Postmodernity and Sociological Theory
This is the second of a two-part series looking at the relationship between modernity, postmodernity and the development of sociological theory. If you want to “Start at the Start”, so to speak, with Modernity, feel free to access these Teaching Notes. Otherwise, if you’re just here for the Postmodernity stuff, in this set of Teaching […]
Understanding Crime and Deviance in Postmodernity: Part 2 – Deviance as Harm
The Part 1 Workbook looked at some general criticisms of conventional (positivist) approaches to understanding crime and criminals and the Part 2 Workbook builds on this critique by outlining an alternative approach based on the concept of social harm. This contemporary approach argues we need to widen the way we see “crime” to include various […]
Understanding Crime and Deviance in Postmodernity: Part 1
Although the concept of a “postmodern criminology” is, for various reasons, highly problematic this doesn’t mean that newer approaches to understanding and explaining crime don’t have something to offer the a-level sociologist. In this two-part extravaganza, therefore, we can look at two (yes, really) dimensions to this criminological shift through the medium of a couple […]
Some Notes on Constitutive Criminology
While the concept of a “postmodern criminology” may be somewhat nebulous, to say the least, the ideas underpinning constitutive criminology may be the closest we have. The basic idea here is to adopt what Henry and Milovanovic (1999) call a holistic approach, involving a ‘duality of blame’ that moves the debate away from thinking about […]
Amoral Panics: Part 3
While the two previous posts looked at moral panics from two different perspectives (“from below” in the case of interpretivist approaches and “from above” in the case of hegemonic neo-Marxist positions) a different way of looking at the concept, developed by Waiton (2008), is to consider contemporary forms of panic in the context of a […]
Modernity and Postmodernity
Don’t know your Foundationalism from your Anti-Essentialism? Your agile corporation from your Post-Fordist or, indeed your simulacra from your elbow? If reality causes you confusion (but you’ve got a sneaking suspicion “The Truth” is out there, somewhere) then this free book chapter (taken from A2 Sociology for AQA), is probably just what you need to start […]
Using Analogies in A-level Sociology
Analogies are a useful teaching tool in sociology for a number of reasons: They can help students to understand something complex and unfamiliar by using ideas that are relatively simple and familiar. They can be used to engage students in collaborative work, the outcome of which is an expansion of their knowledge and understanding through […]
Media Representations
If you’re looking for a good illustration of what Baudrillard meant by “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place” this article is worth checking-out.