Social and Political Structure
Code: 103045 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501933 Journalism | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Joana Diaz Pont
- Email:
- joana.diaz@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
External teachers
- Pablo Castaño Tierno
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This subject is taught by teachers in the area of Social Sciences, specifically the Department of Sociology and the Department of Political Science and Public Law.
The basic objective of this subject is to provide an adequate knowledge of the different tools and concepts that have been formulated from the social sciences for the study of:
-The social structures of advanced societies.
-The inequalities and their evolution.
-The basic institutions of politics in advanced societies.
-The distribution of power in the current democracies.
In this sense, the subject offers the basic knowledge to understand the structure of our society, with its main axes of inequality, the most important factors of the social structure, and the political institutions that regulate the distribution of power, conflicts and social life.
The subject has an introductory vocation and, therefore, the topics will focus on a limited number of basic concepts that are essential to further the training of students.
The theoretical classes will be combined with the discussion of readings where students will work on the different concepts exposed in the theoretical classes through proposed texts and exercises. It is intended that students participate actively in the classes and in the different debates with the aim of gaining reasoning capacity from a critical and informed perspective. Likewise, different activities will be coordinated to promote group work, as well as the application of the concepts of the subject.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Demonstrate adequate knowledge of the modern world and its recent historic development in terms of social, economic, political and cultural aspects.
- Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
- Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
- 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.
- Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
- Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
- Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one's own area of knowledge.
- Propose projects and actions that are in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and obligations, diversity and democratic values.
- Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
- Propose ways to evaluate projects and actions for improving sustainability.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
Content
Part 1: Basic concepts of sociology, social structure and inequalities.
1. The sociological perspective. Individual and society, institutions and socialization.
2. Social structure, power and control.
3. Class inequalities. Social mobility and education.
4. Gender inequalities.
5. Immigration and diversity.
Part 2: Basic concepts of political science.
1. Society and politics. Power and legitimation.
2. State and nation-state. The overcoming of the nation-state: globalization and new inequalities.
3. Dictatorships and democracies. The relation democracy-capitalism.
4. The distribution of power in the current democracies: parliaments, government and courts. Forms of government.
5. Individual and groups in politics: behavior, political culture. Collective political actors (parties, pressure groups and media).
The calendar will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: the description of the activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the subject. In case of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, teachers will make readjustments in the schedule and methodologies.
Methodology
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions.
1. Theoretical classes
Exposition of the main concepts and theoretical proposals in each unit of study. Specific cases that exemplify the different concepts studied will be explained.
2. Readings
Sessions that will consist of the discussion, exhibition and debate of a series of selected readings on the thematic contents of the subject. At the beginning of the course, the teachers will give detailed instructions on this type of activity.
3. Tutorials
The process of learning and acquisition of competences will be supervised by the teachers through individual and / or group tutorials. The teaching staff of the subject will be available to the students to solve the doubts and follow the evolution of this learning process and acquisition of student competencies.
4. Moodle
It will be the virtual space that will convey the information related to the organization of the subject, as well as various complementary materials.
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 | |||
| Evaluation activities | 7.5 | 0.3 | |
| Master classes and classroom sessions | 37.5 | 1.5 | 3, 5, 4 |
| Readings | 15 | 0.6 | 3, 5, 4 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Group and individual tutorials | 7.5 | 0.3 | 3, 5, 4 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings, work group and test preparation | 82.5 | 3.3 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the subject will be based on the continuous evaluation of the process of acquisition of knowledge and competences by the students and will consist of:
a) Completion of an individual and written test (50% of the total), on the concepts taught in the theoretical classes and in the readings.
b) Completion of a group work (20% of the total). This work will consist of reasoned reflections that will be made from the readings, instructions and deadlines that will be indicated by the teachers of each group at the beginning of the course.
c) Readings (30% of the total). The teachers of each group will give indications on the evaluation system of this block.
Considerations on the functioning of the evaluation mechanisms:
1) It is understood that the procedure to pass the subject is the follow-up of all the continuous assessment instruments, that is: participation in the evaluation activities related to the readings, the individual performance of the written test and the delivery of the group work. It is necessary to obtain a minimum grade of 5 in all activities to pass the subject.
2) Spelling and linguistic and expression errors will penalize the final grade.
3) Students who have participated in the continuous evaluation and suspend the theory (individual written test) may re-evalute it provided that a minimum of 3 has been obtained and the ordinary revision has been made. The grade obtained in the re-evaluation of the written test will replace the previous one and will be weighted with the rest of the grades of the continuous evaluation.
4) Each teacher will establish a mechanism and deadlines for reviewing all the materials that are part of the evaluation (preferably throughout the course, but always before closing the minutes). Students may request this revision from the respective professors if they consider it pertinent.
In the case of a second enrolment, students can do a single synthesisexam. The grading of the subject will correspond to the grade of the synthesis exam/assignment. The students who wish to be evaluated this way should contact the professor at the beginning of the semester.
The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft...) will be qualified with 0 in this assignment or exam. In case there are several irregularities, the final grade of the subject will be 0.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group work | 20% | 0 | 0 | 2, 3, 5, 4, 6, 7, 12, 11, 17, 16, 15, 13, 14 |
| Readings | 30% | 0 | 0 | 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 8, 10, 15, 14, 18 |
| Written test | 50% | 0 | 0 | 3, 5, 4, 16, 15, 13 |
Bibliography
Software
There is no specific software.