SO236 Half Unit
Urban Society
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Fran Tonkiss
Availability
This course is available on the BSc in Language, Culture and Society, BSc in Sociology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study and Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is available with permission to General Course students.
This course is not available as a first year option.
This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.
Course content
This course is an introduction to urban sociology and urban studies. The course is organised around a set of key topics for developing a critical understanding of urban space and urban experience today. These key concepts may include terms such as community, public space, infrastructure, displacement, segregation, diversity, informality or social movements. The course will draw on a variety of texts and contexts that engage with city life from a variety of sociological perspectives.
Teaching
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
This course is usually delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars. There will be two hours or more of teaching each week in AT.
Formative assessment
Essay
Students will be required to complete 1 formative essay in the AT.
Indicative reading
• Wirth, Louis. 1938. “Urbanism as a Way of Life.” American Journal of Sociology 44 (1): 1-24.
• Gans, Herbert J. 1962. “The Community.” Pp 104-119 in The Urban Villagers: Group and class in the life of Italian-Americans. New York: Free Press.
• Simmel, Georg. 1903. “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Pp 174-185 in D. Frisby and M. Featherstone (eds) (1997) Simmel on Culture. London: Sage. “The metropolis and mental life.
• Anderson, Elijah. 2004. “The Cosmopolitan Canopy.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 595 (1): 14-31.
• Back, Les, and Shamser Sinha. 2016. “Multicultural Conviviality in the Midst of Racism’s Ruins.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 37.5 (2016): 517-532.
• Caldeira, Teresa P. R. 1996. “Fortified Enclaves: The new urban segregation.” Public Culture 8 (2): 303–328.
• Garrido, Marco. 2021. “Reconceptualizing Segregation from the Global South.” City & Community 20 (1): 24-37.
• Tonkiss, Fran. 2024 “Gendering Urban Public Space.” Pp. 47-55 in L. Peake, A. Datta and G. Adenyi-Ogunyankin (eds) Handbook on Gender and Cities. Cheltenham: Elgar.
• Nicholls, Walter J. 2008. “The Urban Question Revisited: The importance of cities for social movements.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32 (4): 841-859.
These texts are examples of the articles and books from sociology and urban studies that the course will examine.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words) in January
Attendance at all classes and submission of all set coursework is required.
Key facts
Department: Sociology
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 5
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 34
Average class size 2024/25: 17
Capped 2024/25: Yes(34)Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills