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Social and Political Sciences Tripos, Part IIA and Part IIB, 2003: Notice

The Faculty Board of Social and Political Sciences give notice that, contrary to their announcement on p.474 of Reporter, 2000-01, the paper Soc. 7. Modern Japan 1 (Paper J. 7 of the Oriental Studies Tripos) will be available for the examination in 2003. The Faculty Board are satisfied that no student's preparation for the examination is adversely affected by this amendment.

The Faculty Board of Social and Political Sciences give notice that the following research project titles, methods essay titles, and statistics assignments have been prescribed for Paper Int. 1 in Part IIA and Part IIB of the Social and Political Sciences Tripos in 2003 (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 399 as amended, Reporter, p. 57).

Int. 1A and Int. 1B . Inquiry and Analysis

RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE

Positive psychology and its applications
Older workers and employment
Health and job stress
National identity and elite young Muslims
Assessing Values
Gender roles
Judgements of relationship intent
Antisocial behaviour in toddlerhood
Cultural resources in transitions to adulthood
Religious behaviour, religious attitudes, religious movements
Public attitudes toward the police use of DNA databases
Sibling relationship
Attitudes and moral judgments
Sociology of science/knowledge
An ethnography of an organization
Sociology of Islam
Citizenship (including voluntary associations and community enterprise)
Medical sociology (including the sociology of the body)

In exceptional cases alternative project topics may be accepted at the Course Organizer's discretion subject to written approval by the Course Organizer, Director of Studies, and Supervisor. Alternative titles must be approved by no later than the Friday of the fourth week of Lent Term.

STATISTICAL ASSIGNMENT (2,500 WORDS)

Students offering statistics as part of the assessment for Inquiry and Analysis should complete one of the following assignments:

Either

1. Using the 1996 European Working Condition Survey, investigate either the causes of, or the effects of, employee control over their work.

Or

2. Using the 1996 British Household Panel Youth Survey, investigate the relationship between two or more of the following: young people's self image; perceptions of family relationships; self-reported behaviours; attitudes and beliefs; interests and aspirations.

METHODS ASSIGNMENT (2,500 WORDS)

1Do qualitative research methods comprise a unified approach to studying social reality?
2Some studies are designed to test hypotheses, others are designed to generate hypotheses. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and is the relation between these approaches essentially competitive or complementary?
3How are issues of validity tackled within experimental designs? Answer this question with reference to three different studies.
4Is the design of questionnaires more of an art than a science?
5Are ethical guidelines for social science necessary or sufficient for upholding standards of good research practice?
6What are the problems and potential of cross-national survey research? Answer with reference to at least two studies.
7Discuss the utility of oral history to the social scientist. Answer with reference to at least two studies.
8What are the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating evidence from pictorial sources? Discuss with reference to two studies that adopt different disciplinary approaches.
9What are the main strengths and weaknesses of participant observation?
10How can discourse analysis be evaluated?
11What are the benefits and drawbacks of technological advances for social research practice? Consider both data collection and data analysis (qualitative or quantitative).
12What are the strengths and limitations of social research for evidence-based policy? Consider with respect to one or more major policy domains.

PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES: (2,500 WORDS)

1Is scientific research better understood in formal logical terms or in terms of social practice? Why? Discuss with respect to both the natural and the social sciences.
2 How persuasive is Popper's critique of either Marx or Freud?
3 What is the usefulness of realist philosophy of science for the social sciences?
4 What are the methodological implications of Rorty's neo-pragmatism?
The Faculty Board of Social and Political Sciences give notice that they have prescribed the following subjects for 5,000-word essays for certain papers for the Social and Political Sciences Tripos, Parts IIA and IIB, 2003 (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 399):


POL. 5: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN MODERN POLITICS

1 Is 'moral politics' a contradiction in terms?
2 Is punishment intrinsically futile?
3 Are monarchies less legitimate than republics?
4 Can the history of political thought teach us anything about the politics of the present?
5 Do wars make states?
6 Is democracy a form of government or a political value?
7 Is it possible to represent everybody?
8 Why do people vote?
9 Is decentralization necessarily democratic?
10 Should different cultural groups living in the same state be treated differently?
11 Are freedom and development compatible?
12 Either Are states still sovereign?
Or Are we citizens or subjects?
13 When is secession an attractive political option?
14 Are there good reasons for 'offensive realism' in international politics now?
15 On what basis could there be international taxation?
16 Can human rights be realized under capitalism?
17 Did communism contain the seeds of its own destruction?
18 Either What would make the European Union a federal state?
Or What might the history of the American republic reveal about the prospects for a federal European Union?
19 What are the limits to the expansion of the European Union?
20 Does the rise of New Labour mark the end of British socialism?
21 Either Is it possible to fight a war against terrorism?
Or What are the limits of American power?
22 Either Should the Chinese Communist Party change its name?
Or Will uneven development bring down the Chinese state?
23 What are Russia's prospects for achieving a stable democracy?
24 Either In what sense is Japan not, in the words of Ozawa Ichiro, 'a normal state'?
Or 'Pluralist', 'elitist', 'corporatist': which best describes the political process in contemporary Japan?
25 Why is politics in Latin America like that?
26 What is politics?
27 Either Is 'land for peace' still the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Or Do the politics of the Arab world revolve around the predicament of the Palestinians?


POL. 7: A SUBJECT IN MODERN POLITICS II: WESTERN EUROPE

1 Why are Western European party systems resistant to change?
2 Is corporatism still viable in Western Europe?
3 Why has immigration become politicized in recent decades in Western Europe?
4 What has been the impact of new social movements on Western European political systems?
5 How important has the European Commission been in the process of European integration?
6 Will enlargement towards Central and Eastern Europe strengthen the European Union?
7 What is the role of member states and organized interests in EU policy-making? Discuss with reference to one or more specific policy areas.
8 When does European integration lead to domestic political change? Discuss with reference to one or more Western European states.
9 What political purposes are served by Britain's membership of the European Union?


POL. 8: A SUBJECT IN MODERN POLITICS III: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1 In what ways were the political ideals behind the Glorious Revolution in Britain and the War of Independence in America similar, and in what ways different?
2 Should the US government pay reparations to the descendants of slaves?
3 In what ways did the invention of the automobile change American society and politics?
4 If America is at the head of an empire, when did it begin its imperial rule, and what was/is the furthest extent of its power? What are the hallmarks of its imperial authority?
5 Why did President Wilson's cherished ideal of a League of Nations fail to receive domestic backing? Are there any lessons for the United Nations today?
6 Should the US have bombed Hiroshima?
7 Assess the relative power of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the US government since 1945. Which institutions have gained power, which have lost?
8 Was Henry Kissinger a war criminal?
9 What impact has suburban sprawl had on US politics?
10 In what ways has US foreign policy changed since the end of the Cold War, and in what ways has it remained the same? Has US foreign policy evolved successfully, in your view?
11 'Americans think that September 11th changed the world, while the world thinks that September 11th changed America.' Assess whether one, or both, or neither of these statements is/are accurate.
12 What are the arguments for a new US foreign policy of pre-emption, as opposed to deterrence? What are the arguments against? Is this a dramatic break with the past, or old wine in new bottles? Explain which views you find most convincing and why.


POL. 11: A SUBJECT IN MODERN POLITICS V: RUSSIA

1 Was the path to socialism described by Lenin in The State and Revolution anything more than an utopian dream?
2 Examine the impact of war on the development of the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1953.
3 'Lenin's best pupil' or 'Grave-digger of the revolution'. Which better describes Stalin?
4 Does totalitarian theory provide a plausible explanation of the Soviet political system between 1928 and 1953?
5 Assess the significance of changes in Soviet ideology between 1953 and 1964.
6 Consider the relative influence of endogenous and exogenous factors in the collapse of the Soviet Union?
7 'Reproduction' or 'circulation'. Which more accurately describes elite formation in Russia since 1991?
8 Compare and contrast the achievements of Yeltsin and Putin as Presidents of the Russian Federation.


POL. 12: A SUBJECT IN MODERN POLITICS VI: SOCIAL REFORM

1 'To understand political change, we must understand conceptual change'. Why?
2 Could strict equality of resources ever be a realisable political goal?
3 Is a strong trade union movement an essential prerequisite of a successful social democratic politics?
4 Why did the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament fail?
5 Have the politics of race and gender supplanted the politics of class as the central factors shaping modern democratic governance? Answer with reference to any two Western democracies.
6 Is 'non-violent direct action' a legitimate means of political activity in a democratic state?
7 'The world is not governed by social forces. It is governed by governments'. What are the implications of this view for our understanding of social reform? Answer with reference to any one movement for reform.


SOC. 3: A SUBJECT IN SOCIOLOGY I: POLITICAL ECONOMY

1 Either Make a critical review of the various theoretical approaches conceptualizing varieties of capitalism in advanced political economies.
Or Has the debate on varieties of capitalism taken on board changes in advanced economies during the last decade?
2 Convergence between European varieties of capitalism is best discerned when studying systems of corporate governance. Do you agree?
3 Are Hirst and Thompson right to describe Britain as an over-internationalized economy, and, if so, does it matter?
4 'The concept of 'flexibility' in labour utilization is interpreted in different ways in different European societies'. Examine the different patterns found and relate them to the overall production paradigm adopted.
5 Which of the many conceptualizations of the changing role of the state in the economy best captures the changes in European political economies, and why? Illustrate your answer with examples from at least two such economies.
6 'Lean and Mean': what does this epithet infer about restructuring and its consequences in large European firms?
7 Have financial and economic globalization 'de-nationalized' large European firms?
8 Either Are small firms better at technological innovation than large ones?
Or Has the Industrial District model, first introduced by Piore and Sabel, outlived its usefulness?


SOC. 5: A SUBJECT IN SOCIOLOGY III: MODERN BRITAIN

1 Outline and explain the major changes since World War II in the class structure of Britain.
2 How did old Labour become New Labour?
3 Why did the Labour governments of the 1960s fail in their project to modernize Britain?
4 During the 1970s some political leaders in Britain said that they had been 'blown off course' by external events. Did they offer a convincing explanation of their difficulties?
5 Did the Thatcher governments halt Britain's economic decline?
6 In the 1950s, was British society consensual? If so, why?
7 Outline and explain the major changes in the role of religion in British society since World War II.
8 Does 'multiculturalism' imply a 'new racism' in British society?
9 Do you agree that 'class' is no longer an important issue in British politics? If so, why has this occurred?


SOC. 6: A SUBJECT IN SOCIOLOGY IV: CITIZENSHIP AND HUMAN RIGHTS

1 Is citizenship incompatible with human rights?
2 Are human rights essentially an expression of western liberalism?
3 'Human rights are culturally relative'. Is this a significant criticism?
4 Do human rights have to be individualistic?
5 Either What are the major problems in the enforcement of rights?
Or Are human rights justifiable?
6 Are human rights the cause or consequence of globalization?
7 Why does Ignatieff argue there is a crisis in human rights and what does he mean?
8 Why are labour laws fundamental to the enjoyment of human rights?
9 Critically evaluate the relationship between women's social status, rights, and economic development.
10 Under what circumstances, if any, do human rights violations justify military interventions?
11 Compare and contrast the American and French Revolutions with respect to their influences on the modern history of citizenship.
12 Critically compare and contrast the costs and benefits of ethnic and civic nationalism as bases for the conferral of citizenship rights.
13 Many have argued that the socialist project was undermined from the beginning by its over-emphasis of distributive justice and neglect of issues pertaining to political participation. Critically assess the claim that socialism and democratic citizenship are incompatible.
14 What is wrong with theories of liberal citizenship?
15 Critically assess the relevance of Bourdieu's ideas regarding political competence and symbolic violence to the study of citizenship. What, if anything, do these ideas add to our understanding of social exclusion?
16 How and why was social citizenship harnessed to the rise of the nation-state?


INT. 3: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SUBJECT I: MEDICINE, BODY, AND SOCIETY

1 With empirical examples, critically assess arguments against the notion that the body is socially constructed.
2 Why do medical conditions have moral implications?
3 What is the globalization of disease? What has produced it?
4 Can the social distribution of morbidity and mortality be explained by the unequal distribution of social capital?
5 How do social inequalities of health and illness in modern Britain throw serious doubt on the post-war welfare state as an expression of social citizenship?
6 Why is 'the body' currently central to any understanding of health issues in modern society?
7 Define, and critically compare, internalist and externalist explanations of medical practice. Also, discuss the feasibility of taking a theoretical middle road between them. Use empirical examples from the readings to illustrate and support your argument.
8 Critically evaluate the concept of a 'biomedical model'.
9 Compare and contrast the roles played by science and government respectively in the ascendancy of modern medical professions in any TWO of the following: England, France, Germany, and the United States. Use empirical examples to illustrate and support your argument.
10 Discuss the claim that there are profound differences between clinical expertise and knowledge of the medical sciences.
11 Distinguish the therapeutic treatment of mental illness from the social control of mental illness. Discuss whether this is an important distinction and why.
12 Compare and contrast the following four approaches to understanding the outcome of mental health treatment: cure, domestication, empowerment, and self-actualization. Discuss whether and when these models are ever appropriate for understanding actual types of mental care provision.
13 Critically evaluate the Foucauldian thesis that the segregation of madness during the early modern era tells us something about the concept of Reason held by élites of that period. What, if anything, does this thesis suggest about current forms of mental health care?


INT. 4: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SUBJECT II: BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

1 People want there to be limits (Mary Warnock). Discuss the problem of 'limits' in regulating reproductive medicine.
2 The phrase 'the gift of life' is used of organ donation and gamete donation alike: what ethical issues have been, or could be, identified in such gifts?
3 What are the arguments for and against openness about the identity of egg and sperm donors?
4 Should recipients pay for eggs or sperm?
5 Critically assess the arguments for and against the patenting of genes.
6 Should insurance companies have access to genetic test results?
7 How have either new reproductive technologies or the use of genetic information or the use of human tissues in biomedicine been regulated in the UK?
8 Is genetic information different from other kinds of biological information?
9 What is a gene? Discuss changing concepts of the gene in the 20th century.
10 Discuss the psychosocial consequences for family members of either predictive genetic testing or testing for recessive genetic diseases.
11 The new genetics - a new eugenics?
12 Compare and contrast past eugenic policies and practices in the UK and one other country.
13 Designer babies - a credible future?
14 How, if at all, should pre-implantation genetic diagnosis be regulated?
15 Discuss public attitudes to human reproductive cloning and stem cell research.
16 Evaluate the methods available for analyzing public attitudes to biomedical technologies.
17 IQ: a mismeasure of man?
18 Is IQ heritable?
19 Critically assess the contribution that evolutionary psychology has made to our understanding of either parent-child relationships or marriage and mating patterns.
20 What is a parent in the biotech century?


INT. 5: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SUBJECT III: THE FAMILY

1 How would you explain changes in the divorce rate in Britain either in the period 1920-60 or 1950-2000?
2 Discuss practices and regulation of assisted reproductive technologies in Britain. How do these relate to concepts of kinship and parentage in unassisted reproduction?
3 Marriage: an institution or a relationship?
4 Discuss either his and her marriage or his and her divorce.
5 Men do more paid work, women do more unpaid work. Discuss why such a gender division of labour is so resistant to change in modern societies.
6 'Citizens have the right not to rely on their families'. Is this a coherent policy position or does it merely reflect the fact that families are no longer reliable?
7 Abortion is likely to remain an important focus for national differences, as well as being a thorny issue within nations. Why?
8 The way in which the nuclear family has given way to the post-modern family has been called 'the destruction of the nest'. Is it true that the major unsettlers of the nest have been women?
9 Does the state alter family relationships in (a) liberal democracies or (b) in authoritarian regimes?
10 How far have women gained power within the family as a result of political change in 20th-century Europe? Answer with reference to at least two nation states.
11 Discuss the connections between social science knowledge and state regulation of reproductive sexuality in the context of eugenics.
12 Evaluations and treatment of child psychopathology is embedded in gender roles and family relations. Discuss.
13 Describe fatherhood in terms of taking involvement in childrearing. Do the realities of contemporary fatherhood approach the cultural ideal of fatherhood?
14 Does social policy move from the dangereux child to the child in danger in the 20th century?
15 Are declining fertility rates indicative of the decline of the family?
16 To what extent are values transmitted from parents to children?
17 What does child poverty in Britain indicate about the relationship between family and state?
18 What does Engels mean by a 'mode of reproduction'? Is his concept anything more than of historical interest?
19 Can any use still be made of Parson's concepts of 'instrumental' and 'expressive' within the family?


INT. 6: CRIME AND DEVIANCE

1 'Disorder may follow from individual hostile impulses, group conflicts, or a lack of certainty and predictability in the behaviour of others'. (Dennis Wrong). How can society best control these tendencies towards chaos and mutual destruction?
2 Critically discuss the contribution of Charles Murray and the underclass idea to our understandings of crime.
3 What is the relationship between race, gender, crime, and social regulation?
4 'Psychoanalytic and psychological theories have not proved to be particularly useful either in furthering our understanding of crime or in devising effective methods of intervention'. Discuss.
5 'All radical ideas about crime have come to naught'. Is this true?
6 Critically discuss the relationship between crime, intention, and mental illness.
7 How far is it true that as well as needing a sociology of crime, we need a sociology of punishment?
8 What factors encourage people to stop committing crime?
9 How far is public protection an appropriate and achievable aim for mental health services?
10 Is all crime political?


INT. 8: THE SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICS OF SOUTH ASIA (PAPER IN. 27 FROM THE ORIENTAL STUDIES TRIPOS)

1 'Movements for regional separatism in India have served to strengthen rather than weaken the central power of the state since 1947.' Discuss.
2 Why has there been so much caste and communal conflict in India since the late 1970s?
3 Has religion acquired an increasing significance in the politics of Pakistan since 1971?
4 Why has ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka proved so bitter and protracted since the 1980s?
5 Was the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971 the inevitable outcome of Bengali nationalist aspirations?
6 Why have Indian governments found it so difficult to formulate effective strategies for managing discontent in Kashmir?
7 'Policies of economic liberalization have been far more cautious and limited than their advocates desired or their critics feared.' Discuss.
8 How far have the Government of India's reservation policies served the purposes for which they were designed?
9 'The policies of the Governments of India and Pakistan to the proliferation, testing, and development of nuclear weapons have been determined by domestic political imperatives.' Discuss.
10 What strategies have proved most effective in alleviating poverty in South Asia? You may answer with reference to one or more countries of the region.
11 How and why has the influence of the military in the politics of Pakistan changed since 1947?


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Cambridge University Reporter, 23 October 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.