Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory.

First term
Tuesday from 08:30 to 10:30 at 43 Botanique 6

Dutch.

The course is an in-depth introduction to sociology. Rather than surveying the field, it explores some of the field's classics and key-authors. By doing this, it aims at raising the students' awareness about the stakes that are at play in each one of the sociological undertakings. These stakes are not only theoretical nor practical; they are also political and even existential. Debates and divergences amongst sociologists will thus be emphasized. More generally, the course aims at giving the students the necessary reference points and meta-understanding of sociology for their future orientation in this field.

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We'll start by introducing the use and stakes of the disicipline and more particularly the sociological imagination i.e. the kinds of framing and problematising offered by sociology (Weber, Thomas, Wright Mills, Becker, a.o.). Then we'll spend a few sessions on studying and exploring the notion of social inequality, its objective and subjective dimensions as well as the connexion between class, gender and race inequality. We'll conclude by tackling thories on collective identitaties and comunity dynamics.

Next, we'll look at modern society. What does modernity (and post-modernity, see Bauman a.o.) mean today ? What did it mean in the past ? And, last but not least, what are the structural evolutions that characterize this modern society. More specifically, we'll look at secularisation (from Weber onwards), globalisation (Castells a.o.), consumption society (Baudrillard a.o.) and risk society (Beck a.o.)

Only then will we go back in time and look at the fouders of socioloy (Durkheim, Weber). During the last sessions we'll explore theories of cultural performativity in its broadest sense (Geertz, Butler, a.o.).

The course is of the participatory kind. Students will have to prepare the sessions by reading 20 pages or so of a manual. During class, the teacher will develop what was read, delve into it or extend the exploration, half by answering questions, half by lecturing. The exam assesses all that has been read, prepared, given and developed as well as the reading and basic understanding of some extra scientific articles, but nothing more. The collective elaboration of knowledge and shared exploration of the discipline is at stake here.

Open-book oral exam.

Manual / Course's leitmotiv:

Rudi Laermans, 2012, De maatschappij van de sociologie, Amsterdam : Boom.

Extra articles :

To be confirmed.

Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory.