Introduction to Sociology
Code: 101275 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500256 Social and Cultural Anthropology | FB | 1 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- María Esther Fernández Mostaza
- Email:
- mariaesther.fernandez@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites to take this course
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main objective of the subject is to offer discursive resources (theoretical and methodological) that allow students to start in the sociological imagination, helping them to analyze and understand how the structuring of human interdependencies has varied (from modernity to the present day) and what have been the effects of these variations.
In this analysis and understanding, we will pay particular attention to the different forms of "socialization", "institutionalization" and "internalization of reality" that human relations entail.
It is not intended to address all the implications of this discipline, but to offer the bases of the sociological perspective. After a brief introduction to the sociological perspective and the classics of the discipline, the program focuses first on the process of socialization and the implications it has on the dialectical relationship between the individual and society. Secondly, it addresses the key aspects for the understanding of the social structure, linking the question of power to social control. Thirdly, it explains how the processes linked to the social construction of identity are immersed in social, power and control structures. Finally, the great current questions about the structure of inequalities in the global world are explored: the change in the structure of classes and the creation of new forms of identity, considering those of gender as those most suggestive to be understood in the present.
Competences
- Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
- Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills 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 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.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse a situation and identify points for improvement.
- Analysing a contemporary fact and relating it to its historical background.
- Carrying out an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
- Describing social phenomena in a theoretically relevant way, bearing in mind the complexity of the involved factors, its causes and its effects.
- Describing the structural framework of life in society.
- Explaining the elements that affect an individual's inclusion in society: family, education, media, culture, religion and ideology.
- Express ideas with a specific vocabulary appropriate to the discipline.
- Identify main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
- Identify situations that require improvement or change.
- Identifying the main ideas of a subject-related text and making a diagram.
- Interpreting today's main events from physical, economic, social and cultural diversity.
Content
1) An introduction to discplina
a) What we talk about when we talk about Sociology
b) The classics of the sociological discipline
c) The sociological imagination
2) The Social Character of Human Nature: Culture and Society
a) Human animality
b) Culture, cognitive architecture, and structure of sensitivity
3) The human condition
a) The articulation of fundamental social relations
b) The love of life and the fear of death
4) From Modernity to Globalization
a) Beyond Repression: The Formation of individualized Individuals
b) Beyond Concealment: The Sociology of Knowledge of the Occult
5) Sociability, individualization, and subjectivity in global society
a) Spatial and temporal compression and the construction of a new social geography
b) Globalization as the gestation of weightless, extraterritorial, and floating power
Methodology
Teaching is articulated from two types of sessions in the classroom: (a) Master classes by the teacher and (b) seminars; the seminars can be both outside and inside the classroom, in which practical exercises are carried out based on the lessons taught and the readings assigned.
The master classes are oriented to the presentation by the teacher of the concepts and central arguments of the subject (following the content of the program). All classes will promote the participation of students based on questions for debate.
The seminars are workspaces on the contents of the subject taught in class and the readings assigned in advance. They are structured around three dynamics (with a specific and agreed calendar): (1) Debates around a specific reading in a "Book Club" format; (2) Outings outside the classroom, both to work on a specific concept and to deepen the topic of coursework. If possible, they will be carried out in small groups.
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 | |||
| Master Class | 45 | 1.8 | 5, 4, 6, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Group work | 24 | 0.96 | 2, 4, 6, 11 |
| Presentations at seminars | 6 | 0.24 | 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings | 67 | 2.68 | 2, 3, 10 |
Assessment
The evaluation modality is for most cases continuous. Students undertake to attend the sessions regularly.
The work for the evaluation will consist of preparing an essay for the following major blocks of the program:
- The social character of human nature: culture and society (25% of the grade, individual, 2-4 pages); corresponds to item 2 of the program.
- The human condition (25% of the note, individual, 2-4 folios); corresponds to item 3 of the program.
- From Modernity to Globalization (30% of the grade, in group); corresponds to point 4 of the program.
The remaining 20% is based on the contribution of each one to the class group in the “Book Club" (10 %) and in the outings outside the classroom (10%).
If the average of the continuous evaluation does not reach the grade of 5, it will be considered that the student has failed the evaluation.
At the time of carrying out each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and date of review of the qualifications.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.
The assessment method in case of single evaluation: evaluation activities will consist of developing an essay for the following major blocks of the program:
- The social character of human nature: culture and society (25% of the grade, individual, 2-4 pages); corresponds to item 2 of the program.
- The human condition (25% of the note, individual, 2-4 folios); corresponds to item 3 of the program.
- From Modernity to Globalization (30% of the grade, in group); corresponds to point 4 of the program.
The remaining 20% will be a pre-recorded 8-minute video presentation on point 5 of the program: Sociability, Individualization and Subjectivity in Global Society.
IMPORTANT
If the student makes any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation of the grade of an evaluation act (such as plagiarism or similar), this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event that several irregularities occur in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final essay | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 5, 4, 6, 11 |
| First essay | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | 2, 5, 4, 6 |
| Presence and contribution of each one to the class group | 10% | 0 | 0 | 4, 3, 6, 10, 11 |
| Second Essay | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 6, 10, 11 |
| Visual thinking practice | 10% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 7, 8, 9 |
Bibliography
Compulsory bibliography
Bauman, Z. (2006). Modernidad y Holocausto (3ª. Ed.). Madrid. Sequitur.
Berger, P. (1986). Invitació a la sociologia: una perspectiva humanística. Barcelona. Herder.
Bourdieu, P i Wacquant L. J. (1994). Per a una sociologia reflexiva.
Cardús, S. (1999). La mirada del sociòleg: què és, què fa, què diu la sociologia. Barcelona. Proa.
Dennis, K. L. (2022). Asalto a la realidad. Barcelona. Blume.
Despret, V. (2022). Autobiografía de un pulpo. Madrid. Consonni.
Despret, V. (2022). A la salud de los muertos. Relatos de quienes se quedan. Barcelona. La oveja roja.
Gracia, Carla (2022), Amb ulls de dona, Barcelona, Univers.
Marx, K i Engels, F. (1997) Manifiesto comunista. Madrid. Akal.
Porte A et al. (2006). La asimilación segmentada sobre el terreno: la nueva segunda generación al inicio de la vida adulta. Migraciones. (19):7-58.
Ritzer, G. (1996). La 'McDonalización' de la Sociedad: un anàlisis de la racionalización en la vida cotidiana. Barcelona. Ariel.
Roy, O. (2010). La santa ignorancia: el tiempo de la religión sin cultura. Barcelona. Ediciones Península.
Stolcke, V. i Wolfson, L. (2000). La 'naturaleza' de la nacionalidad. Desarrollo Económico, 40 (157), 23-24.
Weber, M. (1994). L’ética protestant i l’espirit del capitalisme. Barcelona. Edicions 62.
Durante las sesiones de clase se ofrecerá bibliografía de lectura "no obligatoria" en función de las cuestiones más específicas por las que manifiesta curiosidad y / o ganas de saber.
Block 2 (Essay 1)
Arendt, H. (1958): La condición humana, Barcelona, Paidós, 1993.
Bauman, Z. (1999): La cultura como praxis, Barcelona, Paidós, 2002.
Bourdieu, P. (1984): Cuestiones de Sociología, Madrid, Istmo, 2000.
Bourdieu, P y Wacquant, L (1992): Una invitación a la sociología reflexiva, Buenos Aires, siglo xxi, 2005.
Campillo, A. (1985): Adiós al progreso. Una meditación sobre la Historia, Barcelona, Anagrama, 1995.
Castoriadis, C. (1996): El ascenso de la insignificancia, Madrid, Cátedra, 1998.
Elías, N. (1970): Sociología fundamental. Barcelona, Gedisa, 1995.
Elías, N. (1987): La sociedad de los individuos, Barcelona, Península, 1990.
Sennett, R. (2006): La cultura del nuevo capitalismo, Barcelona, Anagrama, 2006.
Block 3 (Essay 2)
Bauman, Z. (1989): Modernidad y Holocausto. Madrid, Sequitur.
Colectivo Situaciones (2003): Argentina. Apuntes para el nuevo protagonismo social. Barcelona, Virus. 2003
De Giorgi, A. (2000): Tolerancia cero. Estrategias y prácticas de la sociedad de control, Barcelona, Virus, 2005.
Foucault, M: Microfísica del poder, Madrid, La piqueta, 1991.
Morey, M.: Escritos sobre Foucault, Madrid, Sexto Piso, 2014.
Sassen, S. (2007): Una sociología de la globalización. Buenos Aires, Katz Editores, 2007
Block 4 (Final Essay)
Baudrillard, J. (1997): Pantalla total, Barcelona, Anagrama, 2000.
Byung-Chul Han (2012): La sociedad de la transparencia, Barcelona, Herder, 2013.
Lipovetsky, G. (1983): La era del vacío. Ensayos sobre el individualismo contemporáneo. Barcelona, Anagrama, 1986.
Sánchez Ferlosio, R (1993): Vendrán más años malos y nos harán más ciegos. Barcelona, Destino, 1993.
Sennett, R. (1998): La corrosión del carácter. Las consecuencias personales del trabajo en el nuevo capitalismo, Barcelona, Anagrama, 2006 (9ªed).
Sennett, R. (2003): El respeto. Sobre la dignidad del hombre en un mundo de desigualdad. Barcelona, Anagrama, 2003.
Sorvari, Marja. (2022). Travelling (Post)Memory: Maria Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory. 10.1007/978-3-030-95837-4_5
Software
You do not need to use any specific software. However, a basic knowledge of a bibliographic database manager such as Mendeley, is recommended.