Sociology

This course is designed to be a broad introduction to the field of sociology. Students encounter some of the most influential theories developed, imagined and used by sociologists to make sense of the social world. We discuss and acquire familiarity with the concepts sociologists typically use in their work, and with some of the core methods sociologists employ to investigate the social world. For instance, students gain an understanding of what sociologists mean when they talk about culture, socialization and social structure, and how sociologists analyse these concepts linking theory and empirical analyses. The course also encourages students to think critically (i.e. as a social scientist, about human life and societies and develop their own questions about social life). Finally, the course pays particular attention to the broad themes of inequality as it pertains to race, class and gender, and the social changes it brought about, as well as family changes, by adopting a life course perspective. 

This course examines health and illness from a cultural perspective. Specifically, we will analyze the social meanings associated with health and illness, medical knowledge production, medical decision-making, and global health in cross-cultural contexts. The students will have a chance to delve into issues related to the social processes of framing illness, the medicalization of life, the complexity and uncertainty surrounding medical decisions, and the cultural aspects of health practices across the globe.

This course explores the intersection between food cultures and food politics, with an eye towards arguments and debates that have animated French culinary culture, and diverse interdisciplinary approaches to the scholarly study of food. How is food a portal for studying the changing dynamics of cities, global systems, and national identity? In what ways has food been employed to construct notions of community and belonging, and, inversely, exclusion? Through discussions of interdisciplinary course readings, analytic and ethnographic writing assignments, and excursions around the city of Paris, the course considers how food structures identities, everyday practices, and political lives in contemporary France.

The course focuses on the ways in which gender, power, and sexuality shape and are shaped by our lived experiences, social interactions, institutional structures, and cultural norms. Students engage with diverse theoretical frameworks to critically analyze a wide array of relevant topics, including reproduction, sex work, and intimate relationships, among others. Through contemporary case studies, the course explores how gender and sexuality intersect with power, race, class, ethnicity, age and ability, and how it operates within wider institutional, political, and socio-cultural frameworks.

On the basis of visual, audio and reading, students examine the phenomena of British and American culture, such as university education, teacher-student relationship, concept of money, business society, multiculturalism, emotional relationship, science and technology and human beings. 

This course examines fundamental concepts, theories, and methodologies of sociology. It covers specific aspects of social life, such as families, gender, religion, deviance, and social stratification, and demonstrate how sociological ideas and tools can be applied to better understand our social lives and the social problems we face.

This course aims to situate your fieldwork experiences within the context of China’s unprecedented socioeconomic transformations. It provides you with conceptual and methodological tools for approaching their field placements; to evaluate your own experiences and observations through critical reflection; and to integrate your understanding of the everyday life of Chinese through written exercises and ethnographic practices.

This course offers an introduction to the field of transcultural studies. It explores some of the processes of creative adaptation of foreign ideas and interactions between cultures on multiple levels to better understand human communication. Upon completion, students are expected to acquire knowledge of the transcultural approach and to understand the constructed nature of concepts such as boundaries, culture, nation, society, and civilization.

From Roman traders to modern commuters, millions of people have lived in the same few square miles where students now study. In this course, students form into groups with fellow Liberal Arts students and stage an investigation into some of these London lives. Students begin an interdisciplinary exploration of the history and culture of London and are introduced to some essential skills and methods of academic study that students use throughout the course. Students form into groups and enquire into an aspect of London, past, or present. Guided by a tutor, students seek to answer questions by engaging not only with primary and secondary readings and resources for study within King’s, but with the streets and spaces of the city itself. They present their findings via a digital portfolio and a group presentation. As students come to see by the end of this course, London - in all its struggles and achievements - is a fascinating microcosm of the wider world; and as such, an ideal laboratory for the study of Liberal Arts.

Feelings are things we usually think of as "natural," but sociologists are interested in to what extent emotions are socially constructed and/or socially constituting. In this course, students examine why sociologists have largely neglected emotions and what a sociological approach can bring to our understanding of them. This enables students to explore how the sociology of emotions can challenge some of sociology's key premises and ways of thinking and to critically analyze debates about the changing role of emotions in social life. The topic examines how modernity has made people feel about each other and their world and how those feelings have in turn shaped that world.