Example methodology dissertation topic 4:

Theoretical perspectives within the social sciences: are they always needed?

Amongst the social sciences, there appears to exist an almost institutional doctrinal expectation that all primary research must be underpinned by reference to either the work of Michel Foucault or Karl Marx, both ‘sacred cows’ in theoretical studies. This dissertation takes issue with this assumption and in so doing reviews the doctoral theses of Geography PhD students from the years 1950-1960 and those of 1999-2009 as held within the libraries of the universities of York, Durham, Newcastle, and Leeds. In so doing it notes the theories within them and suggests that the present-day preoccupation with ‘shoehorning’ Foucauldian or Marxian theory into the methodology of each dissertation detracts from a wider academic ground.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Baudrillard, J. (2007). Forget Foucault. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
• Cladis, M.S. (1999). Durkheim and Foucault: Perspectives on education and punishment. Oxford: Durkheim Press.