BA (Hons) Sociology & Chinese

In this module you'll cover the basics of beginner’s level Mandarin within 12 weeks. You'll learn to comprehend and talk in very simple Chinese words and patterns, paving the way for you to further your study of Chinese.
By the end of the module, you should:

• have a basic knowledge of Chinese Pinyin, basic grammar and simple sentence patterns
• be able to recognise around 300 Chinese characters
• be able to approximately comprehend simple, basic and very limited language materials closely related to personal or everyday life
• be able to introduce oneself or make oneself understood by others on very limited simple vocabulary with the help of body language or other means
• be able to copy simple characters or words, fill in information that is closely related to personal life or provide very brief written answers to relevant questions in very simple basic vocabulary

You'll take part in introductory grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes, and study the written language in simplified forms. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and role play), reading, grammar and writing.

The main objective of this module is to continue to work on basic sentence patterns, grammar and ways of expressing yourself, helping with your acquisition of basic modern language through attention to the spoken forms of the language and to their written equivalents, so as to gain greater knowledge of Chinese language, culture and social life. You’ll work with written text in both Chinese characters and Pinyin.

By the end of this module, you should:

• have a good command of basic Chinese grammar and sentence patterns recognise around 800 Chinese characters, and have a basic working knowledge of the vocabulary based on those character
• be able basically to understand a brief conversation or exchange that is closely related to personal or everyday life
• be able to describe basic information about yourself and others in very simple Mandarin
• be able to write short messages on familiar topics for general social purposes

You’ll take part in grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes and study the written language in simplified forms. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and role play), reading, grammar and writing.

This module aims to introduce you to the ‘sociological imagination’. What is distinctive about Sociology? With a focus on knowledge and power, the module looks at how Sociology has developed, with an emphasis on the study of relations between individuals and groups in modern industrial societies.

This module will:
•introduce students to key sociological approaches to social divisions and differences
•foster students’ knowledge and understanding of the development of sociological thinking through the study of classical and contemporary accounts of social power, identity and inequality
enable students to analyse and contrast differing approaches to the study of core sociological topics, including class, gender, race, religion and nation

This module is primarily concerned with the relations between culture and social processes, and approaches these in a number of ways: by outlining various sociological uses of ‘culture’, by identifying the role of culture in examples of macrosocial phenomena (eg education, consumption, the city), and by discussing microsociological analyses of the role of culture in social interaction.

This module aims to develop the introduction to sociological theory that you received in the first year, whilst also preparing you to engage with critiques and the most current developments in the third year. It will help you to develop your understanding of sociological analysis through considering its origins in the classical tradition as well as discussing contemporary issues.

In the first half of the module, we explore five key thinkers and their central concerns as a way of exploring distinct approaches to social analysis. In the second half of the module, we explore five key concepts as a way of thinking through how social theory is put to work as a tool to understand and illuminate the social world.

Throughout these lectures we will explore different assumptions about the nature of social order and different approaches to practice. Throughout the module, we examine the way in which different kinds of sociological explanation are grounded in different assumptions about the way the social world works.

On completing this module, you should have a good understanding of the theoretical positions that form the point of departure of current debates in social theory and in sociological research. You will have practiced thinking in different ways and will be able to make more informed choices about the tools and concepts you use to think about the central issues in sociological analysis.

The module begins by discussing theories of culture that have been advanced in sociology and social/cultural anthropology. Then we move on to look at the intellectual roots of the sociology of culture before turning to the special contributions of cultural studies. Jeffrey Alexander’s ground-breaking work in cultural sociology comes up next; we give consideration to how cultural sociology differs from more established approaches in the sociology of culture and in cultural studies, while itself being informed by these and by social/cultural anthropology. We then turn to discourse – language in use – and consider its roots in linguistics and in literary studies; we next explore discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis. Narrative is a special type of discourse and we examine how it has been used in social research. Network/information society is the background against which any contemporary social science must operate, and we discuss some of the key ideas that have been advanced in the wake of Castells’ path breaking work. We then turn our attention to the cultural practices of gamers, hackers and ‘prosumers’. The final substantive session situates the preceding lectures in the context of globalisation.

All sociologists have had to deal with some conflict between the idea of sociological knowledge as scientific, guided by reason, and human subjectivity, which gives us differing conceptions of what is real or true. This module looks at some problems in finding out about the social world, dealing with values, and interpreting social reality or realities. 

The module builds on material already introduced in the first year, and will provide additional perspectives for the historical analysis of modernity. There is a growing consensus in contemporary scholarship on stressing the interdependence and complexity of the processes which contributed to the distinctiveness of modern societies, rather than assigning primacy to any one factor or process – be it economic, political, cultural or social. This module places an emphasis on historical reflexivity: it will seek to illustrate how historical processes, however multiple and complex, are not simply 'given' as historical objects but reflect the adoption of particular perspectives that are themselves historically specific.

In this lower-intermediate level module, you’ll focus on consolidating your grammar knowledge and expanding your vocabulary with reference to Chinese culture and society. By the end of this this module, you’ll have expanded your vocabulary significantly to around 1000 Chinese characters and 1600 words and expressions, and will be able to engage in everyday conversation as well as give sustained oral presentation on a familiar topic.

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

• understand spoken Chinese and engage in spoken discourse on everyday topics and some simple but formal exchanges
• understand formal texts e.g. news items and reports, extensive Chinese vocabulary and the appropriateness of Chinese structures and expressions in a given context
• understand short passages in written Chinese in relatively formal context as well as on everyday life
• write short descriptions and narrations on your personal experiences or on familiar topics

You’ll learn through intensive linguistic training in small classes at the Confucius Institute and take part in grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and role play), reading, grammar and writing.

This intermediate level module is designed to develop your comprehensive reading skills and to enrich your Chinese vocabulary up to 1250 Chinese characters and 2400 words and expressions. Throughout this module you’ll also continue to improve your cross-cultural competency with reference to Chinese culture and society. By the end of this module you should be capable of studying documentary Chinese texts independently and have advanced your oral language skills.

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

• communicate with others more confidently on general social occasions and to converse on common topics
• read descriptive or narrative texts on familiar or real-life topics, be able to grasp the central issue, theme and some important details, and to understand the intention of the author
• write texts of some length on the common topics in everyday life, study or social activities in different formats, to convey or express information in an appropriate manner

You’ll learn through intensive linguistic training in small classes at the Confucius Institute and take part in grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and role play), reading, grammar and writing.

This upper-intermediate level module is designed to enable you to reach higher levels of competence in reading, speaking and writing modern Chinese, as well as continue to improve your cross-cultural competency with reference to Chinese culture and society.

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

• describe or narrate events or experiences with some supporting details, and interact with independence in familiar life situations
• demonstrate ability to read and understand texts on Chinese cultural and social topics, and to extrapolate meanings from context
• convey acquired information with competency in oral and written language

You’ll learn through intensive linguistic training in small classes at the Confucius Institute and take part in grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and debates), reading, grammar and writing.

This upper-intermediate level module will enable you to acquire the Chinese language skills to read modern Chinese writings, listen to spoken Chinese and express yourself with a higher level of proficiency. Your knowledge of Chinese culture will also be significantly extended.

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

• speak in a variety of different contexts in linguistically, socially, and culturally appropriate ways
• view, listen to and read creative works and respond to them both in the oral and written form
• write short essays in Chinese characters while demonstrating an awareness of Chinese writing conventions

You’ll learn through intensive linguistic training in small classes at the Confucius Institute and take part in grammar classes, tutorials, drills and conversation classes. Teaching will focus on developing your skills in listening, speaking (through individual and group presentations and debates), reading, grammar and writing.

This Module is designed to enhance students’ news comprehension knowledge and skills to develop their understanding of China’s affairs within the topics of social politics, economy, culture, education and entertainment. By listening to current Chinese audio-visual news, students will be made familiar with journalist vocabulary, sentence patterns, and styles. Authentic teaching materials will be used in class.

Week 1 General Introduction

You will be given a general introduction to the module. Techniques and skills for Chinese news comprehension will be introduced and explained. There will be discussions on why you should learn/improve Chinese with news, and specific features of audio-visual news in Chinese. You will also listen to short audio news and complete some exercises.

Week 2 Political News

Vocabulary for political news will be provided. You will listen to/watch political news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on challenges of political news comprehension.

Week 3 Economic News

Vocabulary for economic news will be provided. You will listen to/watch economic news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on the challenges of economic news comprehension.

Week 4 Social News

Vocabulary for social news will be provided. You will listen to/watch the most up-to-date social news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on the challenges of social news comprehension.

Week 5 Educational News

Vocabulary for educational news will be provided. You will listen to/watch educational news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on the challenges of educational news comprehension.

Week 6 Entertainment News

Vocabulary for political news will be provided. You will listen to/watch political news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on the challenges of political news comprehension.

Week 7 Sports News

Vocabulary for sports news will be provided. You will listen to/watch sports news and complete news comprehension exercises. There will be discussions on the challenges of sports news comprehension.

Week 8 Local, National and International News

You will listen to/watch local, national and international news on different aspects of social life and complete various types of listening comprehension exercises. Analysis will be made to compare news at different levels.

Week 9 Reflection and Summary

You will review news from different categories, reflect on knowledge and skills for news comprehension, and make personal summaries of news comprehension techniques.

Week 10 Revision and Exam

Final revision preparation for coursework hand-ins and exams

This Module aims to enlarge their Chinese vocabulary, further improve their reading skills and offer them a deeper and wilder understanding China’s current politics, economy, culture and entertainments.

The module contents include a large amount of journal reading to familiarise the students with the words and format usually used in journals, reading skill training and culture understanding.

Week 1 Introduction

Introduction to reading academic journals and discussions on Chinese education. Comparison of UK education and Chinese education.

Week 2 Chinese Cuisine and Western Food (1)

In this week we will focus on vocabulary and grammar used and analysing texts. Introduction to newspaper article reading.

Week 3 Chinese Cuisine and Western Food (2)

In this week we will focus on listening and speaking exercises. You will summarise articles and will begin Intensive reading skills 1.

Week 4 Courtyard (1) and Coursework 1

In this week we will focus on Vocabulary and grammar points and analysing texts. You will also continue with Intensive reading skills

Week 5 Courtyard (2)

In this week we will focus on Listening and Speaking exercises. You will summarise articles and begin Extensive reading skills 1.

Week 6 My Teacher

In this week we will focus on Vocabulary and grammar points and analysing texts as well as Listening and Speaking Exercises. You will also continue with Extensive reading.

Week 7 Types of Friends and Coursework 2

In this week we will focus on Vocabulary and grammar points and analysing texts as well as Listening and Speaking Exercises. You will also learn the skill of speed reading.

Week 8 My Dream

In this week we will focus on Vocabulary and grammar points and analysing texts as well as Listening and Speaking Exercises. You will also complete writing exercises.

Week 9 Coursework 3

In this week we will prepare for Coursework 3, an in-class oral presentation. You will also be reading and discussing on Chinese Culture as well as a revision session on Vocabulary and Grammar.

Week 10 Revision

Final revision preparation for exams.

This module is a Chinese language practice class which focuses on training writing skills through study of particular themes and styles of writing whilst improving the students’ use of Chinese characters, vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. In order to achieve the teaching goal, the module content varies from practical writing, narrative writing, descriptive writing and critique writing

Week 1 Narrative writing – interactive online writing

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and interpersonal communicative skills for online writing e.g.: how to initiate a conversation, how to say goodbye in a polite way, emotional icons, related vocabulary and idioms will also be provided. After this week you are expected to be familiar of writing in Chinese via WECHAT and sharing your own ‘Moments’ and make response to your friends ‘Moments’.

Week 2 Narrative writing - events

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to describe a certain event. An example essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 3 Descriptive Writing - Places

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to describe a certain place (a country or a city or a small town) in various perspectives. An example essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 4 Descriptive Writing - Procedures

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to describe a certain process. An example essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 5 Descriptive Writing – writing with diagrams, curve graphs or pie charts.

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to explain in Chinese with diagrams, curve graphs or pie charts. An example essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 6 Practical Writing – commonly used documents, poster or advertisements

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats used to write some common letters and documents, e.g.: a written request for leave of absence, an advertisement to find a new roommate etc. A few example essays and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 7 Practical Writing - Resumes

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats used to write your own personal resume in Chinese. A model essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided

Week 8 Critique Writing – Comparisons and decisions

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to write essays looking into comparisons and decisions. A few example essays and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided.

Week 9 Critique Writing – Problems and solutions

In this week we will focus on the writing skills and formats to describe and analyse a certain social problem and give your own suggestions. An example essay and the related structures or vocabulary will also be provided

Week 10 Revision and Exam

Final revision preparation for coursework hand-ins and exams and review of styles and topics of Chinese Writing and make your own summary of writing techniques.

This module sets out to familiarise students with the principal debates or issues influential and dominant in current China. The topics or issues to be discussed are connected with politics, economy, society, history, customs, holidays and people’s daily life. The module aims to improve students’ oral Chinese competence and promote a better understanding of Chinese society and Chinese culture.

The teaching contents focus upon improving students’ oral ability to talk in Chinese on the topics given, to give a summary with accurate Chinese. Teaching materials for these modules are from a variety of sources and flexible. Class teaching includes individual presentation, group discussion and teacher’s comments.

A piece of independent research, supported by classes and subject specialists, resulting in an 8,000 word dissertationon a topic of your own choice.

This module is about the relationships between vision, sensuality and the production of truth, knowledge, and identity in Euro-American cultures. It asks: how do historically and culturally specific ways of seeing and sensing shape ways of knowing (epistemology) and ways of being (ontology)? What are the relationships between vision, sensuality and power?

What are the epistemological, methodological and ethical demands that are made upon sociology in its encounters with the visual and the sensual? Through discussion of topics such as Deigo Velázquez' 1656 painting Las Meninas, the camera and photography, and the visual manipulation of identity through ‘passing’, the module will provide a forum for thinking about the pleasures, dangers and contingencies present in visualising the social world. 

Conventional ways of demarcating economic, power, and cultural relationships have long relied up notions of "North and South", "first and third", "east and west", "colonial and post-colonial." These means of envisioning the world and of tracing the intersections among diverse places, times, and peoples, while maintaining some salience, no longer seem to grasp what is really taking place.

The module, in particular, explores the emerging relationships between Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa—articulations that have been elaborated over a long history but which now take shape in new and powerful ways.

Additionally, there are a plurality of "worlds” that enjoin different actors and spaces that cannot be easily defined according to geopolitical understandings--where information infrastructure, design, telecommunications, and travel combine to create new possibilities of transaction. The module looks at how these worlds affect our understandings of sociality, actors, and collective life, in general, and the shape and operations of emerging powers in particular.

This module is concerned with the historical development of citizenship and human rights, especially in relation to the nation-state and the international states system. It is also concerned with the value of human rights, explored through consideration of any or all of the following topics: Are human rights cosmopolitan? Is there a human rights movement? Does the enforcement of human rights increase democracy? Are human rights structured so that they necessarily privilege certain groups as ‘human’?

Globalisations is both a dominant discourse of powerful actors on the world scene, as well as the main target for one of the most vibrant new social movements. This module aims to develop a critical and historical understanding of the issues which inform contemporary debates on globalisation. 

This examines some of the conceptual and political problems that have clustered around sociological analysis of ‘race’ and racism. It is comparative in focus and encompasses both historical and theoretical material. It introduces some of the major sociological paradigms of ‘race relations’ analysis and relates them to a variety of examples. 

This approaches childhood as a socio-historically constructed concept, with material, technological and political dimensions and consequences. Through a mixture of theoretical readings and issue-based discussions, you explore the regulated constitution of childhood and its changing parameters. Some of the substantive areas explored include: changing household patterns from the child’s perspective, child sexual abuse, infancy and foetal life, children’s literature.