Macquarie University

Visual Sociology - SOC221

This unit will consider three aspects of visual sociology: 1) The history and nature of visual research will be examined including journalist/photographers, Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine and Robert Strand. Also to be studied is work of ethnographers and sociologists from Gregory Bateson to Pierre Bourdieu, John Berger, Howard Becker and Elizabeth Chaplin. We also examine the use of the camera, feature film, sketches, cartoons, paintings in sociological research as well as the way that instruments and technologies of the visual have linked up with aesthetic concerns, as exemplified in the work of Edward Steichen. 2) Themes in sociological research will be studied through the completion of a practical research project in visual sociology. This might include: studies of institutions, practices of everyday life and the built environment, advertising, art and culture. How might the use of visual materials be most appropriate in researching a given theme? 3) Methods in visual social research will be explored with questions about the interpretation and presentation of the visual being discussed. To what extent can visual sociological research constitute an autonomous field of inquiry? To what extent is visual sociology limited by available technologies? What are the implications of the emergence of the digital image? What are the advantages or otherwise of the analogue image?

Timetable Information

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