SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS 2025-26
Course description
This paper considers how to explain social phenomena. Each week a lecture introduces a particular type of explanation, and a seminar discusses empirical research on a related topic which illustrates this type of explanation in practice. The lectures and seminars are complementary but distinct; the lecture will not cover the research discussed in the seminar, and so you will rely on your own analysis of the readings. There is no set text, but these books provide background reading:
• Jon Elster, Explaining Social Behavior. More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2015.
• Frank Van Tubergen. Introduction to sociology. Routledge. 2020
• Randall Collins, Four Sociological Traditions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Arrangements
Lectures: A 90-minute lecture each week, which includes time for Q&A, in the seminar room at Park End Street. Lectures are on Tuesdays at 1 pm And are given by Dr Lindsay Richards.
Seminars: Seminars are on Fridays, in a one-hour slot at either 10 am or 11 am*, in the Sociology seminar room, Park End Street. You are expected to read the essential items on the reading list for each week and complete a set of notes. These notes are to be submitted on Canvas before the seminar and are intended to prepare you for active participation, and to make the most of the seminar discussions. Be prepared to share your ideas about the readings, ask questions, and listen and respond to your classmates.
Seminars will be given by Dr Lindsay Richards and Prof Colin Mills.
* You will be randomly allocated to your seminar group: Check Canvas for your seminar timeslot, available by the end of week 0.
Lindsay,s office hour is between 3 and 4 pm on Tuesdays. Email ahead.
Course Requirements
1. Each week you will write a page of notes (bullet points are fine) based on the weekly readings. Upload to Canvas before 10 am on Friday. These notes are your entry ticket to the seminar.
2. At the end of week 5, you will submit a short essay of 1000 words based on one of the weekly topics. This will receive an indicative grade from Lindsay or Colin.
3. At the end of term, you will write an essay of 2500 words (excluding references). The essay questions will be provided in Week 6 and graded to the MSc mark scheme by Lindsay Richards. Upload this essay to Canvas before 5 p.m. on Thursday 18th December. (This essay is also formative, i.e., does not count towards your final grade)
Assessment
The paper is assessed by a three-hour unseen examination in Trinity Term (June 2025).
There will be exam preparation guidance given early in Trinity Term.
Course structure and readings
Readings can be accessed on ORLO (Oxford Reading Lists Online) via Canvas.
Some readings are marked as ‘Further reading’ . These are optional, e.g., if you have a particular interest in the topic, or you want to extend your reading for the end of term essay. Note that in week 6, you are expected to choose 4 of the listed articles to read.
Week 1. Instrumental rationality
Lecture: Social phenomena are created by the actions of many individuals, and so we begin with individual action. Individual action can be understood as the product of desires, beliefs, and opportunities. In the simplest model of instrumental rationality, desires are universal and largely self- regarding; explanatory leverage comes primarily from variation in opportunities. Complication comes from considering belief formation. This basic model has been offered as an explanation for a vast range of social phenomena.
SEMINAR: INEQUALITY IN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Children of the working class are much less likely to attain high levels of education, even considering students with the same level of academic ability. This fundamental inequality has persisted despite the massive expansion of higher education in past decades. How can we explain this enduring pattern of stratification? What factors influence a student’s decision to pursue further education? Is there a distinctive ‘class culture’ inimical to educational achievement?
Class discussion question
· Explicate the theoretical logic of Breen and Goldthorpe’s rational action theory, and then evaluate its theoretical and empirical adequacy.
Week 1 readings
Jennie E. Brand and Yu Xie (2010) ‘Who Benefits Most from College? Evidence for Negative Selection in Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Higher Education’, American Sociological Review, 75, pp. 273– 302.
Richard Breen and John H. Goldthorpe, (1997) ‘Explaining Educational Differentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory’, Rationality and Society, vol. 9, pp. 275–305.
Jay MacLeod, Ain’t No Makin’ It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, 3rd ed., (2009) Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, part 1.
Week 1 further reading
John H. Goldthorpe, (1996) ‘Class Analysis and the Reorientation of Class Theory: The Case of Persisting Differentials in Educational Attainment’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 47, pp. 481–505.
Paul Willis, Learning To Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs, (1980) Aldershot: Gower.
Week 2. Signalling, interaction and emotions
Lecture: Many actions seem to violate self-interest. These apparent anomalies inspire more elaborate theorizations of instrumental rationality. Actions that are immediately costly may have a longer-term payoff, because they influence the beliefs of others—via costly signalling, for example. Alternatively, these anomalies inspire a search for additional explanatory ‘mechanisms’ . Sub-intentional mechanisms include emotions, which shape desires and beliefs alike.
SEMINAR: INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
Violence may seem irrational. How do we explain why people fight each other and even harm themselves? Need we consider emotions and how they produce non-rational behaviour in particular interpersonal contexts? Or does violence have its own perversely rational logic?
Class discussion questions
· How can we explain violence by instrumental rationality (Gambetta and Hamill)? What is the logic of the explanation? How would it be criticized by someone like Collins? How plausible do you find it?
Week 2 readings
Diego Gambetta, (2009) Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Introduction, chs. 4–5.
Heather Hamill, (2010) The Hoods: Crime and Punishment in Belfast, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ch. 4.
Randall Collins, (2009) ‘Micro and Macro Causes of Violence’, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, vol. 3, pp. 9–22.
Week 2 further reading
Randall Collins, (2008) Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory, Princeton: Princeton University Press, chs. 1–5.
Week 3. Values and norms
Lecture: Values link the self with something greater. Such values are revealed most obviously when individuals are willing to sacrifice personal gain for some greater cause, like their religion or nation, or other social identity group.
SEMINAR: POLITICAL PREFERENCES
The classical literature assumed that political preferences were formed on the basis of ‘pocketbook’ calculations, namely that individuals form. preferences and vote for political parties that are most likely to bring about individual economic gain. However, these explanations are clearly lacking. How do identities and social groupings influence political preferences? In what circumstances might individuals vote against their own economic self-interest?
Class discussion question
· How might values and identities shape political preferences beyond individual self- interest?
Week 3 readings
Fowler, James H., and Cindy D. Kam. (2007) ‘Beyond the self: Social identity, altruism, and political participation.’ The Journal of politics 69.3: 813-827.
Gidron, Noam, and Peter A. Hall. (2017) ‘The politics of social status: Economic and cultural roots of the populist right. ’ The British journal of sociology 68: S57-S84.
Begum, Neema. "“The European family? Wouldn’t that be the white people?”: Brexit and British ethnic minority attitudes towards Europe." Ethnic and Racial Studies 46.15 (2023): 3293-3315.
Roll, Yoav, and Nan Dirk De Graaf. "Income change and sympathy for right-wing populist parties in the Netherlands: The role of gender and income inequality within households." The British Journal of Sociology 75.5 (2024): 791-829.
Week 3 further reading
Weakliem, David L., and Anthony F. Heath. (1994) ‘Rational choice and class voting. ’ Rationality and Society 6.2: 243-270.
Week 4. Social networks
Lecture: Social networks provide another sort of explanation for social phenomena. Networks can provide information and particular network structures may help certain individuals or create barriers for others. Under the forces of homophily, networks may become homogeneous in terms of some key characteristic such as ethnicity, age, values or tastes. What are the implications for social inequalities? How do networks link micro to macro phenomena?
SEMINAR: NETWORKS AT WORK
Social networks help to explain why some people have more success in finding a new job or in gaining promotion. The implications are far deeper than the cliché “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” . What is the role of networks for overcoming or perpetuating inequalities?
Class discussion question
· How do social networks help or hinder when it comes to doing well in the labour market?
Week 4 readings
Kurtulus, F. A., & Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (2012). ‘Do female top managers help women to advance? A panel study using EEO-1 records.’ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 639(1), 173-197.
Mark S. Granovetter, (1973) ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 78, pp. 1360–80.
Bian, Y., & Ang, S. (1997). ‘Guanxi networks and job mobility in China and Singapore’. Social forces, 75(3), 981-1005.
Lin, N., Ensel, W. M., & Vaughn, J. C. (1981). ‘Social resources and strength of ties: Structural factors in occupational status attainment’. American sociological review, 393-405.
Week 4 further reading
Val Burris, (2004) ‘The Academic Caste System: Prestige Hierarchies in PhD Exchange Networks’, American Sociological Review, vol. 69, pp. 239–64.
Mark Granovetter, (1982) ‘The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited’, Sociological Theory, vol. 1, pp. 201–33.
Vincent Chua, (2011) ‘Social Networks and Labour Market Outcomes in a Meritocracy’, Social Networks, vol. 33, pp. 1–11.
Week 5. Social integration
Lecture: Now we shift focus from individuals and social networks to social structure. In week 5, we will focus on social integration and contextual effects. Integration— constituted by the density of interaction and the degree of identification with the collective— varies across social units, from neighbourhoods to societies. An enduring tradition in sociology uses integration to explain individual behaviour and attitudes, from suicide and crime, to trust and happiness.
SEMINAR: NEIGHBOURHOODS
Over and above your own individual characteristics, your neighbourhood’s characteristics can affect your chance of committing crime or doing well at school. As we will see, for those coming out of prison, neighbourhoods affect your chances of escaping a life of crime or ending up back in prison.
Identifying such contextual effects is empirically challenging, because we have to take into account how individuals are sorted into contexts as well as how contexts influence individuals.
Class discussion questions
· To what extent can neighbourhoods shape the lives of individuals? What are the ‘sub- mechanisms’ of neighbourhood effects? Discuss the methodological and inferential challenges in neighbourhood research.
Week 5 readings
Kirk, David S. (2020) Home free: Prisoner reentry and residential change after hurricane Katrina.
Oxford University Press, USA, (Especially chs. 1-5, but chs. 6 and 7 offer insightful case studies).
Van Ham, Maarten, and David Manley. (2012) ‘Neighbourhood effects research at a crossroads. Ten challenges for future research Introduction. ’ Environment and Planning A 44.12: 2787-2793.
Geoffrey T. Wodtke, David J. Harding, and Felix Elwert, (2011) ‘Neighborhood Effects in Temporal Perspective: The Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Concentrated Disadvantage on High School Graduation’, American Sociological Review, vol. 76, pp. 713–36.
Week 5 further reading
Beate Volker, Gerald Mollenhorst, Wouter Steenbeek, Veronique Schutjens, and Henk Flap, (2016) ‘Lost Letters in Dutch Neighborhoods: A Field Experiment on Collective Efficacy’, Social Forces, vol.
94, pp. 953–74.
Robert J. Sampson, (2012) Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Week 6. Diffusion
Lecture: In week 6, we move onto think about collective action and their temporal dynamics. People often act because many others have acted in the same way. Various causal mechanisms can produce this pattern: subintentional mechanisms of belief formation, preferences for conformity, and rational choice where the payoff to an action increases with the number of others acting in the same way. The basic insight can be formalized in a simple threshold model.
SEMINAR: PROTEST WAVES
Waves of protest can emerge when they are least expected. An upsurge of collective protest might be explained by sudden exogenous change or by preceding organization. Alternatively, protest might be explained as an endogenous process of ‘positive feedback’ or diffusion. Which provides a more convincing explanation for these protest waves? Has digital communication made a difference?
Class discussion question
· To what extent can collective protest be explained by diffusion?
Week 6 readings [Choose 4]
Cheng, E. W., & Chan, W. Y. (2017). ‘Explaining spontaneous occupation: Antecedents, contingencies and spaces in the Umbrella Movement. ’ Social Movement Studies, 16(2), 222-239.
Chang, P. Y. (2008). ‘Unintended consequences of repression: alliance formation in South Korea's democracy movement (1970–1979).’ Social Forces, 87(2), 651-677.
Ellefsen, R., & Sandberg, S. (2022). ‘Black Lives Matter: The Role of Emotions in Political Engagement.’ Sociology.
Hyojoung Kim and Steven Pfaff, (2012) ‘Structure and Dynamics of Religious Insurgency: Students and the Spread of the Reformation’, American Sociological Review, vol. 77, pp. 188–215.
Michael Biggs, (2003) ‘Positive Feedback in Collective Mobilization: The American Strike Wave of 1886’, Theory and Society, vol. 32, pp. 217–54.
Kenneth T. Andrews and Michael Biggs, (2006) ‘The Dynamics of Protest Diffusion: Movement Organizations, Social Networks, and News Media in the 1960 Sit-ins’, American Sociological Review, vol. 71, pp. 752–77.
Week 7. Social Change
Lecture: Explanation of action by values or social structures implies a second-order explanation of such phenomena. How can we explain the large-scale shifts in values such as tolerance, and the decline of religion? This lecture considers modernization, post-materialism, and education as the origins of change, as well as considering the nature of the change. How can we distinguish between age, period, and cohort effects? Is there currently a backlash?
SEMINAR: CHANGING ATTITUDES TO SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS
There has been a remarkable shift in attitudes towards same-sex relationships in the past half century. Previously stigmatized and criminalized, it is now accepted by a large portion of the public and protected in law in Britain and other similar countries. We will focus on explaining this measurable quantitative trend.
Class discussion question
· What explains increased tolerance of same-sex relationships in Western societies? Identify two or three distinct explanations.
Week 7 readings
Kiley, K., & Vaisey, S. (2020). ‘Measuring Stability and Change in Personal Culture Using Panel Data. ’ American Sociological Review.
Fred C. Pampel, (2016) ‘Cohort Changes in the Social Distribution of Tolerant Sexual Attitudes’, Social Forces, vol. 95, pp. 753–77.
Ronald F. Inglehart, Eduard Ponarin, and Ronald C. Inglehart, (2017) ‘Cultural Change, Slow and Fast: The Distinctive Trajectory of Norms Governing Gender Equality and Sexual Orientation’, Social Forces, vol. 95, pp. 1313–40.
Zhang, Tony Huiquan, and Robert Brym. (2019) ‘Tolerance of Homosexuality in 88 Countries: Education, Political Freedom, and Liberalism. ’ Sociological Forum. Vol. 34. No. 2.
Week 7 further reading
Mark McCormack, (2014) ‘The Intersection of Youth Masculinities, Decreasing Homophobia and Class: An Ethnography’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 65, pp. 130–49.
Lersch, Philipp M. "Change in personal culture over the life course."American Sociological Review 88.2 (2023): 220-251.
Week 8. Explanation and evidence
Lecture: We have reviewed a variety of explanations for social phenomena. What are the hallmarks of a good explanation?
Week 8 readings [all *further* and not required for the week 8 seminar]
John H. Goldthorpe, (2016) Sociology as a Population Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diego Gambetta, (1998) ‘Concatenations of Mechanisms’, in Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg (eds), Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 102–24.
Hedström, Peter, and Petri Ylikoski. (2010) ‘Causal mechanisms in the social sciences.’ Annual review of sociology 36, pp. 49-67.
Duncan J. Watts, (2014) ‘Common Sense and Sociological Explanations’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 120, pp. 313–51.
Ylikoski, Petri. (2021). Understanding the Coleman boat. Research handbook on analytical sociology, 49-63.
SEMINAR: EXPLANATIONS IN PRACTICE
In this seminar, you will put ‘sociological analysis’ into practice by considering a puzzling empirical phenomenon (to be circulated later) and then asking (i) how it might be explained, and then (ii) how those potential explanations could be tested empirically.
Class discussion question
· How could this phenomenon be explained? Provide two different explanations. How could
these explanations be empirically tested? The questions (or “puzzles”) will be provided in week 7.