Dr Nigel Dodd, STC. S266

Optional for students on MSc Political Sociology, MSc Sociology, MSc European Studies: Ideas and Identities and students following MSc European Studies: Ideas and Identities on LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in European Studies.

Contemporary social theory. An introduction to the historical background, context and output of Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard, and a close reading and study of some of their most significant texts.

10 two-hour seminars weekly during LT.

Attendance at all seminars and submission of all set coursework is required.

The following is merely a sample list of some of the texts to be covered: Benjamin, W: 'Theses on the philosophy of history' & The Arcades Project (Section N); Adorno, T: 'Theses against Occultism' & Negative Dialectics (various sections); Foucault, M: The History of Madness & The Order of Things (various sections); Baudrillard, J: Symbolic Exchange and Death (mainly chapter 5) & The Spirit of Terrorism. A number of secondary readings will be recommended, but students will be strongly discouraged from relying on these.

The course examination will be in two parts. The first part will be one essay of 1,500- 2,000 words (30%), two copies to be submitted to the Sociology Administration Office, Room S219a, no later than 4.30pm on the first Tuesday of ST; a third copy uploaded to Moodle. The second part will be a two-hour unseen examination in ST (70%) in which candidates will be required to answer two questions selected from a choice of four.