Case studies

The case study material provided here comprises extracts of between about 2,000 and 4,000 words each, drawn from a range of original sociological work. Each extract is accompanied by a series of questions.

It is worth saying that the original material was not written with an introductory student audience principally in mind. These extracts are deliberately chosen to be a bit more challenging than what is in our textbook and the questions that accompany them are intended to support readers in focusing on the main arguments and teasing out interesting questions and issues.

Each case study has relevance to more than one chapter in our text. The extracts have been carefully chosen to represent a range of cross-cutting themes and the questions that accompany them reflect the importance we lay on critical and creative thinking. Our suggestions for which chapters you might use these case studies with are therefore indicative only. However, with the exception of the last specifically British piece (coming soon), we have aimed to offer material of international scope and interest.

Each case study is downloadable as a pdf or word doc. Sizes of files are given.

Case	Source	Link
Case Study 1: In praise of beer	Source: Inaugural lecture by Professor David Chaney, University of Durham, entitled 'In Praise of Beer'	Read questions Load In praise of beer (37KB)
Case Study 2: Graffiti Subcultures	Source: Macdonald, N. (2001) The Graffiti Subculture: youth, masculinity and identity, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave, pages 229-233.	Read questions Load Case study 2 (51KB)
Case Study 3: Gender and Policing	Source: Brown, J. and F. Heidensohn (2000) Gender and Policing: comparative perspectives, Basingstoke, Palgrave, pages 80-84 and 132-135.	Read questions Load Case study 3 Part A and Part B (44KB and 36 KB)
Case Study 4: Ethnicity and Nationalism	Source: Pearson, D. (2001) The Politics of Ethnicity in Settler Societies: states of unease, Basingstoke, Palgrave, pages 16-24.	Read questions Load Case study 4 (79KB)
Case Study 5: A religious cult	Source: Gardner, R. A. (2001) 'Aum and the Media: lost in the cosmos and the need to know' in Kisala, R. J. and M. R. Mullins Religion and Social Crisis in Japan, Basingstoke, Palgrave, pages 141-148.	Read questions Load Case study 5 (803KB)