GENERAL SOCIOLOGY
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2020/2021
- Teacher
- MARCO LUCA PEDRONI
- Credits
- 12
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- SPS/07
Training objectives
- The course will present sociology as a critical view on social reality, with the aim of providing students with the following learning outcomes:
1. With reference to knowledge and comprehension skills:
(a) learning the founding concepts of sociology through classical and contemporary authors;
(b) understanding the peculiarity of the sociological view as a tool for investigating and interpretating the social world;
(c) learning the ability to raise sociological issues and to develop the sociological imagination.
2. With reference to applied knowledge and understanding:
(a) knowing and applying the main theoretical tools of the discipline to the analysis of social processes;
(b) understanding and using sociological language;
c) being able to identify the points of view and the stakes that are developed around social issues.
3. With reference to autonomy of judgement
(a) developing an ability to analyse critically;
(b) developing the ability to identify hegemonic narratives in the public sphere;
c) developing the ability to deconstruct common sense. Prerequisites
- No special prerequisites are required. It is desirable for students to keep up to date with current affairs by reading cultural and political newspapers and magazines.
Course programme
- After an introduction to sociology and the sociological imagination, the course is organised in two main parts.
The first part is devoted to the thought of some great theorists:
- the "founding fathers" of the discipline (Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel) and the relevance of their theses;
- Bourdieu, one of the greatest contemporary sociologists, and his agonistic understanding of the social world.
In the second part, some of the "objects" of sociology are analysed: interactions, social structure, power, culture and identity, media, power and politics, social stratification, education, body and health, labour and economy. For each of them, some recent sociological research stimulated by the Covid-19 pandemic is discussed, in order to understand how sociology questions the present and everyday life. Didactic methods
- Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the course is taught mainly in telematic mode. The course consists of:
- 60 video lessons, recorded and progressively uploaded onto Classroom starting on 22 February 2021;
- weekly workshops on Google Meet (Wednesdays 10 to 12 AM);
- in-class lessons, recorded and made available at a later date.
The calendar is available in the "Useful information" section. The teaching materials (video lessons, slides, supplementary readings) are uploaded onto Classroom. Learning assessment procedures
- The final exams consist of a written examination consisting of 10 closed-ended questions and two open-ended questions, to be completed in 90 minutes.
The closed-ended questions are designed to test theoretical knowledge (learning objective 1), and in particular the acquisition of the basic concepts of the course; up to 10 points are awarded.
The open questions measure the ability to apply the acquired knowledge and the autonomy of judgement (learning objectives 2 and 3).
The first open-ended question consists of commenting on a topical issue in the light of one or more sociological authors/theories. The second question requires students to comment on a text (e.g. a sociological or literary text or a newspaper article) related to the course topics. Each of the two open-ended questions can be awarded up to 10 points. Reference texts
- For attending students:
1. Essential books:
a) J. Manza, R. Arum, L. Haney, Progetto sociologia. Guida all'immaginazione sociologica, Pearson Italia, Milano, 2018 (2nd edition)
b) P. Bourdieu, Sul concetto di campo in sociologia, Armando, Roma, 2010
c) P. Bourdieu, Forme di capitale, Armando, Roma, 2015
2. Supplementary texts.
Supplementary readings (scientific essays, short extracts from sociological texts, literary and journalistic texts) will be proposed during the course.
For non-attending students:
Essential books:
a) J. Manza, R. Arum, L. Haney, Progetto sociologia. Guida all'immaginazione sociologica, Pearson Italia, Milano, 2018 (2nd edition)
b) F. Crespi, Il pensiero sociologico, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2002. Tutto tranne i capp. V (Pareto), XII (Teorie dei sistemi sociali), XIII (Aspetti metodologici)
c) P. Bourdieu, Sul concetto di campo in sociologia, Armando, Roma, 2010
d) P. Bourdieu, Forme di capitale, Armando, Roma, 2015
