Face-to-face , first and second term, 60 hours of theory.

First term
Tuesday from 14:00 to 16:00 at 43 Botanique 1
Second term
Friday from 14:00 to 16:00 at 43 Botanique 1

French.

First semester:
The main aim is to initiate the students to the discipline of sociology, to its specificity among human sciences, to its own way of building a subject and to some of its major paradigms. The course is not built on an overview of sociological theories and paradigms, but on the presentation of “sociological gestures” as embodied in famous research. Thus, the student will be familiarised with theoretical, methodological and epistemological dimensions of society. He will be able to identify what differentiates a “social problem” from a sociological problem. Particular attention will be given to the implications of these different “sociological gestures” for the reflection on the law, its genesis, its applications, its social functions.

Second semester:
The course aims at enabling the students to acquire a general sociological culture, through an initiation to its authors as well as sociological concepts and approach.

Specific aims:
a) To bring the students to situate the main trends or “paradigms” in sociology and to “think” a social issue within one of them. This approach consists of “building up” a sociological object, i.e. to go from a “social issue” to a “sociological issue” or “set of issues”.
b) To present some main themes or key-concepts of sociology by illustrating them with “emblematic” research studies (i.e. research studies which have simultaneously “left their mark on” the discipline, are representative of some paradigms, and are enlightening to understand the society in which we live).
c) In parallel, each of these themes will lead us to reflect on one of the dimensions of the sociological approach, to elucidate its main “rules”: the construction of the object, the comprehensive approach, the rupture with established categories, taking into account social relations and the historical context of the social structures.

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First semester:
The course will consist of four sections, within which will be discussed the authors that have developed a characteristic vision of a social phenomenon based on empirical research.
- Section 1: Society as an integrated whole (Emile Durkheim, “Suicide”, Marcel Mauss, “The Gift”, Norbert Elias, “Dynamic of the West”)
- Section 2: Society as divided whole (Karl Marx, Edward Thompson and the Making of the English Working Class, Charles Wright Mills and The Power Elite)
- Section 3: Society, produce of construction (Georg Simmel, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, H. Garfinkel)
- Section 4: Society, produce of the action of individuals (Max Weber, the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Michel Crozier, The Bureaucratic Phenomenon)

Second semester:
1. Theme 1: The paradigms of sociology: presentation of classical authors and contemporary exceedances: the concept of social relation
2. Theme 2: Social structure, contemporary reproduction and transformations. Authors: Bourdieu, Bastenier, Lahire. Elements of sociological approach: sociology of “revelation”? : The construction of the object, the “rupture” and its limitation
3. Theme 3: Social control and deviance. Authors: Goffman, Becker, Foucault, Castel. Elements of sociological approach: understanding the most “irrational” behaviour, deconstruct the established categories
4. Theme 4: Metamorphoses of the social question and the new spirit of capitalism. Authors: Castel, Boltanski. Element of sociological approach: “historicising” social phenomena
5. Theme 5: A society of individuals? The individual, the subject, the social actor. Element of sociological approach: how to design a sociology of the individual and the subject;

1- Theme 1: The paradigms of sociology: presentation of the classical authors and contemporary surpassing;
2. Theme 2: Social structure, contemporary reproduction and transformations. Authors: Bourdieu, Bastenier, Lahire, Notions of the sociological approach: a sociology of "disclosing"?: the building of a subject, the ìbreakî and its limits;
3. Theme 3: Social control and deviance. Authors: Goffman, Becker, Foucault, Castel, Notions of the sociological approach: understanding of the most ìirrationalî behaviours: deconstruction of the instituted categories;
4. Theme 4: Metamorphoses of the social issue and the new spirit of capitalism. Authors: Castel, Boltanski. Notions of the sociological approach: "historicising" social phenomena;
5. Theme 5: A society of individuals? The individual, the subject, the social actor. Notions of the sociological approach: how to conceive sociology of the individual and the subject?

First semester:
The course is taught as a lecture, where it is expected that students take personal notes. The students will also have an outline of the course that will allow them to structure their notes.
Second semester:
- The students will have a syllabus including the outline of the course as well as the theoretical contributions. The students' notes will complete this syllabus (research results, case studies and illustrations presented orally in class)

First semester:
The assessment is a written examination. To pass the examination requires, of course, a good knowledge of the subject matter. The questions, however, are not limited to a simple restitution. They are designed to test the ability of the students to use their acquired knowledge, for instance by requesting a reworking of the material, comparisons between authors or theories.

Second semester:
The assessment is a 2 hour written examination and includes at least one question about each theme of the course (5 or 6 questions). It includes:
- questions of fundamental knowledge and understanding. The aim is to check that the students master the fundamental notions of the course (concepts, principles of sociological analysis, works of the authors) without which a more in depth reflection wouldn't make any sense. The questions may be presented in different ways: definition and illustration of a concept, comparison of two notions, explanation and illustration of a key-concept of sociological analysis;
- questions involving the implementation of a sociological reflection to a social phenomenon (presented or not in class): press articles, excerpts of interviews, analysis of an iconographic document…

The reference work required for the course is the book of Professor Luc Van Campenhoudt, Nicolas Marquis “Cours de sociologie”, Dunod, Paris, 2014.

An additional bibliography relating to the different paradigms and themes will be handed out to the students, enabling those who wish so, to deepen some parts of the subject matter.

Syllabus.
For the first term, notes relating to topics covered in class but not covered in the book will be made available to students.
The second term course will also take up some themes.