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Fundamentals of Sociology

Code: 101105 ECTS Credits: 12
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Political Science and Public Management FB 1
Sociology FB 1
International Relations FB 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Teresa Sorde Marti
Email:
teresa.sorde@uab.cat

Teachers

Anna Clot Garrell
Maria Teresa Sorde Marti
Ainhoa Flecha Fernandez Sanmamed
Marc Barbeta Viņas

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

-


Objectives and Contextualisation

The aim of this course is to introduce the students into the sociological perspective, revising the main theoretical concepts from classical sociological theory with the ultimate goal to better understand the social phenomena in all their complexity. Sociology analyses social facts from a scientific perspective (that means methodologically and systematically) which is essentially differentiated from common sense. The idea is to capture those dynamics which are very often latent or hidden. Last but not least, the course is also aimed at equipping the students with the horizontal competence of Gender Perspective through the learning activities and the selected contents.


Competences

    Political Science and Public Management
  • Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
  • Distinguishing the discipline's main theories and different fields: conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and theoretical approaches underlying the discipline's knowledge and different areas and sub-areas, as well as their value for the professional practice through concrete cases.
  • Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
  • Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
  • Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
  • Working autonomously.
    Sociology
  • Analysing the problems arising from the implementation of public policies and conflict situations by recognising the complexity of the social phenomena and political decisions affecting democracy, human rights, social justice and sustainable development.
  • Demonstrating a comprehension of the approaches of the sociological theory in its different aspects, interpretations and historical context.
  • Describing social phenomena in a theoretically relevant way, bearing in mind the complexity of the involved factors, its causes and its effects.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Developing self-learning strategies.
  • Enumerating the methodology and investigation techniques that support the main hypothesis about social relationships, the positions and practices of individuals in a social structure and the social changes.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
  • Working in teams and networking in different situations.
    International Relations
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the behaviour of international actors, both state and non-state.
  • Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  • Identify the main theories of international relations and their different fields (international theory, conflicts and security, international politics, etc.) to apply them in professional practice.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
  • 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

  1. Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
  2. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  3. Clearly distinguishing between facts and value judgements.
  4. Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
  5. Compare the different theoretical focuses on social structure.
  6. Consider how gender stereotypes and roles impinge on the exercise of the profession.
  7. Contextualizing them in their time.
  8. Define the most commonly used concepts to explain inequality.
  9. Defining the main sociological concepts.
  10. Demonstrating good writing skills in different contexts.
  11. Describe and make adequate use of the main concepts in the relations between politics and society: regulation of social conflict, political power and legitimation, political system.
  12. Describe the main elements of the political process: socialisation, attitudes and political ideologies.
  13. Describing the major processes of life in society: socialization and institutionalization.
  14. Describing the structural framework of life in society.
  15. Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  16. Developing self-learning strategies.
  17. Differentiating their theoretical and methodological assumptions.
  18. Distinguishing between a sociological hypothesis and a value judgement on democracy, human rights, social justice or sustainable development.
  19. Distinguishing the main qualitative methods and techniques.
  20. Expressing their methodological basis.
  21. Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  22. Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
  23. Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within the area of your own knowledge.
  24. Identifying their validity or obsolescence in other times.
  25. Identifying these approaches: functionalism, interactionism, action sociologies, etcetera).
  26. Interpret the historical political and social frameworks as an explanatory background to current frameworks, for a better understanding of the current situation.
  27. Managing the available time in order to accomplish the established objectives and fulfil the intended task.
  28. Produce and prepare the presentation of intervention reports and/or proposals.
  29. Properly applying main concepts about societies, its processes and its structures.
  30. Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
  31. Propose projects and actions in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
  32. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  33. Realising effective oral presentations that are suited to the audience.
  34. Relate definitions and explanations of inequality with general theoretical and methodological debates.
  35. Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  36. Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
  37. 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.
  38. Synthesizing and critically analysing information.
  39. Using the main contributions of the sociological theory: Durkheim, Comte, Weber and Marx.
  40. Working autonomously.
  41. Working in teams and networking in different situations.

Content

PART I. THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

1.1. What is sociology?

a) Sociology as a science

b) The birth of sociology: social forces and intellectual forces

c) The sociological imagination

d) Sociology as a multi-paradigmatic discipline

e) The professionalization of sociology

 

1.2. Society in perspective: socialization, institutionalization and structuration

a) Socialization and socialization agents

b) Institutionalization

c) Structuration, axes of inequality and intersectionality

PART II: CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PROBLEMS

a) Ethics and research in Social Sciences

b) Levels of analysis: micro, meso, macro

c) Applied studies

PART III. Functional elements of classical sociological thought

a) Karl Marx: Sociology of social relations. The critique of the political economy. Materialism, mode of production and social classes. Origin, development and social structure of capitalism. Religion and its disappearance. The discomforts of modernity: alienation and reification. 

b) Émile Durkheim: Sociology of social facts. The rules of the sociological method. Normality and pathology. Social cohesion and division of labour: the forms of solidarity. Suicide as a social phenomenon. Elementary forms of religious life. The discomforts of modernity: anomy. 

c) Max Weber: Sociology of social actions. Comprehensive sociology. Power, authority and domination. Religion, capitalism and modernity. Reason, rationality and rationalization: "The iron cage". The discomforts of modernity: the disenchantment of the world.  

d) Marianne Weber: Sociology of Women. Equality and Autonomy. Marriage, domestic work and women's rights. Objective culture, gender issues and Modernity.

e) Georg Simmel: Sociology of social interactions. Social forms andsocial types. Social functions of conflict. Money, urban life and its effects onculture. Religious devotion. The comforts of modernity: theextension of social circles. 

f) Jane Addams: Sociology of social reforms. Research, residence and reform. Poverty and social structure. Religious diversity. Democracy and participation. The disenchantment of modernity: urban transformations and segregation. 

PART IV. Relevant Contributions for Classical Sociological Theory 

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures, seminars 99 3.96 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 12, 11, 15, 3, 19, 18, 17, 20, 33, 25, 21, 24, 22, 26, 34, 35, 38, 41, 29, 39, 6
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 30 1.2 4, 16, 15, 28, 23, 35
Type: Autonomous      
Reading texts, study, exercises 157 6.28 36, 7, 10, 14, 3, 18, 27, 25, 24, 30, 31, 32, 37, 35, 38, 40, 41, 29, 39

Lectures

Reading texts

Comprehension activities

Concepts comprehension activities

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Reading seminars 15% 8 0.32 1, 2, 5, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 13, 12, 11, 15, 19, 18, 17, 25, 21, 24, 22, 26, 37, 38, 29, 39
Written evaluation 1, Written evaluation 2, Comparative evaluation 30%, 30%, 25% 6 0.24 36, 4, 10, 16, 3, 28, 20, 33, 27, 23, 22, 30, 31, 32, 37, 34, 35, 40, 41, 6

The final evaluation will be based on:

1) Written evaluation 1: (35%)

2) Written evaluation 2: (35%)

3) Seminars: (30%)

Students who have opted for the continuous assessment option will not be able to pass the subject without having participated in at least 70% of the activities carried out in class.

The characteristics and schedule of the written evaluations will be detailed at the beginning of the course.

Professors may set a minimum score for some or all of the evaluation evidence to be considered in the final score.

Definition of “Not Submitted”: A student will receive the grade “Not Submitted” if they have submitted or participated in less than 30% of the assessment evidence.

For students who opt for the single evaluation, professors, in accordance with the UAB regulatory framework, will require three pieces of evaluation evidence to be submitted on the date set by the Faculty’s evaluation calendar.

Remedial: To be eligible for the remedial exam, it will be necessary to have been previously evaluated on a minimum of two-thirds of the total course content. A student may retake up to 30% of the evaluation examinations.

In all the above cases, if plagiarism or incorrect use of artificial intelligence supports is detected, the activity will be scored as 0. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively in support tasks, such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction or translations. The student must clearly identify which parts have been improved with this technology, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency in the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.

Bibliography

Compulsory BIBLIOGRAPHY

At the beginning of the course, students will be informed of the list of  selected readings of the subject. Additionally, each professor might indicate some more specific readings.

  • Addams, Jane (1910). Veinte años de Hull House. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2014.
  • Addams, Jane. (2002). Democracy and social ethics. University of Illinois Press.
  • Addams, Jane (2002). Peace and Bread in Time of War; Introduction by Katherine Joslin. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Disponible online: https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.are.uab.cat/lib/uab/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=3226580
  • Addams, Jane (2017). El largo camino de la memoria de las mujeres. Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza. Disponible online: https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.are.uab.cat/lib/uab/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=3226580
  • Berger, Peter L. (1963). Invitació a la sociologia. Barcelona: Herder, 1986.
  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday.
  • Cooper, Anna J. (2017). A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library. Web. Disponible online: https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1c3utr0/cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781469633336
  • Durkheim, Émile (1893). La división del trabajo social. Madrid, Akal, 1982.
  • Durkheim, Émile (1895). Las reglas del método sociológico. Madrid: Alianza, 1986.
  • Durkheim, Émile (1897). El suicidio. Madrid, Akal, 1976.
  • Durkheim, Émile (1912). Les formes elementals de la vida religiosa. Barcelona: Edicions 62/Diputació de Barcelona, 1986.
  • Freud, Sigmund (1901). “Psicopatologia de la vida cotidiana”, Tomo III Obras completas. Madrid: Ed. Biblioteca Nueva, 1987, pàg. 759-764.
  • Freud, Sigmund (1923). El ‘yo’ y el ‘ello’, Tomo VII Obras completas. Madrid: Ed. Biblioteca Nueva, 1987, pàg. 2701-2728.
  • Freud, Sigmund (1930). El malestar en la cultura  y otros ensayos. Madrid: Alianza, 1984, pag. 7-88.
  • Freud, Sigmund (1927). Psicología de las masas, Más allá del principio del placer, El porvenir de una ilusión. Alianza: Madrid 1993.
  • Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (2014). The Man-Made World or Our Androcentric-Culture / Charlotte Perkins Gilman. València: JPM Ediciones.
  • Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, Mary Jo Deegan, and Michael R. Hill. (2002) The Dress of Women a Critical Introduction to the Symbolism and Sociology of Clothing / Charlotte Perkins Gilman ; Edited, with an Introduction by Michael R. Hill and Mary Jo Deegan. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Disponible online: https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991010482729206709
  • Marx, Karl (1844). Manuscritos: Economia y filosofia. Madrid: Alianza, 1970
  • Marx, Karl (1845). Once tesis sobre Feuerbach. Madrid: Alhambra, 1989.
  • Marx, Karl i Friederich Engels (1846). La ideologia alemanya. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1969.
  • Marx, Karl (1848). Manifiesto comunista. Madrid: Fundación Friedrich Engels, 2005.
  • Marx, Karl (1865). Salario, precio ganancia. Barcelona: DeBarris, 1997.
  • Marx, Karl (1867) El capital. Madrid: Akal, 2000.
  • Simmel, Georg (1896). Cultura líquida y dinero. Fragmentos simmelianos de la modernidad. Barcelona: Cuajimalpa i Anthropos, 2010.
  • Simmel, Georg (1903). El individuo y la libertad. Barcelona: Península, 2001.
  • Simmel, Georg (1908). Sociologia. Investigacions sobre les formes de socialització, (2 Vols.). Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1988.
  • Weber, Marianne (2007). La mujer y la cultura moderna. Tres ensayos. Cali: Archivos del Índice.
  • Weber, Marianne (2011). Ensayos selectos. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades.
  • Weber, Max (1904). La "objetividad" del conocimiento en la ciencia social y en la política. Madrid: Alianza, 2009.
  • Weber, Max (1904-1905). L'ètica protestant i l'esperit del capitalisme. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1984.
  • Weber, Max (1919). El político y el científico. Madrid: Alianza. 1967.
  • Weber, Max (1921). La acción social ensayos metodológicos. Barcelona: Península, 1984.
  • Weber, Max (1922). “Clases, status, partido”. A: Gerth, H.H., Wright Milles, C.(Comp.) (1946). Ensayos de Sociología Contemporánea. Barcelona: Martínez Roca, 1972, pàg. 221-240.
  • Wells-Barnett, I. B. (2021). The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics & Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States. Read Books Ltd.

Software

No software will be used.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 2 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 51 Catalan annual afternoon
(PAUL) Classroom practices 52 Catalan annual afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 1 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 2 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 10 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 20 Catalan/Spanish annual morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 51 Catalan annual afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 52 Catalan annual afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 510 Catalan annual afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 520 Catalan annual afternoon
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Catalan annual morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 51 Catalan annual afternoon
(TE) Theory 52 Catalan annual afternoon