The cult American TV show, The Wire, is to be studied at the University of York from the beginning of next term. The 10-week module, titled The Wire as Social Science Fiction, will be offered by the Sociology Department as an optional third year option.
Head of Department Professor Roger Burrows, who admits to maintaining an unhealthy interest in the series, believes the course could challenge traditional methods of teaching and presenting social science.
”We look at The Wire as a form of entertainment that does the job some of the social sciences have been failing to do.
”It’s a contrast to dry, dull, hugely expensive studies that people carry out on the same issues.
”We spend an enormous amount of our time trying to craft books and articles that are read by so few people and it could challenge how we represent the work that we do in the academe.
”I find it odd that we’re still using 19th and 20th century forms as a way of disseminating what we do.”
Instead of just the traditional reading list, the 24 students who have already signed up for the course will be expected to have already watched over 60 hours worth of episodes spanning five seasons before teaching begins.
Professor Burrows denies that the module is “dumbing down” and stresses that episodes are merely a “point of departure” to explore the many issues highlighted in the programme.
The module managed to catch the attention of the right-wing Sunday press, with The Mail on Sunday incorrectly implying that studying The Wire at York would be a degree in its own right. Ray from Liverpool, commenting on the Mail’s website, stated: “its sociology for goodness sake…no one takes them seriously…. lean left …quote Marx…then blame society… can I have me PHD now? [sic]”.
The series is already part of a course at Harvard University but it is believed that this is the first time the show will be formally studied in the UK.
Third-year Sociology student, Rachel Knox, told Vision: “The Wire covers very real aspects of contemporary urban life, and is a very interesting way to cover current sociological issues.
“The show has been highly regarded as a social commentary and I think it is great for the department to keep up to date with modern sociology.”
shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
surely something this soft will just make a joke of the degree? a lot of academic snobbery regarding the subject anyway, this really really will NOT help! and surely they should have more broader subjects (that aren’t specific to one tv show..) which will enable the degree to be more marketable/applicable for any future job? it seems like a waste of time, or something a fan society should be doing for students…not a guy with a phd.
i really can’t think of one good reason to do this!
I really chose the wrong degree… IS IT TOO LATE TO CHANGE TO THIS?
Sociology is such a waste of time.
I am responsible for offering this final year option to my students (by the way if you would like to take it as an elective (year 3, 20 credit, one term) you can if we have space – it would be especially great to have non-humanities/social science people come along….but you must have watched the whole 60 episodes to gain entry).
I am amazed at how much interest and controversy offering the module has generated. I have spent this evening doing interviews with Australian and NZ radio and the Wall St Times no less! It is Obama’s favourite show hence the interest I guess!
I am afraid the reporting of what is being offered is incorrect. The irony is that I am very concerned about ‘dumbing down’ in the academy and what I thought I was doing was being innovative in presenting material in a new and fresh way, but the anger and vitriol I have experienced in the last 48 hours will perhaps require me to rethink. Anger/hatred towards the humanities and some of the social sciences has come as a great shock to me. I have had the Daily Mail after me all day (which I understand, politically), but even some of the postings here from York students are upsetting – ‘such a waste of time’. Why? Come and talk to me so I can better understand. At the moment I feel like I should go back to teaching logistic regression and multi-level modelling with chalk and blackboard? I can do that! It is important to know how to do it but – for social scientists – so is engaging with the humanities and popular cultural representations of how we live today.
The real (and boring) story is this: I teach urban studies and I thought I would follow the lead of William Wilson at Harvard and offer a module that compared the representation of urban problems in the USA that The Wire offers with contemporary anthropological, economic, geographic, political and sociological studies of the same issues: the war against drugs; contemporary crime control; surveillance; audit and metrics in organizational life; gentrification and segregation; the failure of local government; the crisis of public schooling; the decline of local media; homelessness; and so on. I had found The Wire to be a very useful source for initially engaging students with all of this literature and a good way of enthusing them to read the social science of same issues The Wire deals with. I thought I would offer a module in which we took The Wire (and the associated books (The Corner, Homicide)) as points of departure for reading Bougeois, Harvey, Venkatesh, Wacquant, Wilson etc. I will happily send a reading list to anyone interested.
Sorry to go on. ‘Waste of time’…
I would advise the Professor to stick to his guns. I’m no Sociology student but his post clearly demonstrates that the prospective module would in no way be an example of ‘dumbing down’. The Wire is a sufficiently well respected cultural phenomenon to justify undergraduate level study, and by the sound of it the negative reaction to the idea is simply media sensationalism. Indeed I would advocate pursuing anything likely to upset the Daily Mail. A majority of people in this country watch television relatively regularly; what other than a ridiculous, ignorant, cultural snobbery is driving any criticism of this idea?
This is a great idea for a unit. I’ve wondered for a long time about something similar with respect to the impact of the West Wing on democratic ideals/engagement in politics by young people.
Having completed a bsc in management and a Msc in social informatics at york i would like to add my support to Roger and the people within the sociology department that are looking forward as to how sociology can be taught.
Having completed a masters in social informatics and management i have found that the sociological literature is much more contemporary and up to date than most of that involved with management (what some may unfortunately still call a weak subject), and as our society is continually developing this should be expected. Although i wouldn’t have selected the module myself (simply not a fan of the show) i can see the merit behind the idea and i think it could provide some very interesting pieces of discussion for the modular assignments
@ Prof Roger Burrows
The module does sound more academically intense than originally presented by YV/the telegraph, it’s unfortunate it’s been misconstrued as JUST about a TV show rather than about the themes it shows/books/etc. But do you not worry that the negative media attention will backfire on graduates? Potential employees may remember the fact that York third years could have chosen an option based upon a television show, and have not had the opportunity to read your explanation, and disregard them in favour of those with different degrees/those with sociology degrees from elsewhere? Or even cause discrimination against sociology degrees completely?
For students who need to watch all 60 episodes, is there a box set available to rent or have the uni got a license to show it for the purposes of the study?
Once upon a time education was about learning stuff – not about touching your nose and reciting the alphabet backwards for a job interviewer.
The Wire is available in the University library.
It has even been mentioned in the Guardian Media Podcast.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media
Thanks Alex for your comment “Sociology is such a waste of time.” Do you know anything about it, value opinion or are you a stuck up twat who talks shit? I think the latter. Am i right? Yes, thought so.
I’m a tutor of Sociology and I found the “Sociology is a waste of time” remark caused me an explosion of laughter from the stress of preparing for my next lesson. It’s no doubt a vital subject but practitioners have to go a long way to make it an acccessible discipline. It’s frequently badly taught and conveyed in bizzarro universespeak.
The Wire is well-suited to Sociology, and I use it in my own tutorials. If there’s an irk designed to attract flack, I’d say it’s the title, “Social Science Fiction” rather than The Wire. Rather than the course even; I suspect that was great and would love to read a follow-up.