Sociology of Culture
Code: 104999 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501928 Audiovisual Communication | FB | 2 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Avi Astor
- Email:
- Avi.Astor@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- Yes
Other comments on languages
The course is in Spanish, but assignments and the exam may be done in Catalan or English if preferred.Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main objectives of this course are:
a) To learn to think sociologically about culture broadly conceived.
b) To understand the main theoretical perspectives for examining processes of cultural acquisition and the role of culture in the social construction of reality.
c) To acquire tools for analyzing cultural phenomena empirically, putting them into context, and understanding their meaning.
Competences
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and be able to relay ideas effectively in Catalan, Spanish and a third language.
- Master the key concepts and knowledge that allow modern society and politics to be interpreted.
- Rigorously apply scientific thinking.
Learning Outcomes
- Assimilate the necessary knowledge of social and political structure to understand the processes and the development of modern audiovisual phenomena.
- Define the basic concepts of political science.
- Define the basic concepts of sociological analysis.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and be able to relay ideas effectively in Catalan, Spanish and a third language.
- Rigorously apply scientific thinking.
Content
Part A. Sociological perspectives on culture: a theoretical, methodological and conceptual introduction
a.1. What do we mean when we talk about culture? Conceptual clarifications
a.2. Perspectives: Cultural Sociology vs Sociology of Culture
a.3. Thinking sociologically about culture: knowledge, power and context
a.4. What role does culture play in the production of society? Principal theoretical approaches
Part B. Interlude. The ethnography lab: capturing culture empirically
b.1. Where is culture, and where isn't it? Conceptual boundaries and fuzzy empirical realities
b.2. Educating the sociological gaze: ethnography and the sociological imagination
Part C. Interrogating culture from different angles
c.1. Embodying culture? Reflections on culture, body, and the self
c.2. Culture and the everyday: love, food and leisure
c.3. Inequalities and culture: Class, gender, and race
c.4. Sensing culture: taste, emotions and symbolic boundaries
c.5. The production of culture: fields, scenes and actors
c.6. Culture and the making of the community: religions, nations and memory
c.7. Globalization and acceleration in the cultural world
The course program will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: a description of activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for completing the course. In case there is a change of teaching modality for reasons related to public health restrictions, the professor will make necessary adjustments.
Methodology
The course is organized around three types of activities:
a) Lectures that outline the main approach to the subject
b) Workshops where readings are discussed and / or joint work is carried out around specific issues
c) Personal and group tutorials
d) Group presentations
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 52 | 2.08 | 1, 3, 2 |
| Tutorials scheduled with the professor | 3 | 0.12 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Research paper | 35 | 1.4 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings and critical response papers | 22 | 0.88 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 |
Assessment
Students will be evaluated on the basis of:
1) Their comprehension of readings as reflected by the quality of several short critical response papers (20%)
2) Class participation and a group presentation on a topic relevant to the course (15%)
3) A final paper that may be an ethnographic study or an in-depth research paper on a topic related to culture (30%)
4) A final exam consisting of short essays that cover the subject matter of the course (35%)
- Students who have not completed the course assignments will receive a grade of “Did Not Attend.”
- If a student does not pass, there is the possibility of taking a 'recovery' exam. In accordance with Article 112 ter. of the UAB Academic Regulations, to participate in the recovery exam, students must have been previously assessed in a set of activities whose evaluation comprises a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the course. Students must also have obtained a minimum grade of 3,5.
- In accordance with article 117.2 of the UAB Academic Regulations, the assessment of repeat students may consist of a single synthesis test. Repeating students who wish to take advantage of this possibility will need to contact the professor at the beginning of the course.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is to use the work of others as if it were your own. When using books, articles, websites or any other material, it is mandatory to reference the original work, clearly indicatingwithin the text which references correspond to which phrases orsentences. When quoting a text word by word, it is essential to put the fragment quoted in quotation marks. Plagiarism is a serious infraction, equivalent to copying on an exam. It will result in a grade of zero.
For more information on plagiarism, you can look at the guide on "How to cite and how to avoid plagiarism": <https://www.uab.cat/doc/GuiaCitesiPlagiEstudiants>. See also: <https://www.uab.cat/web/study-and-research/how-to-cite-and-create-your-bibliography-1345738248581.html>.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class participation and group presentation | 15% | 10 | 0.4 | 6, 1, 4, 5 |
| Final exam | 35% | 3 | 0.12 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 |
| Final paper | 30% | 15 | 0.6 | 6, 1, 3, 4, 5 |
| Readings and critical response papers | 20% | 10 | 0.4 | 6, 1, 4, 5 |
Bibliography
Austin, John Langshaw. 1975. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Butler, Judith. 2013. Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge.
Cerulo, Karen A. 2018. “Scents and Sensibility: Olfaction, Sense-Making, and Meaning Attribution.” American Sociological Review 83:361–89.
Durkheim, Emile. 1995. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: The Free Press.
Eliasoph, Nina and Paul Lichterman. 2003. “Culture in Interaction.” American Journal of Sociology 108:735–94.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture 1973.” In The Interpretation of Cultures, 3–33. New York: Basic Books.
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday.
Lamont, Michèle. 1992. Money, Morals, and Manners: The Culture of the French and American Upper-Middle Class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lamont, Michèle. 2021. The Dignity of Working Men. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lizardo, Omar. 2017. “Improving Cultural Analysis: Considering Personal Culture in Its Declarative and Nondeclarative Modes.” American Sociological Review 82:88–115.
Rivera, Lauren A. 2012. “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms.” American Sociological Review 77:999–1022.
Roy, Olivier. 2013. Holy Ignorance: When Religion andCulture Part Ways. London: Oxford University Press.
Schudson, Michael. 1989. “How Culture Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy of Symbols.” Theory and Society 18:153–80.
Sewell, William Hamilton. 2005. Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Swidler, Ann. 2001. Talk of Love: How Culture Matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Vaisey, Stephen. 2009. “Motivation and Justification: A Dual‐Process Model of Culture in Action.” American Journal of Sociology 114:1675–1715.
Weber, Max. 1992. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London: Routledge.
Software
This subject does not require use of specific software.