Saint-Louis University - Bruxelles
|

HDPO1125 - Sociology


USL-B


Credits : 5

Lecturer :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , first and second term, 45 hours of theory.

Timetable :
First term
Monday from 19:15 to 20:45 at 43 Botanique 5
Second term
Tuesday from 17:15 to 18:45 at 43 Botanique 5

Language of instruction :
French


Learning outcomes :
General aim: The course aims to enable the students to acquire a general sociological culture through an initiation to sociological authors, concepts and approaches.

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” researches (i.e. researches which have simultaneously “left their mark on” the discipline, which are representative of some paradigms, and which 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.


Prerequisites :
None

Co-requisites :
None

Course contents :
1. Introduction: What is sociology? What is the purpose of sociology?
2. Theme 1: The paradigms of sociology: presentation of classical authors (Durkheim, Weber, Marx, Tocqueville). Element of sociological approach: sociology as narrative of modernity;
3. Theme 2: Social classes, contemporary reproduction and transformations (Bourdieu, Lahire). Element of sociological approach: all knowledge starts with self-knowledge;
4. Theme 3: Social control and deviance. Macro- (Foucault, Castel), meso- (Becker) and micro- (Goffman) approaches. Elements of sociological approach: historicise social phenomena, deconstruct the established categories;
5. Theme 4: The ancient (Weber) and new spirit of capitalism (Boltanski and Chiapello). Element of sociological approach: grasp the symbolic dimension of the social;
6. Theme 5: Collective action and social change. Element of sociological approach: society as historical production;
7. Theme 6: A society of individuals? The individual, the subject, the social actor. Element of sociological approach: how to conceive a sociology of the individual and of the subject?


Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
During the course, the professor presents the common thread, develops illustrations of research works, answers the questions of the students, and shows how the analysis principles can be applied to issues out of the news.


Assessment methods and criteria :
The final assessment will be based on two mid-year exams:
- a written examination about the subject matter of the first term in January. This examination may exempt the students from studying this part again in June. If they succeed (at least 10/20), the obtained mark will count for half of the final mark;
- a written examination about the subject matter of the second half of the year.

The examination lasts 2 hours 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 from interviews, analysis of an iconographic document.


Recommended or required reading :
In addition to the syllabus, the recommended reference work is the book of Professor Luc Van Campenhoudt, “Introduction à l'analyse des phénomènes sociaux”, Dunod, Paris, 2001.

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.


Other information :
A syllabus and a supplementary reading file will be available as a basis of the lecture