CANCELLED Society, the cosmos and self-identity (POL 01)

This course is cancelled


  • Day and time: Wednesday 14:30 - 15:30
    Weekly
  • Length of course: 2 terms. Autumn (8 Weeks), Spring (8 Weeks)
  • Number of places: 0
  • Start date: 11 October 2023
  • Description:

    The cosmos is being increasingly ‘humanised’. A second manned mission to the Moon will shortly take place. Wheeled ‘buggies’ are inspecting the surface of Mars. A NASA telescope has pictured a ‘black hole’ 1500 light years away. Meanwhile, TV broadcasting, surveillance, war and money-transfers remain highly dependent on satellite-based communications. And the extension of society into outer space is now generating fantasies about space travel and exploration. How, as humanity interacts with the cosmos in these ways, are power relations and the sense of ‘self’ being changed? Basic Reading: Dickens, P., Ormrod J. Ormrod, J. (2007) Cosmic Society, London, Routledge, Ormrod, J. (2014) Fantasy and Social Movements. London, Palgrave. Dickens, P., Ormrod, J. (eds) (2016) The Palgrave Handbook of Society, Culture and Outer Space, Ormrod, J.(2020) ‘Outer Space and New Frontiers to Environmental Imaginations’ in Legun, K., et al (eds) Environmental Sociology. Cambridge University Press. Dickens, P. (2023) Capital and the Cosmos. War, Society and the Quest for Profit. London, Palgrave.  

  • Format: Lecture/Discussion

  • Tutor: Peter Dickens
  • I am a sociologist. I have written and co-written three books and numerous articles, all focused on society’s relations with the cosmos.


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