This module introduces you to a range of key concepts, themes and controversies that have shaped the humanities and social sciences over the last century and continue to be of central importance today.

On completion of this module the student should be able to:

• Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of some of the key concepts, themes and controversies that have shaped the humanities and social sciences over the past century and continue to be of central importance today.
• Critically analyse and assess the historical trajectory and controversial nature of key theoretical notions such as ideology and discourse.
• Identify and critically evaluate the historical dimensions and deep structural connotations of contemporary debates in the humanities and social sciences.
• Critically appraise the conceptual validity, methodological usefulness and ethical-political implications of central concepts such as objectivity and the unconscious.
• Engage critically with the materials studied in a variety of contexts during the course of their postgraduate studies, ranging from such topics as European nationalism, governance and globalisation to European literature, cinema and culture.

Teaching is by weekly lectures and seminars. Students or groups of students are expected to prepare seminar presentations and all students are expected to contribute to discussions.

Tuesday 4pm-6pm

This module is assessed by a two-hour written exam.

 Drawing on classical as well as contemporary texts, each seminar explores the historical trajectory and controversial nature of key theoretical notions such as Objectivity and the Unconscious with regard to their conceptual validity, methodological usefulness and political implications. In doing so, this module raises the awareness of the deep structural connotations of contemporary debates in the humanities and social sciences, thus facilitating your critical engagement with the materials explored in a variety of contexts during the course of your postgraduate studies in the Cardiff.

•  Introduction
• What is Objectivity?
• What is the Unconscious?
• What is Discourse?
• What is Ideology?
• What is Power?
• What is Capitalism?
• Review

 Full reading lists for each topic will be provided on Learning.

Objectivity

• Max Weber (1949/1904), ‘“Objectivity” in Social Science and Social Policy’, in Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences, trans. and ed. by Edward A. Shils & Henry A. Finch, New York, Free Press, 1949, pp. 49‑112. [HM131.W3]
• Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison (2007), ‘Epistemologies of the Eye’, in idem, Objectivity, New York, Zone Books, pp. 17-54. [121.4DAS]
• Allan Megill (1994), ‘Four Senses of Objectivity’, in idem (ed.), Rethinking Objectivity, Durham and London, Duke University Press, pp. 1-20. [Learning Central].
• Thomas Nagel (1986), The View From Nowhere, ‘Introduction’ and ‘Mind’, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 3-12 and 13-27. [BD220.N2]
• Heiko Feldner (2010), ‘The New Scientificity in Historical Writing around 1800’, in Writing History: Theory and Practice, 2^nd edition, ed. by Stefan Berger, Heiko Feldner and Kevin Passmore, London, Bloomsbury, pp. 3-23. [D13.W7]
• Heiko Feldner (2002), ‘History in the Academy: Objectivity and Partisanship in the Marxist Historiography of the GDR’, in Patrick Major and Jonathan Osmond, eds., The Workers’ and Peasants’ State, Manchester, MUP, pp. 262-279 [DD282.W6].

The Unconscious

• Sigmund Freud (1995/1915), ‘The Unconscious’, in The Freud Reader, edited by Peter Gay, London et al., Vintage, pp. 572-583. [BF173.F7]
• Sigmund Freud (1995/1930), ‘Civilization and Its Discontents’, in The Freud Reader, edited by Peter Gay, London et al., Vintage, pp. 722-772. [BF173.F7]
• Anthony Easthope (1999), ‘Is There an Unconscious?‘ & ‘The Unconscious in Freud and Lacan’ & ‘The Unconscious and the Text’, in idem, The Unconscious, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 1-46 and 109-134. [BF315.E2]
• Bruce Fink (1995), ‘Language and Otherness’ & ‘The Nature of Unconscious Thought, or How the Other Half “Thinks”’ & ‘The Creative Function of the Word: The Symbolic and the Real’, in The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, Princeton, Princeton UP, pp. 3-31.[BF173.L2.F4]
• Richard Boothby (2001), ‘The Unthought Ground of Thought in the Freudian Unconscious’, in Freud as Philosopher: Metaspsychology after Lacan, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 61-71. [Learning Central]
• Charles Shepherdson (2008), ‘The Intimate Alterity of the Real’, in Lacan and the Limits of Language, New York, Fordham University Press, pp. 1-49. [Learning Central]

Discourse

• Michel Foucault (1970/1994), The Order Of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, ‘Preface’ and ‘Foreword to the English Reader’, London, Routledge, pp. ix-xxiv. [HM101.F6]
• Michel Foucault (1981/1970), ‘The Order of Discourse’, in Untying the Text: A Poststructuralist Reader, ed. by Robert Young, London, Routledge, pp. 48-77.[PN98.S7.U6]
• Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner (2007), ‘Why Discourse?’, ‘Foucault’s Critical Historicism’, ‘The Positive Unconscious’, ‘Suspending Ontological Questions’, in idem, Žižek Beyond Foucault, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 5-28. [B4870.Z494.V4]
• Sara Mills (2004), Discourse, 2^nd edition, ch. 3: ‘Discursive Structures’ & ch. 6: ‘Discourse Analysis’, London and New York, Routledge.[P302.M4]
• JacobTorfing (1999), New Theories of Discourse, ‘Introduction: Discourse Theory in Context’ & Part IV: ‘Discourse Theory at Work’, Oxford and Malden/MA, Blackwell, pp. 1-8 and 189-244. [PN98.P67.T6]
• David Howarth and Yannis Stavrakakis (2000), ‘Discourse Theory and Political Analysis’, in idem and Aletta J. Norval, eds., Discourse Theory and Political Analysis: Identities, Hegemonies and Social Change, Manchester, MUP, 1-23.[P120.P64.D4]

Ideology

• Slavoj Žižek (1989), ‘The Symptom’, in The Sublime Object of Ideology, London and New York, Verso, pp. 11-85.[JA83.M2]
• Slavoj Žižek, ‘The Spectre of Ideology’, in idem, ed., Mapping Ideology, London, Verso, 1994, pp. 1-33. [JA83.M2]
• Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner (2007), ‘Ideology Critique or Discourse Analysis?’, in European Journal of Political Theory, 6, no. 2, pp. 158-176. [Social Studies Journals]
• Jodi Dean (2006), ‘What is Enjoyment?’, in Žižek’s Politics, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 4-16. [Learning Central]
• Michael Freeden (2003), Ideology: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press.[B823.3.F7]
• Terry Eagleton (2007), ‘What is Ideology’ & ‘Ideological Strategies’ & ‘Discourse and Ideology’, in idem, Ideology: An Introduction, new and updated edition, London and New York, Verso, pp. 1-62 and193-220.[B823.3.E2]
• Heiko Feldner (2007), ‘Žižek versus Foucault’, in Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner, eds., Did Somebody Say Ideology? On Slavoj Žižek and Consequences, Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp. 146-178. [B4870.Z594.D4]

Power

• Michel Foucault (1991/1976), ‘We Other Victorians’, in idem, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, London, Penguin, pp. 1-14.[HQ21.F6]
• Michel Foucault (2002/1977), ‘Truth and Power’, in Power: The Essential Works of Michel Foucault 1954-1984, vol. 3, ed. by James D. Faubion, London, Pengiun, pp. 111-133. [B2430.F723.F2]
• Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner (2007), ‘On Power and How to Enjoy It’, in idem, Žižek Beyond Foucault, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 75-145. [B4870.Z494.V4]
• Sallie Westwood (2002), ‘A Brief History of Power’, idem, Power and the Social, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 5-28. [HM1256.W3]
• Barry Hindess (1996), Discourses of Power: From Hobbes to Foucault, ‘Introduction: Two Concepts of Power’, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 1-22.[JC330.H4]
• Joseph Rouse (2005), ‘Power/Knowledge’, in Gary Gutting, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Foucault, 2^nd edition, Cambridge, CUP, pp. 95-122. [Learning Central]
• Clare O’Farrell (2005), ‘Power and Culture’, in idem, Michel Foucault, London, Sage, pp. 96-108. [B2430.F723.O3]

Capitalism

• Karl Marx (1992/1867), Capital, ed. by Christopher Arthur, Part 8: ‘The so-called Primitive Accumulation’, London, Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 363-378. [HB501.M2]
• David Harvey (2010), The Enigma of Capital, ch. 2: ‘Capital Assembled’ & ch. 3: ’Capital Goes to Work’, London, Profile Books, pp. 40-57 & 58-105. [Learning Central]
• Immanuel Wallerstein (1996), ‘The Commodification of Everything: Production of Capital’, in idem, Historical Capitalism; with Capitalist Civilization, new edition, London and New New, Verso, pp. 11-44. [HB501.W2]
• Geoffrey Ingham (2008), ‘Classical Theories of Capitalism’, in Capitalism, Cambridge and Malden/MA, Polity, pp. 5-62. [Learning Central]
• James Fulcher (2004), ‘What is Capitalism?’, in idem, Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford and New York OUP, pp. 1-18. [330.122 FUL]
• Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello (2005), The New Spirit of Capitalism, ‘General Introduction’, London and New York, Verso, pp. 1-53. [HB501.B6]