OVERVIEW

The course introduces the study of human societies outlining the basic concepts and domains of sociological analysis, theories, sociological methods and tools for understanding and the analysis of contemporary societies both at "micro" and local both "macro", national, European and global level. Particular attention is devoted to the great changes in society, the governance of security and ignored insecurities since 1990 and the communication in this field.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This module aims at providing a general overview of the main theories and methods of sociological thought in order to understand contemporary society at micro and macro, local and global level.

TEACHING METHODS

For both teachers: lectures and slides.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course will be taught for the first 12 hours by Prof. Salvatore Palidda, for the next 24 hours by Prof. Claudio Torrigiani

Prof. Palidda

1. The society as a continue experimentation of social life of human beings. 2. The social construction: primary and secondary socialization; the internalization of "positive" and "negative" categories; how the five senses are forged; social circles and moral recognition; social representations and behaviors (references to Durkheim, Simmel, Weber, Mauss, Foucault and Goffman). 3. The total political events in the formation and transformations of society (the human being as a political animal, as a thinking animal, characterized by the coexistence of rational capacity and unconscious irrationality; continuous reproduction of the economic social, cultural and political hierarchy; continuous reproduction of conflicts and mediation; continuous reproduction of mobility. 4. The advent of modernity: the industrial society and the nation-state. 5. Colonialism. 6. Main aspects of the evolution of Italian and European societies 7. The last great transformation: the liberal revolution as a superposition of three revolutions: financial, technological and political 8. The economic, social, cultural and political consequences: in particular the ignored insecurities. 9. From the micro to the macro, between diachrony and synchrony and the comparison: how to observe, describe and interpret the contemporary world.

Prof. Torrigiani

I. The plot of the society (shapes and properties of social relations, social groups and their properties, values and institutions, norms, power and conflict, collective behavior, social capital, organized groups, organizational rationality and its limits). II. Culture, language and communication (culture and origin of language, functions and forms of language, variability of human languages, types of language, language and social interaction, mass communications, information and communication technologies). III. social control, deviance and crime (socialization and social control, the concept of deviance and theories on deviance, types of crime and authors of crimes, deviance and sanctions). IV. Religion (sociological perspective on religious facts, religious experience and the types of religion, religious movements and institutions, religion and social structure, the process of secularization, sociological interpretations of religion). V. Stratification, social and mobility classes (universality of social stratification theories of stratification, classes in modern society, and great changes, classes and classes, social mobility and its trends in western countries). VI. Differences in gender and age (chromosomes and sexual differentiation, essentialism and social constructivism, gender and culture, gender in contemporary societies, differences in age, cohorts and generations, the phases of the course of life). VII. Races, ethnic groups and nations (the concept of race, racism doctrines attitudes and behavior, racial discrimination, ethnic groups and nations, multiethnic and multinational societies). VIII. Family and marriage (family and kinship, kinship and descent, exogamy and endogamy, monogamy and polygamy, types of monogamous family, the birth of the modern family, the decline of married family in Western countries). IX. Education (education and socialization, oral culture and written culture, education theories of education influences, education, inequality and meritocracy). X. Economy and society (the economy in the society, the market economy as a regulatory mechanism and the economy governed by the market, between the market economy and the society, formal and informal economy, the problem of development). XI. Work, Production and Consumption (employment, labor market, unemployment, industry and development of the Fordist industrial labor, enterprise network and Toyota system, small businesses, financing of the economy, knowledge production and technological innovation, collective bargaining, consumption and consumerism). XII. Policy and administration (the space of politics, the state, the problem of legitimacy, collective action, political participation, social movements, the administrative, social policies and welfare state). XIII. Population and organization of territory (development of populations, the demographic transition in Europe, the developing countries, the decline in fertility, the aging of the population, migratory movements, society and its spatial shapes, globalization and regionalization).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Prof. Palidda

Palidda S., (2016), Sociologia e antisociologia. La sperimentazione continua della vita associata degli esseri umani http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/sociologia-antisociologia-palidda-salvatore-libreriauniversitaria/libro/9788862927451

Other reading materials made available by the teacher on Aulaweb.

Prof. Torrigiani

Bagnasco A., Barbagli M., Cavalli A., 2013, Elementi di sociologia, Il Mulino, Bologna

Slides on Aulaweb

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

SALVATORE PALIDDA (President)

LUCA GIUSEPPE QUEIROLO PALMAS (President)

FEDERICO RAHOLA (President)

CLAUDIO TORRIGIANI (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

26th of September 2016

Class schedule

GENERAL SOCIOLOGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written exam and oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Prof. Palidda

The term paper is prepared by the student on a topic of his choice to be agreed with the teacher by email.

Prof. Torrigiani

The written exam is a prerequisite to access to oral exam. Through the written exam, the teacher verifies the acquisition by the student of the fundamental concepts covered in the teaching and the ability to relate to each other, the mastery of the knowledge and the technical language and competence in applying what she/he has learned in real problems. The oral exam is a written exam discussion.

Exam schedule