Social Science Outline

TH 502 Social Sciences
Winter Semester 2013
Prof Anne-Marie Willis
Office: C3 114 [e-mail]
Lectures: Wednesday 12.30 – 14.00 in H18

Course Description
Social Sciences research phenomena of social interaction and investigate them empirically. Social sciences analyze structure and function as well as the interdependence with action and behavior processes of individuals. The lectures introduce social science thinking and methods that are useful for designer’s research. Students will be able to use methods as interviews, questionnaires, case studies, participant observation, and evaluative techniques. The course seeks to demonstrate the significance of the social sciences (sociology, psychology and anthropology) for design. It does this by describing and analyzing specific examples of the use of social science thinking and methods in design practice. Additionally, the social sciences are contextualized historically, especially in terms of the modes of thinking that underlie them.
Learning Outcome, Competences
Detailed knowledge in the fields of design research and social science method
Ability to apply problem-oriented scientific working methods
Ability to comprehend fundamental concepts upon which social sciences are based

Assessment
Coursework (assignments) 30%
Mid-term exam 30%
Final exam 40%
Assignments will be announced and guidelines given in Lectures 2 and 7.

Attendance
To complete this course successfully, students are required to attend all lectures, read required materials, and submit all assignments in their due times. . Attendance means being on time and present throughout the entire lecture. It is understood that absence does occur for justifiable reasons. However, absent Students are responsible for making up for the missed material presented in class, assignments, and any announcements.
References
Peter L. Berger & Thomas Luckmann The Social Construction of Reality; A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge New York: Anchor Books, 1967
Tara Andrews ‘Design and Consume to Utopia’, Design Philosophy Papers Collection Five 2009
Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish London: Penguin, 1991
David Harvey The Condition of Postmodernity Oxford: Blackwell, 1989
Timothy Mitchell Colonising Egypt Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991
Pierre Clastres, ‘Of Ethnocide’ Archeology of Violence (trans. Jeanine Herman) New York: Semiotexte, 1994.
James Clifford The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art Harvard University Press, 1988
Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995
Marshall Sahlins ‘The Original Affluent Society’ (first published in Sahlins Stone Age Economics) Culture in Practice: Selected Essays New York: Zone 2005
Claude Levi-Strauss The Savage Mind London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966;
Pierre Bourdieu Outline of a Theory of Practice Cambridge University Press, 1993
TH 502 Social Sciences

Day
Content
Reading
Assignments
1
Weds 2 October
Introduction: scope of course and key concepts
Berger & Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality

2
Weds 9 October
Why are social sciences relevant to design? How do designers use social sciences?

Andrews ‘Design and Consume to Utopia’

1st assignment announced

Weds 16 October
NO CLASS - Eid El Adha 14 – 18 October
3
Weds 23 October
Social sciences: the different projects of sociology, anthropology, psychology vs. the thinking that unites them

Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish
Tony Fry Becoming Human by Design pp. 22-28
David Harvey The Condition of Postmodernity

4
Weds 30 October
Social Sciences and Colonialism
Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt

5
Weds 6 November
Social Sciences and Modernity: power, knowledge and economy

Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish
Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt

1st assignment due
6
Weds 13 November
Ethnography, observation and ethnocentrism
Sociology and participant observation;
REVISION LECTURE FOR EXAM
Pierre Clastres ‘On Ethnocide’
James Clifford The Predicament of Culture

Weds 20 November
NO CLASS - MID TERM EXAMS 16 - 21 November
7
Weds 27 November
Observing designers: cultural differences – a case study

Guest Lecture – Nikolai Burger

2nd assignment announced
8
Weds 4 December
Social Systems
Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995

9
Weds 11 December
Individual/Subject/Human: competing explanations
Tony Fry Becoming Human by Design
Berger & Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality; Pierre Bourdieu Outline of a Theory of Practice

10
Weds 18 December
Exchange and economy

Marshall Sahlins Stone Age Economics
2nd assignment due

Weds 25 December
NO CLASS – Western Christmas holiday

Weds 1 January
NO CLASS – New Year’s Day holiday
11
Weds 8 January
Sociality and culture: competing explanations

Claude Levi-Strauss The Savage Mind; Marshall Sahlins The Original Affluent Society

12
Date/time TBA
REVISION LECTURE FOR EXAM

References: Peter L. Berger & Thomas Luckmann The Social Construction of Reality; A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge New York: Anchor Books, 1967 Tara Andrews ‘Design and Consume to Utopia’, Design Philosophy Papers Collection Five 2009 Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish London: Penguin, 1991 David Harvey The Condition of Postmodernity Oxford: Blackwell, 1989 Timothy Mitchell Colonising Egypt Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991 Pierre Clastres, ‘Of Ethnocide’ Archeology of Violence (trans James Clifford The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art Harvard University Press, 1988 Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995 Marshall Sahlins ‘The Original Affluent Society’ (first published in Sahlins Stone Age Economics) Culture in Practice: Selected Essays New York: Zone 2005 Claude Levi-Strauss The Savage Mind London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966; Pierre Bourdieu Outline of a Theory of Practice Cambridge University Press, 1993 TH 502 Social Sciences Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995 9