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

First term
Wednesday from 10:45 to 12:45 at 119 Marais 3200

Dutch

This introduction to sociology aims at raising the students' awareness about the stakes at play, theoretically, politically, philosophically, when analyzing society. The course explores the structural changes and persisting problems of today's society, which have been analyzed by sociologists for more than a century. More generally, the course aims at giving the students the necessary reference points and overall understanding of sociology for their future orientation in the social and human sciences.

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We'll start by introducing the use and stakes of the discipline and more particularly the sociological imagination i.e. the kinds of framing and problematizing offered by sociology (William Thomas, Charles Wright Mills, a.o.). Then, we'll spend a few sessions studying and exploring social inequality, its objective and subjective dimensions as well as the connection between class, gender and race inequalities, and the collective identities and community dynamics involved therein. Next, we'll look at structural evolutions of modern society, i.e. we'll look at secularisation (from Weber onwards), globalisation (Castells a.o.), and individualism (Beck a.o.). Only then will we go back in time and look at the founders of the discipline (Durkheim and Weber). Finally, during the last sessions we'll explore theories of class conflict ane legitimacy (from Marx to Bourdieu) and of cultural performativity in its broadest sense (Clifford Geertz, Judith Butler, a.o.).

The course is of the participatory kind. Students will have to prepare the sessions by reading twenty pages or so, of a manual. During class, the teacher will develop what was read, delve into it or extend the exploration, by answering questions and entering the discussion with the students. In parallel, on their own, the students will have to listen to a weekly Flemish radio station program, on public issues, and they will have to read one recent book by a Flemish author on a societal matter. This year, societal matters are: sexuality and gender inequality; the (inefficient) prison system; the need for memory-making about past colonial times; structural racism; the (de)politizing effects of globalization; the issues raised by greening capitalism; the crisis of representative democracy. Students will then introduce some of the elements they've read into class discussion. The exam assesses all that has been read, prepared, given and developed in class as well as the understanding of what was heard and read at home. The collective elaboration of knowledge and shared exploration of the discipline is at stake here.

Open-book oral exam.

Manual:
Rudi Laermans, 2012, De maatschappij van de sociologie, Amsterdam : Boom.
Extra required reading, one book out of seven:
• Hans Vandecandelaere, 2019, En vraag niet waarom: Sekswerk in België, Berchem: Uitgeverij EPO, 264 blz
• Hans Claus, 2019, Hoe lang houdt de gevangenis nog stand?, Gent: Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 192 blz.
• Jan Raymaekers, 2018, Kinderen van de kolonie, Antwerpen: Polis, 222 blz.

• Rachida Aziz, 2017, Niemand zal hier slapen vannacht, Berchem: EPO Uitgeverij, 260 blz.
• Diab Abou Jahjah, 2016, Pleidoooi voor radicalisering, Amsterdam & Antwerpen: De Bezige Bij, 146 blz.
• Chris De Stoop, 2015, Dit is mijn hof, Amsterdam & Antwerpen: De Bezige Bij, 282 blz.
• David Van Reybrouck, 2013, Tegen verkiezingen, Amsterdam & Antwerpen: De Bezige Bij, 192 blz