students achieve are made
known to the School and beyond; it also provides students with detached and
impartial feedback on their performance. It also forms a significant part of the process
by which the School monitors its own standards of teaching and student support. It
therefore follows that all work presented for assessment must be that of the student.
What is Plagiarism?
All work for classes and seminars as well as scripts (which include, for example,
essays, dissertations and any other work, including computer programs) must be the
student's own work. Quotations must be placed properly within quotation marks or
indented and must be cited fully. All paraphrased material must be acknowledged.
Infringing this requirement, whether deliberately or not, or passing off the work of
others as the work of the student, whether deliberately or not, is plagiarism.
Regulations
The School has two sets of regulations in this area: one covering plagiarism and one
covering all other academic offences (such as exam cheating). The School applies
severe penalties to students who are found guilty of assessment offences.
The work you submit for assessment must be your own. If you try to pass off the
work of others as your own you will be committing plagiarism.
Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons, including
42
other candidates, must be clearly identified as such, being placed inside quotation
marks and a full reference to their sources must be provided in proper form. A series
of short quotations from several different sources, if not clearly identified as such,
constitutes plagiarism just as much as does a single unacknowledged long quotation
from a single source.
The examiners are vigilant for cases of plagiarism and the School uses plagiarism
detection software to identify plagiarised text. Work containing plagiarism may be
referred to an Assessment Misconduct Panel which may result in severe penalties.
If you are unsure about the academic referencing conventions used by the School
you should seek guidance from your Academic Adviser or the Library, see link below.
The Regulations on Plagiarism can be found at the following web link.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/academicRegulations/RegulationsOnAssess
mentOffences-Plagiarism.htm
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/services/training/citing_referencing.aspx.
Late Submission of Assessed Course Work

The Department has agreed the following guidelines for the submission of course
work.
All students must be given clear written instructions on what is required for assessed
coursework and dissertations, and the deadline for their submission;
1) if a student believes the s/he has good cause not to meet the deadline (e.g.
illness), s/he should first raise the matter with the appropriate administrator
and make a formal submission to the Chair of the appropriate Examination
Sub-Board. A mitigation form should be submitted via the Student Services
Centre:
(http://www2.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/studentServicesCentre/examinations
AndResults/Mitigation.aspx ) Normally, penalties for late submissions will only
be waived where there is a good reason backed by supporting evidence (e.g.
a medical certificate); Late submissions may be condoned where there are
verifiable extenuating circumstances (e.g. shown by a medical certificate),
subject to final confirmation by the Chair of the Sub-Board of
Examiners;
2) if a student misses the deadline for submission but believes s/he had good
cause which could not have been anticipated, s/he should first raise the
matter with the appropriate administrator and make a formal submission to
the Chair of the appropriate Examination Sub-Board. A mitigation form should
be submitted via the Student Services Centre:
(http://www2.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/studentServicesCentre/examinations
AndResults/Mitigation.aspx ) Normally, penalties for late submission will only
be waived where there is a good reason backed up by supporting evidence
(e.g. a medical certificate); Late submissions may be condoned where there
are verifiable extenuating circumstances (e.g. shown by a medical certificate),
subject to final confirmation by the Chair of the Sub-Board of
Examiners;
3) if a student fails to submit by the set deadline the following penalties shall
43
normally apply: five marks out of 100 will be deducted for coursework
submitted within 24 hours of the deadline and a further five marks will be
deducted for each subsequent 24-hour period (working days only) until the
coursework is submitted. After five working days, coursework will only be
accepted with the permission of the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners;
4) Candidates using word-processing equipment during the preparation of

their work are strongly advised to make frequent back-up copies of their
text. Disc, computer or printer failure will not be regarded as a legitimate
excuse for late submission of a piece of course work.
Notes on the Presentation of Scholarly Writing

When preparing essays and the third year project, students should bear in mind that
great importance is attached to proper noting, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and
referencing, and they should adopt a consistent set of conventions. Examples of
recommended style are given below.
Footnotes These are a way of saying something extra that amplifies a point that has
been made in the main text but is peripheral to it and would result in the main text
containing distracting extra material. They should be numbered consecutively within
each chapter. You can make them literally footnotes, at the foot of the page, but just
as easily as endnotes at the `end of each chapter. Try to avoid very long notes.
Textual references Unless an essay cites many primary sources and/or legal cases,
referencing in the text should be done within parentheses (round brackets) using the
so-called Harvard system of author(s), year of publication and (where appropriate)
page number(s). These references should be inserted into the text as close as
possible to the relevant point as is consistent with clarity and legibility. The usages
contained in the following various examples should be followed as appropriate; these
cover all major situations and the point being demonstrated is made explicit where it
is not immediately obvious.
As Dollard (1988) argues, . . . ; Dollard’s (1988) classic study; (Perrineau
1985)
(Messina 1989, pp. 23–6) – use the minimum number of digits in page-
numbers, except between ‘10’ and ‘19’, ‘110’ and ‘119’, etc.; referencing to
individual chapters according their inclusive page-numbers in the edition
being cited rather than to chapter-numbers is preferred
(Banton 1987a; 1987b) – two or more references to works by the same author
published in the same year should be distinguished in this way
(Banton 1983; 1987a) but (Banton 1983, p. 104; Banton 1987a, p. 129) – omit
the author’s surname after the first reference only if he or she is the only one
being cited within a set of parentheses and if only years of publication but not
pagenumbers are being used in all instances
(Banton 1987a; Anthias 1992) – order by ascending year of publication
rather than alphabetically by surname of author, using the latter criterion only
when citing differently authored publications from the same year
(Butler and Stokes 1974; Himmelweit et al. 1981) – works by up to three
coauthors should cite the surnames of all co-authors, while those with four or
more co-authors should be cited using only the surname of the first, followed
by ‘et al.’
The corresponding list of References should be typed or printed separately double-or

sesque-spaced at the end of the dissertation beginning on a new page and titled
44
merely ‘References’. The list should be alphabetical by surname of author or first co-
author and should be in the style of the following examples. It is important to include,
where they exist, part-numbers as well as volume-numbers of cited journals and
inclusive pagenumbers of material from journals and edited collections. It is also
important to provide any subtitle of a book or an article, as well as the forenames
and/or initials of authors of cited material, whatever was given in the original
reference. You should also take care that only those references cited in the text
appear in the list of References and vice versa.
General bibliographies should not normally be given. Also, avoid citation mania – the
tendency to provide citations even for the most trivial or banal assertions.
ANTHIAS, FLOYA 1992 ‘Connecting “race” and ethnic phenomena’, Sociology, vol.
26, no. 3, pp. 421–38
BANTON, MICHAEL 1983 Racial and Ethnic Competition, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
____ 1987a Racial Theories, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
____ 1987b ‘The beginning and the end of the racial issue in British politics’, Policy
and Politics, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 39–47
BUTLER, DAVID and STOKES, DONALD 1974 Political Change in Britain: The
Evolution of Electoral Choice, 2nd edn, London: Macmillan
DEAKIN, SIMON and MORRIS, GILLIAN S 1998 Labour Law, 2nd edn, London:
Butterworths
DOLLARD, JOHN 1988 Caste and Class in a Southern Town, 4th edn, Madison, WI:
University of Wisconsin Press [1st edn, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1937]
ENGBERSEN, GODFRIED and van der LEUN, JOANNE 1998 ‘Illegality and
criminality: the differential opportunity structure of undocumented immigrants’, in
Khalid Koser and Helma Lutz (eds), The New Migration in Europe: Social
Constructions and Social Realities, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd, pp. 199–223
HIMMELWEIT, HILDE T, et al. 1981 How Voters Decide: A Longitudinal Study of
Political Attitudes and Voting Extending Over Fifteen Years, London: Academic Press
MESSINA, ANTHONY M 1989 Race and Party Competition in Britain, Oxford:
Clarendon Press
PERRINEAU, PASCAL 1985 ‘Le Front National: un électorat autoritaire’, Revue
Politique et Parlementaire, no. 918, pp. 24–31
SOMBART, WERNER 1976 Why Is There No Socialism in the United States?,
London: Macmillan [first published in German in 1906]
THOMAS, J J R 1985 ‘Rationalization and the status of gender divisions’, Sociology,
vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 409–20
ALVIN, JAMES 1982 ‘Black caricature: the roots of racialism’, in Charles Husband
(ed.), 'Race' in Britain: Continuity and Change, London: Hutchinson, pp. 59–72
Give only the first-named place of publication if more than one are listed on the title-
page of a book. It is now conventional that the names of American towns or cities
(except New York) are followed by the Post-Office-authorised two-letter abbreviation
of the state concerned; e.g., Cambridge, Massachusetts, should be identified as
‘Cambridge, MA’. Publications with up to three co-authors should be referenced as in
the Butler/Stokes example; those with four or more co-authors should be referenced
as in the Himmelweit example.
Internet references Internet references should be given in the text as in the

following examples, normally – though not necessarily in every case – identifying
simultaneously the holder of the website.
‘The website of the Commission for Racial Equality [www.cre.gov.uk] is merely one
45
source for . . .’. However, note: ‘There are several Internet sources providing basic
information about current legislation on racial discrimination in employment (e.g.,
www.cre.gov.uk/rights) . . .’
Where it is necessary to give textual and Internet references simultaneously, all the
former should be listed first (ordered according to the principles for textual references
given above) and all the latter should be listed second, in alphabetical order. All
individual references of whatever type should be separated by semi-colons. A
demonstrative example follows:
‘There are numerous sources providing information about current legislation on racial
discrimination in employment (e.g., Deakin and Morris 1998, pp. 543–626;
www.cre.gov.uk/rights ).’
Where a referenced website has been located via a link from some other site, it is
usually necessary to identify only the destination site.
All Internet references should also be listed at the end of the article after the textual
References and with the title ‘Internet references’. They should be listed in
alphabetical order of holder of the website, giving the date on which each was
accessed for the information being cited (accurate to the day or, if not feasible, as
close thereto as possible), and website address. If a website has been merely cited
without having accessed it, ‘n.ac.’ (for ‘not accessed’) should be substituted for date
of access. The following examples demonstrate these principles.
Commission for Racial Equality, 27 November 1999, www.cre.gov.uk/rights

Higher Education Statistics Agency, May 1999, www.hesa.ac.uk
Le Monde, 29 November 1999, www.lemonde.fr
University of Surrey, n.ac., www.surrey.ac.uk
Requesting a Reference
If you are asking an academic to write a reference for you, you should be aware of
the following guidelines:
a) Please give referees at least three weeks’ notice before the reference is due.
Senior members of staff in particular may well be asked to write scores of
references every term. Often each reference requires updating or adaptation
to a specific job or scholarship. It is in your own interest to give the referee
enough time to do it justice.
b) Never put down someone’s name as a referee without asking them in
advance.
c) Provide all the information needed to write the reference. Make sure that you
have filled out your part of any form you submit.
d) It is helpful if you include all the information your Academic Adviser will need
in a single email, with a clear subject line. You might, for example, wish to
remind your Academic Adviser of scholarships awarded or internships
undertaken.
e) Sometimes an application requires a reference from the programme
convener. If so, the usual practice is for your Academic Adviser to produce a
draft which the programme convener will then sign.
f) Once someone agrees to be a referee, he or she has the obligation to do the
job on time. Inevitably, busy people writing scores of references sometimes
forget so gentle reminders are worthwhile.
46
g) By putting your CV on the CV builder on LSE for You, your referee will be
able to see your work experience and extra curricular activities, so enabling
them to write a fuller reference for you. You should not normally name your
Academic Adviser as a referee for a job unless you have first discussed the
matter with him or her, although a general discussion may result in a blanket
permission to use his or her name as a referee if you are applying for a
number of jobs.
Word-processing: Notes for Sociology Students

Word-processing in particular and computer skills in general are not only useful to
students, but are valued by employers and always look good as part of a person’s
CV. You would be strongly advised to use a word-processor for your essays and
class presentations, and indeed for all your written work.
The standard School word-processing package is Microsoft Word. IT Services

provides basic introductory classes for students in Word along with individual user-
support. Detailed notes can be obtained from the IT Services Information Point in the
library.
Attend a course on Word as soon as possible so that you learn the correct
procedures from the beginning.
Packages like Word can seem intimidating and confusing because they contain many
features that most users will either not need at all, or only use rarely. However, some
basic principles and functions must be mastered before you can do any useful work,
and time spent on learning them will save you much trouble later. The most important
and fundamental of these are listed here.
Organize your work. Much time and aggravation can be saved by organizing your
work carefully from the start.
• Always put a label on your CD, floppy disk or USB memory stick, and
remember to write at least your name and department on it. Additionally,
create a file on each with the name ‘If lost please return to …’
• Label all your disks, directories, folders and files clearly.
• Adopt a hierarchic (i.e., branching) or alphanumeric (i.e., 123ABC) listing
system that organizes your work logically.
• Use transparent file names that will not require efforts of memory to recall
what they contain. (Windows file names cannot contain the \/:*?”<>or |
characters.)
Complex work like a thesis should be split into several different files and special care
needs to be taken when naming them. e.g., each file might have a three-part file
name:
1. an alphanumeric place holder which determines that the file is always listed in
the right place (e.g., the first chapter in a thesis might be preceded by ‘1’—or
‘01’ if there are going to be 10 or more).
2. an abbreviated but informative name that reveals contents (e.g. ‘Intro’)
3. a version number that is incremented every time the file is saved with
significant changes and which distinguishes it clearly from earlier, superseded
versions: e.g., 1Intro3.5 would mean that this is the fifth version of the third
major revision of the first, introductory chapter. (Incremental numbering may
47
not seem important if you simply add material to each new version of a
document. However, if you delete or radically alter something and then want
to undo the changes, being able to trace an earlier version that contained the
original material is much easier if you used incremental numbering and kept
copies of earlier, superseded versions.)
Attaching ‘.doc’ to the end of the file name will ensure that it is recognized as a
document file by Windows operating systems.
It is always easier to organize your work before you begin than after you have
done it.
Save frequently. Only when you save your work is it secure and physically written to
the disk. Otherwise it exists only in a volatile memory that vanishes with power loss,
system failures and other things.
• Always save before you leave your work.

• Always save after a complex change or extensive re-writing.
• Always save before you do something that you think might have unforeseen
or unpredictable effects on your work (eg, an unfamiliar routine).
• Always save your work onto a removable medium (eg CD or memory stick) or
your home (H) space on the network. Work saved on a shared computer hard
disk can be accessed and deleted, either deliberately or inadvertently, by
other users.
• Do NOT keep your only copy of your work on a single disk. Always keep a
copy on your network space (H:)
• Don’t create documents that are too large. As a rough guide, 30-40 pages of
A4 is as large as any document should be. Small documents are easier to
edit and if something goes wrong with a small document less work is lost or
has to be recovered from backups.
• Beware Save As: if you choose this saving option, Word will save to the
destination specified by the Save As command on subsequent saves unless a
new Save As is specified. (This can result in loss of files if you use Save As to
save backups in a different place to originals, and then return to work on the
original assuming it will be saved where it originally was: it won’t be!)
In the Save tab under Options in the Tools menu, Word allows you to set various
options for automatically saving and backing up your work automatically, including an
AutoRecover option which it is important to have turned on.
You can never save too often.
Backup frequently. Backup copies are essential. Sooner or later you will lose data,
often through no fault of your own. And although Word allows you to set an automatic
backup facility (Tools Options Save Always create backup copy), it is
unwise to rely on this alone since such automatically saved backups can easily be
lost or inadvertently erased. (But see the advice above regarding Save As.)
• Always backup to a disk that is different from the one your originals are on
(auto-backup probably won’t do this).
• Always keep at least two—and preferably three—backups of important work
in different places. (Three backups guards against a drive being faulty and
erasing your work. The chances are that it will only be after the second
backup is erased that you will realize what is happening! Keeping backups in
48
different places guards against fire and theft. Free backup on the internet is
also possible, and may be available from your Internet Service Provider.)
• Cumulative backup (i.e., adding later backups to earlier ones) preserves
earlier versions of your work that you may wish to go back to later. (You can
do this easily if, rather than keeping a box of blank disks, you use them to
backup sequentially, taking one from the front and replacing it at the back.
This way you preserve the order of your backups, and don’t waste disks.
Alternatively, many CD burner applications allow incremental backup—i.e.,
only save changes or new files.)
You can’t backup too often or too much. Never end a work session without
making at least one backup.
Use different fonts and formats. Documents look a lot better if you follow a few
basic principles:
• Learn to use italics, bold and CAPITALS as appropriate. (Avoid underlining to

indicate italics, since this is now totally unnecessary.)
• Use serif fonts like this one (Times New Roman) for paragraph text and avoid
sans-serif ones like this one (Arial) for entire documents, EXCEPT FOR
HEADINGS (Arial Narrow) or EMPHASIS (Arial Black).
• Don’t use more than two or three different fonts in the same document.
• Avoid single spacing for long documents.
• Headers can ensure that detached pages of your work can be identified.
• Page numbers are essential in documents of more than three pages.
• In drafts, you can use strikethrough like this or even double strikethrough like
this (Format Font Effects) to indicate something you may wish to delete,
but are not sure about yet. Word also allows you to add comments (Insert
Comment) to annotate a text. You can also add text in different fonts like this
to make it stand out, for example as an addition you are still thinking about.
Text can also be coloured (but on a black-and-white printer the effect will
obviously be lost, and some colours may result in illegible print).
• You can also set Word to track changes, which means that the system keeps
a record of all your editing changes and can display them if required (Tools
Track Changes).
• If you need special characters like ¿, õ, or é, you can find them in the
Character Map accessory in Windows XP (start All Programs
Accessories System Tools Character Map). Simply select, copy, and
paste into your document.
Take care printing. Inevitably, you will have to print your work. Much time can be
saved by mastering the process before you try to print something important.
• Always save before you print.

• Look at your document in print preview to check that the pages look as you
want them.
• Check by inspecting a sample page that the output is as you wish it to be and
that the printer is functioning correctly.
• Ensure that the paper size and/or Page Setup are correct and that page
breaks on the paper you are printing on coincide with the breaks in your
document. This is a common reason for documents not printing properly.
• If you are including illustrations, or printing PowerPoint slides, avoid too much
use of black or dark backgrounds. This will use a lot of toner, and slow down
printing.
49
Never leave a document to print without supervision.
Don’t panic! Even if you save and backup conscientiously, things can still go wrong
and you can lose valuable work. The following points are worth bearing in mind:
If something unexpected happens, try the Undo command in the Edit menu (also
often on the menu bar indicated by ) before you do anything else. Undo can also
undo previous key strokes or mouse clicks: click on the arrow next to the icon on
the toolbar to see options for undo.
In the event of a crash, Word will probably have saved files that you can access as
soon as you re-launch it if you had the AutoRecover feature turned on (Tools
Options Save Save AutoRecover info).
Take viruses seriously and routinely disinfect your disks, especially if you use public
computer rooms or other people’s disks or machines. This not only protects you, but
protects others whom you might infect accidentally. If you have a home PC you can
obtain Anti-Virus Software from the IT Services Helpdesk or on-line.
Data is never deleted from a computer disk until it is over-written by later saves. This
means that although your files may appear to be lost—eg, through unintended
deletion—saved versions are still on the disk. The good news is that file-recovery
software exists that can restore saved but deleted files. The bad news is that it
doesn’t always work!
Don’t save any further data to a disk that contains lost or damaged files.
EndNote Plus
Entering reference citations is an essential part of preparing any piece of
scholarly writing, and correct and helpful citation can make a huge
difference to readers of your work. However, providing references is also a
vastly time-consuming and often fiddly chore. EndNote Plus is a
specialized piece of reference-management software that is supported by
the IT Services, used in the Library, and installed on standard workstations
throughout the School. It makes referencing quick, easy, and accurate, and you
should use it from the beginning of your studies at LSE. Students can sign up for
courses which are run regularly in the Library.
Attend a course on EndNote as soon as possible. The time devoted to it will be

quickly be repaid once you start to use it.
EndNote is first and foremost a database: in other words, it provides you with ready-
made fields in which to enter all the relevant bibliographical data about a publication
you may wish to cite. And once entered, none of this data need ever be entered
again, either into EndNote, nor into anything you may subsequently write. Such data
is stored in a Library, and you can also include your own notes, quotations, and in the
latest version, even graphics and PDFs of the original document.
The second thing that EndNote does is to automatically format anything you write in
any bibliographical style it supports (hundreds!). You simply copy and paste in
temporary citation markers from your library as you go, and then EndNote will either
format immediately (cite-while-you-write) or whenever you ask it to do so. In other
words, it will enter text citations in the correct style and then add a corresponding
bibliography at the end. Nothing could be simpler, but here are a few tips:
50
Limit yourself to one library, so that any and all additions to your bibliographical
database are stored in the same place. Processing papers is much easier if you only
have one library (if you have more than one, you need to specify which library
EndNote is to use each time, and confusion and complications can follow if you get it
wrong).
Backup your library: if you lose it entirely, EndNote cannot format anything you may
have written using it in the past. And if your library is large, it will represent hours of
work entering data, so you can’t afford to lose it!
Use EndNote for efficient note-taking related to particular things you read. (If you
choose Annotated as the output style, all fields are printed in the bibliography,
including your notes.)
Use Copy Formatted for quick citations of selected references in PowerPoint slides
or handouts (The British Journal of Sociology—the house journal—has a nice-looking
and appropriate citation style which is included in EndNote styles.)
Learn EndNote’s basic rules about entering author names, titles, and so on at the
beginning, so as to avoid problems later.
Download EndNote-compatible references from the Library catalogue and many
other remote databases.
Don’t cite titles you haven’t read: it’s misleading at best and dishonest at worst,
and can occasionally make a complete fool of you (as many students and some
academics have learnt to their cost!).
51
CODE OF GOOD PRACTICE FOR UNDERGRADUATE
PROGRAMMES: TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT
This Code of Practice is approved by the Student Affairs Committee.
Last updated: June 2010
Introduction
This Code sets out general School practices for all undergraduate programmes. It
sets out basic reciprocal obligations and responsibilities of staff and students. It
should be read in conjunction with all other School policies, regulations, codes of
practice and procedures as set out in the School's on-line Calendar. The expectation
is that all programmes will meet the standards set out in the paragraphs below. This
Code informs students of what they may reasonably expect and informs
departments of what they are expected, at a minimum, to provide. Each department
will publish a detailed statement of its provision under this Code in its handbook and
on its departmental website. These statements will provide a basis for monitoring the
academic activity of departments through the Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Committee and its internal reviews of teaching. The statements will also provide a
basis for monitoring departmental pastoral provision by the Student Affairs
Committee.
Academic Advice
1.1 On joining the School each student is allocated a member of the academic staff
in his or her department as an academic adviser.
1.2 Each department sets out in the relevant handbook its own detailed guidelines
regarding the role of the academic adviser. Among those responsibilities that an
academic adviser is normally expected to carry out are:
• To provide academic guidance and feedback on the students' progress
and performance and to discuss any academic problems they might
experience.
• To provide pastoral support on non-academic issues and to refer
students, as necessary, to the appropriate support agencies within the
School.
• To implement the provisions outlined in Individual Student Support
Agreements (ISSAs) for students with long-term medical conditions,
specific learning difficulties and/or disabilities in liaison with the School's
Disability and Well-Being Office.
• To maintain regular contact with students on academic and pastoral
issues through direct one-to-one meetings and other means of
communication, such as emails. The number and nature of meetings
may vary between departments and programmes as detailed in the
relevant handbook.
• To comment on and provide a general assessment of students' progress
on their termly class reports via LSEforYou.
• To agree students' course choices via LSEforYou.
• To inform the Departmental Tutor and School of any students whose
attendance and progress is not satisfactory.
1.3 Each adviser must have a good working knowledge of the structure and
regulations of degree programmes in the department.
1.4 Each adviser must have a good working knowledge of the various academic and
52
pastoral support services within the School.
1.5 Each adviser must publicise regular periods of time when they are available to
meet with their students.
1.6 If the relationship between an adviser and student is unsatisfactory, the
department must have in place an appropriate process for arranging a change of
adviser.
1.7 Each department has a Departmental Tutor. The responsibilities of the
Departmental Tutor include:
• Providing departmental orientation programmes for new and continuing

students.
• Monitoring the academic and pastoral care provided by members of his
or her department, including the provision of reasonable adjustments for
students with disabilities.
• Arranging regular termly meetings of a Staff-Student Liaison Committee
and the nomination of a representative to the School's Undergraduate
Students' Consultative Forum.
• Providing a direct channel of communication between the School and
any student who is encountering academic or pastoral difficulties.
• Authorising, where appropriate, a student's request for course choice
outside the degree regulations.
• Authorising, where appropriate, a student's request for a degree transfer.
Teaching
2.1 The detailed requirements of each programme and course are provided in the
on-line Calendar, in the relevant handbook and on departmental web pages.
Students are obliged to complete all course requirements as specified in their
degree regulations.
2.2 Teaching at the undergraduate level will be a combination of lectures and
classes. The teaching method used will largely be determined by the size of
the programme and the nature of the subject covered in a particular course.
2.3 Lectures are an important part of the teaching and learning experience. The
structure and content of each course are set out in the on-line Course Guide.
Lecturers must ensure that their teaching is consistent with this information.
2.4 Lecturers are responsible for organising the class programmes for their
courses, for liaising with class teachers to ensure that the classes are properly
coordinated with their lectures, and for submitting course reading lists to the
Library in good time for required books to be purchased.
2.5 Classes are a compulsory part of the teaching and learning experience. Class
sizes should not normally exceed 15 students.
2.6 Classes will normally give students the opportunity to participate in a
discussion of material relevant to the course. The nature and format of these
discussions will vary according to the subject matter of the course.
2.7 Lectures and classes start at five minutes past the hour and end at five minutes
to the hour. Staff and students should make every effort to start and finish on
time.
2.8 Formative coursework is an essential part of the teaching and learning
53
experience at the School. It should be introduced at an early stage of a course
and normally before the submission of assessed coursework. Students will
normally be given the opportunity to produce essays, problem sets or other
forms of written work. The number of these pieces of work for each course will
be detailed in the on-line Course Guide.
2.9 Feedback on coursework is an essential part of the teaching and learning
experience at the School. Class teachers must mark formative coursework
and return it with feedback to students normally within two weeks of
submission (when the work is submitted on time). Class teachers must record
the marks, or the failure to submit coursework, regularly via LSEforYou.
Students will also receive feedback on any summative coursework they are
required to submit as part of the assessment for individual courses (except on
the final version of submitted dissertations). They will normally receive this
feedback before the examination period. Individual departments will determine
the format of feedback on summative coursework, but it will not include the
final mark for the piece.
2.10 Some programmes require students to submit dissertations. Students will
receive preliminary feedback on a draft chapter, section or detailed plan of their
dissertations that they submit in good time prior to the final submission
deadline. Individual departmental handbooks will set out the details of the
dissertation process, including the deadline by which draft chapters, sections or
detailed plans must be submitted to be eligible for feedback. A mark will not be
included in this feedback.
2.11 Class teachers must record student attendance on a weekly basis via
LSEforYou.
2.12 Class reports are an integral part of the School's monitoring system on the
academic progress of its students. Class teachers must complete, via
LSEforYou, full and accurate reports, including a general assessment of each
student's progress, at the end of the Michaelmas and Lent Terms.
2.13 All full-time members of staff and part-time and occasional teachers must have
regular weekly office hours during term time when they are available to
students to discuss issues relating to the courses they are teaching. These
hours should be displayed outside their offices.
Responsibilities of the student

3.1 Students are required to attend the School for the full duration of each term.
Students who wish to be away for good reason in term time must first obtain
the consent of their adviser. Students away through illness must inform their
adviser and their class teachers and, where the absence is for more than a
fortnight, the Student Services Centre.
3.2 Students with disabilities which might impact on their studies should contact an
Adviser in the Disability and Well-Being Office in good time to negotiate
reasonable adjustments. These will be set out in an Individual Student Support
Agreement. Students must also agree to the extent to which this information
will be shared within the School. If the School is not informed about a disability
in good time, it may not be able to make the appropriate reasonable
adjustments.
3.3 Students must maintain regular contact with their academic adviser to discuss
relevant academic and pastoral care issues affecting their course of study.
54
These should include:
• Guidance regarding course choice
• Discussion of academic progress based on termly class reports
3.4 These discussions should take place through direct one-to-one meetings and
other means of communication, such as emails. The number and nature of
meetings may vary between departments and programmes as detailed in the
relevant handbook. Students should be able to meet their adviser within the
first week of term time, i.e. either during regular office hours or at a mutually
convenient time.
3.5 Attendance at classes is compulsory and is recorded on LSEforYou. Any
student who is absent on two consecutive occasions or is regularly absent
without good reason will be automatically reported to their academic adviser.
3.6 Students must submit all required coursework on time, whether it is summative
coursework (i.e. work that counts towards the final mark) or formative work
(that does not count towards the final mark). In submitting coursework,
students must abide with the School's policy on plagiarism as set out in the
School's Assessment Offences Regulations: Plagiarism.
3.7 Permission to sit an examination may be withdrawn from students who
regularly miss classes and/or do not provide required course work.
3.8 Students should ensure the accuracy of the information regarding their
programme of study, including their class schedule, class attendance and
submission of coursework, contained in their personal LSEforYou account.
3.9 Students must communicate changes of term time and home addresses to the
Student Services Centre via LSEforYou as soon as they occur.
3.10 Students must pay School fees when due. Failure to pay fees could result in
the withdrawal of Library rights, termination of registration, and/or the
withholding of transcripts and/or degree award certificate.
3.11 Students who decide to interrupt their studies or withdraw from the School
must inform their academic adviser and the Student Services Centre in writing.
Failure to inform the School could result in a demand for fee payment for the
full session.
Examination and Assessment

4.1 Students must complete all elements of assessed work for each course.
Methods of examination and assessment for each course are set out in the on-
line Course Guide. In submitting course work, students must abide with the
School's policy on plagiarism as set out in the School's Assessment Offence
Regulations: Plagiarism.
4.2 Students must be given clear advance warning of any new or approved changes
to examination format. When the content of a course changes to the extent that
previous examination papers may not be a reliable guide to future papers,
lecturers should warn students and should produce sample questions for the
new parts of the course. When the course is new and, there are no previous
papers, a full sample paper should be produced.
4.3 Students who regularly miss classes and/or do not provide required coursework
may be denied permission to sit an examination.
4.4 Any student who requires specific examination arrangements must contact an
55
adviser in the Disability and Well-Being Office so that reasonable adjustments
can be made. Applications for specific exam arrangements should normally be
made no later than seven weeks before the date of the student's first
examination.
4.5 Any mitigating circumstances in the period preceding or during the examinations
that might affect a student's attendance at, or performance in, examinations
must be communicated in writing to the Student Services Centre with all relevant
supporting documentation, such as medical certificates, not later than seven
days after her/his last exam.
56
DIPLOMA IN SOCIOLOGY 2010/2011
About the Diploma Programme

The programme introduces students who may be unfamiliar with sociology to
empirical and conceptual analysis.
Compulsory Courses
Either SO100 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological
Theory or SO201 Sociological Analysis.
SO221 Issues and Methods of Social Research.
Options
You choose a total of two course units through a combination of full- and/or half-
option course units from a list of undergraduate courses offered within the
department.
Programme Guide
This section provides essential information for planning your course of study. Refer to
the front of the BSc sections of this handbook for general guidance as to the Diploma
programme. Those sections provide essential information for planning your course of
study. The introductory remarks give you general guidance as to the Diploma
programme aims, requirements and timeline. Following this is detailed information
about the courses available in 2010/2011.
Diploma in Sociology
Students must take four courses as shown. Those who wish to proceed to the MSc in
Sociology will be expected to pass the Diploma at a standard satisfactory to the
Department.
Paper Course number and title
1 SO221 Issues and Methods of Social Research
2 Either SO201 Sociological Theory or SO100 Key Concepts in

Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory
3&4 Two of the following:
• SO110 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to

Contemporary Sociology
• SO201 Sociological Analysis
• SO203 Political Sociology
• SO208 Gender and Society
• SO210 Crime, Deviance and Control
• SO211 Sociology of Health and Medicine
• SO212 Work, Management and Globalisation
57
• SO215 Evolution and Social Behaviour
• SO224 The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
• ST103 Statistical Methods for Social Research
Scheme for the Award of a Diploma

This scheme should be read in conjunction with the Regulations for Diplomas, the
regulations for the Diploma programme on which the candidate is registered, the
relevant online undergraduate course guides, and the Code of Good Practice for
Diploma Programmes: Teaching, Learning and Assessment.
Last updated: July 2010
1. Responsibilities of Sub-Boards of Examiners

1.1 Each diploma programme shall be the responsibility of a Sub-Board of
Examiners. Taking into account all information properly presented to it and
by exercising its academic judgement, the Sub-Board shall decide if each candidate
has satisfactorily completed all elements of assessment as set out in the programme
regulations. Where the Sub-Board recommends that an award should be made, it will
also determine the classification of the award in accordance with section 6 below.
1.2 Each course shall be the responsibility of a Sub-Board of Examiners. The Sub-
Board shall confirm a numerical mark for each candidate taking a course falling
within its responsibility.
2. External Examiners
2.1 Each Sub-Board of Examiners shall include at least one external examiner
competent to judge the candidates concerned.
2.2 All elements of assessment for a course shall be marked by internal examiners
and, as appropriate, an external examiner.
2.3 No mark or grade shall be assigned for any course or element of assessment for
a course without an external examiner having been able to approve it, whether or not
s/he attended a meeting of examiners.
3. Mark and Grade for a Course

3.1 The examiners for each course will decide a numerical mark for each candidate
using the following scale:
Mark Grade
0 - 39% Fail
40 - 59% Pass
60 - 69% Merit
70% and over Distinction
3.2 Unless they receive written instructions from the Examinations Office to do so,
e.g. in the case of dyslexic candidates, examiners shall assess work without referring
to medical and/or extenuating circumstances. Such circumstances will be considered
by the Sub-Board of Examiners at the meeting where the award of diplomas is
considered.
58
4. Eligibility for Award of Diploma
4.1 In order to be considered for a diploma, a candidate must have completed all
elements of assessment for each course as listed in the corresponding programme
regulations.
4.2 A candidate who is absent for any element of assessment for a course will be
considered not to have completed the course. Moreover, the absence will count as
one of the attempts allowed for the course unless it was authorised by the Chair of
the Sub-Board of Examiners for the programme.
5. Treatment of Half Units

This Classification Scheme is based on the marks achieved by candidates in all
papers1 taken in fulfilment of the programme regulations. For the purposes of
determining classification only, the marks obtained for half-unit courses shall be
paired and averaged2 according to the appropriate diploma programme regulations.
6. Calculation of the Award of Diploma

6.1 The overall classification of an award shall be calculated as follows:
Pass
6.2 Pass diploma shall be awarded for the following combination of minimum marks:
3-unit
6.2.1 40 40 40
programmes
6.2.2 or 50 40 20
4-unit
6.2.3 40 40 40 40
programmes
6.2.4 or 50 40 40 20
Merit
6.3 A diploma with Merit shall be awarded for the following combination of minimum
marks:
3-unit
6.3.1 60 60 60
programmes
6.3.2 or 70 60 50
4-unit
6.3.3 60 60 50 50
programmes
6.3.4 or 70 60 50 40
Distinction
6.4 A diploma with Distinction shall be awarded for the following combination of
minimum marks:
3-unit
6.4.1 70 70 50
programmes
4-unit
6.4.2 70 70 60 60
programmes
6.4.3 or 70 70 70 50
7. Failure to Achieve an Award of Diploma

7.1 If a candidate has not been awarded a diploma, s/he shall normally be entitled to
re-sit the failed courses only (on one occasion) and at the next normal opportunity.
59
Results obtained at re-sit shall bear their normal value.
7.2 f a candidate has passed courses on a re-sit attempt and has met the
requirements for the award of a diploma, s/he can only be recommended for the
award of a Pass diploma unless, in the judgement of the examiners, the initial
failure(s) was at least in part a direct result of medical and/or extenuating
circumstances.
8. Appeals and Offences

Appeals against decisions of Sub-Board of Examiners will be handled according to
Regulations for the consideration of appeals against decisions of boards of
examiners for taught courses. Assessment offences will be handled according to
Regulations on assessment offences: plagiarism or Regulations on assessment
offences: offences other than plagiarism. All School Regulations are published in the
School Calendar.
9. General Proviso
It is also open to a Sub-Board of Examiners to recommend to the Graduate School
Board of Examiners any departure from this Scheme if, in their judgement, this would
be equitable for any individual candidate or group of candidates as a direct result of
medical and/or extenuating circumstances. Such circumstances would need to be
extraneous to the normal assessment process and would apply to that candidate or
group of candidates only.
Notes
1
Under the programme regulations for all of the School's diplomas, candidates have to
complete a set number of 'papers'. Each 'paper' represents a full-unit course or two half-unit
courses.
2
Where marks are averaged, the resulting average will be rounded to the nearest whole
mark.
Regulations for Diplomas

These regulations are approved by the Academic Board/the School Board of
Examiners for BA/BSc Degrees.
Last updated: July 2010
General
1. These Regulations apply to all persons having registered for a programme of
study leading to a diploma other than a diploma of the University and to those
having registered for any part of such a programme. They are made subject to
the General Academic Regulations of the School.
Entrance qualifications
2. The normal minimum entrance qualification for registration for a diploma is a
degree or qualifications and/or experience deemed acceptable by the School. An
applicant for admission will also be required to meet any additional entrance
requirements specified in the relevant programme regulations.
3. The School may prescribe English language and/or other tests as conditions of
admission.
4. Application for admission to a programme and registration for that programme
shall be undertaken in accordance with procedures specified by the School.
5. The School may exceptionally exempt a student from part of a programme on the
60
basis of previous study at another institution and may exempt such a student
additionally from part of the examinations prescribed for the degree.
Programmes of study
6. Programmes shall be so organised as to fall into one or both of the following
categories:
6.1 a period of full-time study, the length of which shall be prescribed in the
individual course regulations but which shall be not less than one academic
year, the examinations being completed by the end of that period;
6.2 a period of part-time study of between two and four years, during which
candidates will be examined in accordance with the individual programme
regulations.
7. A student may be allowed, at the discretion of the School and provided that the
individual programme regulations so permit, to spend a maximum period of six
months or, in the case of students pursuing a part-time programme, an
equivalent period, on project work under appropriate supervision at an
organisation or institution approved by the School as having a function relevant
and suitable to the field of study. The student will not normally be permitted to
undertake the project work outside the School.
8. A full-time student will normally register for courses up to the value of four
courses in each year, and a part-time student for courses to a value of three
courses or fewer. Courses must be chosen to comply with the programme
regulations concerned.
9. The School may permit a student to transfer from one programme to another
within the School. Such permission will be given only on the recommendation of
the respective director for the student's current diploma programme and for the
programme into which he/she wishes to transfer.
10. In exceptional circumstances, the School may permit a student to vary his or her
programme by substituting for courses to the maximum value of one full unit,
listed in the programme regulations, other courses of equivalent value. Such
permission will be given only on the recommendation of the programme
director.
Entry to examinations
11. A candidate for the diploma will be deemed to have entered the examinations for
the courses for which he/she is registered.
12. Notwithstanding an examination entry under Regulation 11, no candidate shall
be eligible to sit the examination in a course unless having satisfactorily
attended that course in that year of study and having completed the work
required in that course.
13. A candidate wishing to defer sitting one or more examinations must first obtain
the support of his or her supervisor. Where the supervisor is not willing to
support the request the candidate may appeal to the Programme Director or
departmental Convener as appropriate. The candidate must then seek the
approval of the Chair of the appropriate board of examiners. If the Chair
supports the request, the Chair shall put the case to the School for approval.
Permission must be sought no later than Friday of the first week of the Summer
term except in the case of unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.
61
14. Candidates who are absent without formal permission from an examination
entered will have that examination counted as the first attempt.
15. Candidates are bound by the regulations in force at the time of their entry to the
examination including the individual programme regulations.
16. A candidate will be examined in each course at the end of the year, unless
having deferred or withdrawn under these Regulations. A candidate will not be
re-examined in any course which he or she has already passed.
17. No fee is payable for the first attempt at an examination.
Examinations and assessment

18. The School will establish a board of examiners for each programme. Each board
shall include examiners who are not members of the staff of the School, who
shall have regard to the totality of each diploma programme and who shall be
involved and particularly influential in the decisions relating to the award of every
diploma and shall annually report to the Director, being asked specifically to
comment and give judgement on the validity and integrity of the assessment
process and the standard of student attainment.
19. Examination procedures shall ensure that assessment is and can be
demonstrated to be fair and impartial.
20. Each board of examiners shall ensure inter alia that award schemes shall have
regard to the totality of the programme and to the requirements for progression
within it, and to the requirement for each student to achieve a satisfactory overall
standard.
21. Schemes of examination shall be prescribed in the individual programme
regulations.
22. The examination for each written paper shall take place on one occasion only
each year.
23. An essay/report/dissertation, where indicated in the scheme of examination, will
be examined on one occasion only in each year.
24. If an essay, report or dissertation is adequate except that it requires minor
amendment the examiners may require the candidate to make within one month
the amendments specified by them or one of their number nominated by them.
25. In exceptional circumstances examiners shall have discretion to require a
student to be examined orally in one or more components of his or her
examination.
26. Where the regulations permit a candidate to offer work written outside the
examination room, the work submitted must be certified to be his or her own and
any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons must be
acknowledged.
27. The School may in exceptional circumstances permit a variation of the
method(s) of assessment for a course, in respect of some or all candidates.
28. The conduct of candidates in assessment is governed by the Regulations on
Assessment Offences: Plagiarism and the Regulations on Assessment
Offences: Offences Other Than Plagiarism.
62
Late submission of coursework
29. Where a course includes coursework as part of its assessment, all students
must be given clear written instructions on what is required and the deadline for
its submission.
30. If a student believes that he or she has good cause not to meet the deadline (eg
illness) he or she should first discuss the matter with the course teacher and
seek a formal extension from the chair of the board of examiners.
31. If a student misses the deadline for submission but believes he or she has had
good reason which could not have been alerted in advance he or she should
first discuss the matter with the course teacher and seek a formal extension.
32. Extensions will normally only be granted where there is a good reason backed
by supporting evidence (eg medical certificate). Any extension must be
confirmed in writing to the student.
33. If a student fails to submit by the set deadline (or extended deadline as
appropriate) the following penalties will apply:
Five marks out of 100 will be deducted for coursework submitted within 24-hours
of the deadline and a further five marks will be deducted for each subsequent
24-hour period (working days only) until the coursework is submitted.
Re-examination
34. A candidate who does not at his/her first attempt successfully complete the
examination or part of the examination for which he/she has entered and who
has not been given an overall pass at any level in his or her diploma may,
subject to the agreement of the School when such re-entry would involve further
attendance at the School, re-sit that examination on one occasion only.
35. Re-examination will be at the next following examination except where the
School has granted permission for a candidate to defer the examination until a
subsequent year.
36. A candidate proposing to re-sit an examination when not registered for the
course concerned shall enter for that examination by the means prescribed from
time to time by the Academic Registrar.
37. A candidate proposing to resit an examination shall be bound by all the
Regulations applicable to the first sitting of the examination.
38. Candidates being re-examined are required to sit the same examinations as
they sat previously, unless they have satisfactorily completed courses for
different examinations.
39. A candidate who resits an examination when not registered at the School will be
required to pay a fee determined by the School from time to time.
Illness
40 A candidate who, owing to illness, the death of a near relative or other cause
judged sufficient by the School is prevented from completing at the normal time
the examination or part of the examination for which he/she has entered may,
with the permission of the School, enter the examination in those elements in
which he/she was not able to be examined on the next occasion when the
examination is held in order to complete the examination.
63
41. A candidate who for medical or other reasons approved by the School does not
sit an examination while in attendance at the School may be permitted to sit
such an examination on one subsequent occasion without payment of a fee,
whether or not in attendance at the School.
42. Where a candidate has failed to complete the examination for one of the
reasons specified in Regulation 40 the candidate shall submit the application
with medical certification or other supporting evidence to the Student Services
Centre within seven days of the last day of the written examinations or for the
submission of the essay/report/dissertation.
The award of a degree

43. Diplomas are awarded by the University or the School in accordance with
relevant regulations.
44. To be eligible for the award of a diploma a candidate must satisfy the examiners
in the examinations prescribed for the programme within a period of two years
from the satisfactory completion of the prescribed period of study. In special
cases this period of two years may be extended by the School.
45. The examiners shall have the discretion to award a mark of merit or distinction
to a candidate.
Notification of results
46. A list of candidates who have successfully completed their degree will be
published by the School.
47. After the examiners have reached a decision, every candidate will be notified by
the School of the result of his/her examination. Certification of the award of a
diploma shall be subsequently despatched to each candidate who has been
awarded a diploma.
Appeals against decisions of boards of examiners

48. Appeals against decisions of boards of examiners must be made in writing to the
Academic Registrar under the Regulations for the consideration of appeals
against decisions of boards of examiners for taught courses.
Schedule to the Regulations for Diplomas

The powers of the School set out in these Regulations shall be exercisable as
follows:
Regulation Powers exercisable by

2 Conveners of Department
3, 5, 7, 29, 44 The appropriate Programme Director
4, 39, 46, 47 Academic Registrar
9, 10, 13 Chair of the Graduate Studies Subcommittee
18 Academic Board on recommendation of Chair of the Graduate
Studies Subcommittee
33, 40, 44 The appropriate board of examiners
64
Code of Good Practice for Taught Diploma Programmes:
Teaching, Learning and Assessment
This Code of Practice is approved by the Student Affairs Committee.
Last updated: June 2010
This Code sets out general School practices for all taught diploma programmes. It
sets out basic reciprocal obligations and responsibilities of staff and students. It
should be read in conjunction with all other School policies, regulations, codes of
practice and procedures as set out in the School's on-line Calendar. The expectation
is that all programmes will meet the standards set out in the paragraphs below. This
Code informs students of what they may reasonably expect and informs
departments of what they are expected, at a minimum, to provide. Each department
will publish a detailed statement of its provision under this Code, in its departmental
handbook and on its website. These statements will provide a basis for monitoring
the academic activity of departments through the Teaching, Learning and
Assessment Committee and its internal reviews of teaching. The statements will also
provide a basis for monitoring departmental pastoral provision by the Student Affairs
Committee.
Supervisory Arrangements
1.1 On joining the School each student is allocated a member of the academic staff
in his or her department as an academic adviser.
1.2 Each department sets out in the relevant handbook its own detailed guidelines
regarding the arrangements for supervision and the role of the academic
adviser. Among the adviser's responsibilities are:
To provide academic guidance and feedback on students' progress and
performance and to discuss any academic problems they might experience
To provide pastoral support on non-academic issues and to refer students, as
necessary, to the appropriate support agencies within the School
To implement the provisions outlined in Individual Student Support Agreements
(ISSAs) for students with disabilities, in liaison with the School's Disability and
Well-Being Office.
To maintain regular contact with students on academic and pastoral issues
through direct one-to-one meetings and other means of communication, such as
emails. The number and nature of meetings may vary between departments and
programmes as detailed in the relevant handbook.
To comment on and provide a general assessment of students' progress on their
termly class reports via LSEforYou.
To agree students' course choices via LSEforYou
To inform the Programme Director and School of any students whose progress
is not satisfactory
1.3 Each adviser must have a good working knowledge of the structure and
regulations of degree programmes in the department.
1.4 Each adviser must have a good working knowledge of the various academic and
pastoral support services within the School.
1.5 Each adviser must publicise regular periods of time when they are available to
meet with their students.
1.6 If the relationship between an adviser and student is unsatisfactory, the
department must have in place an appropriate process for arranging a change of
65
adviser.
1.7 Each department has a Departmental Tutor. The responsibilities of the
Departmental Tutor include:
Providing departmental orientation programmes for new and continuing
students.
Monitoring the academic and pastoral care provided by members of his or her
department, including the provision of reasonable adjustments for students with
disabilities.
Arranging regular termly meetings of a Staff-Student Liaison Committee and the
nomination of a representative to the School's Undergraduate Students'
Consultative Forum.
Providing a direct channel of communication between the School and any
student who is encountering academic or pastoral difficulties.
Authorising, where appropriate, a student's request for course choice outside the
degree regulations.
Authorising, where appropriate, a student's request for a degree transfer
Teaching
2.1 The detailed requirements of each programme and course are provided in the
on-line Calendar, in the relevant handbook and on departmental web pages.
Students are obliged to complete all course requirements as specified in their
degree regulations.
2.2 Teaching at the diploma level will be a combination of lectures and classes or
seminars. The teaching method used will largely be determined by the size of
the programme and the nature of the subject covered in a particular course.
2.3 Lectures are an important part of the teaching and learning experience. The
structure and content of each course are set out in the on-line Course Guide.
Lecturers must ensure that their teaching is consistent with this information.
2.4 Lecturers are responsible for organising the class programmes for their
courses, for liaising with class teachers to ensure that classes are properly
coordinated with their lectures, and for submitting course reading lists to the
Library in good time for required books to be purchased.
2.5 Classes or seminars are the core of teaching and learning experience at the
diploma level. The nature and format of classes or seminars may vary
depending on the subject material of the course and will be detailed in the
course syllabus.
2.6 Classes or seminars will normally give students the opportunity to participate in
a discussion of material relevant to the course. The nature and format of these
discussions will vary according to the subject matter of the course.
2.7 Lectures and classes start at five minutes past the hour and end at five minutes
to the hour. Staff and students should make every effort to start and finish on
time.
2.8 Formative coursework is an essential part of the teaching and learning
experience at the School. It should be introduced at an early stage of a course
and normally before the submission of assessed coursework. Students will
normally be given the opportunity to produce essays, problem sets or other
forms of written work. The number of these pieces of work for each course will
be detailed in the on-line Course Guide.
66
2.9 Feedback on coursework is an essential part of the teaching and learning
experience at the School. Class teachers must mark formative coursework
and return it with feedback to students normally within two weeks of
submission (when the work is submitted on time). Class teachers must record
the marks, or the failure to submit coursework, regularly via LSEforYou.
Students will also receive feedback on any summative coursework they are
required to submit as part of the assessment for individual courses (except on
the final version of submitted dissertations). They will normally receive this
feedback before the examination period. Individual departments will determine
the format of feedback on summative coursework, but it will not include the
final mark for the piece.
2.10 Some programmes require students to submit dissertations. Students will
receive preliminary feedback on a draft chapter, section or detailed plan of their
dissertations that they submit in good time prior to the final submission
deadline. Individual departmental handbooks will set out the details of the
dissertation process, including the deadline by which draft chapters, sections or
detailed plans must be submitted to be eligible for feedback. A mark will not be
included in this feedback.
2.11 Class teachers must record student attendance on a weekly basis via
LSEforYou.
2.12 Class reports are an integral part of the School's monitoring system on the
academic progress of its students. Class teachers must complete, via
LSEforYou, full and accurate reports, including a general assessment of each
student's progress, at the end of the Michaelmas and Lent Terms.
2.13 All full-time members of staff and part-time and occasional teachers must have
regular weekly office hours during term time when they are available to
students to discuss issues relating to the courses they are teaching. These
hours should be displayed outside their offices.
Responsibilities of the Student
3.1 Students are required to attend the School for the full duration of each term.
Students who wish to be away for good reason in term time must first obtain the
consent of their supervisor. Students away through illness must inform their
supervisor and seminar chairs and, where the absence is for more than a
fortnight, the Student Services Centre.
3.2 Students with disabilities which might impact on their studies should contact an
Adviser in the Disability and Well-Being Office in good time to negotiate
reasonable adjustments. These will be set out in an Individual Student Support
Agreement. Students must also agree to the extent to which this information will
be shared within the School. If the School is not informed about a disability in
good time, it may not be able to make the appropriate reasonable adjustments.
3.3 Students must maintain regular contact with their supervisor to discuss relevant
academic and pastoral care issues affecting their course of study. These should
include:
Guidance at the start of the session regarding course choice
Discussion of academic progress
3.4 These discussions should take place through direct one-to-one meetings and
other means of communication, such as emails. The number and nature of
meetings may vary between departments and programmes as detailed in the
67
relevant handbook. Students should be able to meet their adviser within the first
week of term time, i.e. either during regular office hours or at a mutually
convenient time.
3.5 Attendance at classes is compulsory and is recorded on LSEforYou. Any
student who is absent on two consecutive occasions or is regularly absent
without good reason will be automatically reported to their academic adviser.
3.6 Students must submit all required coursework on time, whether it is summative
coursework (i.e. work that counts towards the final mark) or formative work (that
does not count towards the final mark). In submitting coursework, students must
abide with the School's policy on plagiarism as set out in the School's
Assessment Offences Regulations: Plagiarism.
3.7 Students should ensure the accuracy of the information regarding their
programme of study, including their optional papers. All changes in course
choices must be communicated to the Student Services Centre. Failure to report
changes will result in a student being required to take the examination in the
course for which he or she was originally registered.
3.8 Students must communicate changes of term time and home addresses to the
Student Services Centre via LSEforYou as soon as they occur.
3.9 Students must pay School fees when due. Failure to pay fees could result in the
withdrawal of Library rights, termination of registration, and/or the withholding of
transcripts and/or degree award certificate.
3.10 Students who decide to interrupt their studies or withdraw from the School must
inform their academic adviser, the Programme Tutor and the Student Services
Centre in writing. Failure to inform the School could result in a demand for fee
payments for the full session.
Examination and Assessment
4.1 Students must complete all elements of assessed work for each course. Methods
of examination and assessment for each course are set out in the on-line Course
Guide. In submitting course work, students must abide with the School's policy on
plagiarism as set out in the School's Assessment Offences Regulations:
Plagiarism.
4.2 Students must be given clear advance warning of any new or approved changes
to examination format. When the content of a course changes to the extent that
previous examination papers may not be a reliable guide to future papers,
lecturers should warn students and should produce sample questions for the new
parts of the course. When the course is new and, there are no previous papers, a
full sample paper should be produced.
4.3 Any student who requires specific examination arrangements must contact an
Adviser in the Disability and Well-Being Office so that reasonable adjustments
can be made. Applications for specific exam arrangements should normally be
made no later than 7 weeks before the date of the student's first examination.
4.4 Any mitigating circumstances in the period preceding or during the examinations
that may affect a student's attendance at, or performance in, examinations must
be communicated in writing to the Student Services Centre with all relevant
supporting documentation, such as medical certificates, not later than 7 days after
her/his last exam.
Notes: for the purposes of this Code, the term 'department' compromises both
departments and institutes.
68

BSC Sociology Handbook 09-10

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

BSC Sociology Handbook 09-10

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

BSc Sociology & Diploma

Start of Michaelmas Term 30 September 2010

Start of Teaching 4 October 2010

End of Michaelmas Term 10 December 2010

Start of Lent Term 10 January 2011

End of Lent Term 25 March 2011

Announcement of Examination Timetable End of Lent Term

Start of Summer Term 3 May 2011

Sociological Project Due Second Friday of ST

BSc Sat Examination Period Mid May – June 2011

End of Summer Term 1 July 2011

Presentation Ceremonies 14 /15 July 2011

Christmas Closure Thursday 23 December – Friday 31 December 2010

LSE Sociology embraces a theoretically and methodologically diverse range of

Human Rights, Citizenship and Social Justice: dimensions of inequality

Policy Statement on Equality and Diversity

Aims of this BSc Programme

understand our rapidly changing world,

If You Need Help

Department Contact Information

Key Departmental Staff

Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC)

Student Teaching Surveys

Teaching scores are made available to individual teachers, heads of department,

Undergraduate Students/Staff Liaison Committee

Locations of Department Facilities

Name Ext Room Admin Support Ext Room

Dr Claire Alexander (from outside:

Dr Robin Archer: Reader in Sociology. He teaches political sociology and is the

Dr Christopher Badcock: Reader in Sociology. His current research is devoted to

Professor Eileen V Barker, OBE, FBA: Professor of Sociology with Special

Professor Ricky Burdett: Ricky Burdett is Centennial Professor in Architecture and

Dr Alasdair Cochrane: Lecturer in Human Rights. He joined the Department in

Dr Manali Desai: Lecturer in Sociology. A historical sociologist by training, her

Dr Janet Foster: Senior Lecturer. She has extensive experience as a qualitative

Professor Sarah Franklin, FSB: Professor of Social Studies of Biomedicine joined

Professor David Frisby, FRSE: Emeritus Professor. He joined the Department in

Professor Frances Heidensohn: is Emeritus Professor in the Sociology Department

Dr Christopher T Husbands: Emeritus Reader in Sociology. His current interests

Dr Patrick McGovern: Senior Lecturer whose research interests relate to issues in

Dr Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra: Lecturer in Sociology, joins the Department

Dr Paddy Rawlinson: Lecturer. Her research interests cover transnational and

Professor Leslie Sklair: Emeritus Professor of Sociology. He works on two related

Professor Robert Tavernor: Professor of Architecture and Urban Design in the

The BSc Programme Structure

1 Key Concepts in Sociology: An Introduction to Sociological Theory

2 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to

3 Statistical Methods for Social Research ST103

5 Sociological Analysis SO201

6 Issues and Methods of Social Research SO221

7 One approved 2nd year Sociology option

8 One approved 2nd year Sociology or outside option

9 Sociological Project SO302

10 One approved 2nd or 3rd year Sociology option

11 One approved 2nd or 3rd year Sociology option

12 a) One approved ‘outside’ option OR

Description of the Compulsory Courses

SO110 Key Issues in Contemporary Societies: An Introduction to Contemporary

SO201 Sociological Analysis

SO221 Issues and Methods of Social Research

SO302 Sociological Project

Arrangements for supervision

Sociology Suggested 1st Year Options