Sociology

Teacher(s)

Kochuyt Thierry (compensates Zitouni Benedikte); Zitouni Benedikte;

Language

Dutch

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

This course will introduce the students within the field of sociology by showing how it can clarify a wide variety of topics and issues. A recurrent theme however will be modernity. The problems it creates still characterize the challenges of present day society. A thorough questioning offering several interpretations of this matter will deal not only with the classics but also with more recent authors

Content

This course contains 2 major parts. a) In the introduction we present sociology as an empirical science which distinguishes itself from other behavioral sciences like psychology and biology. Once the specificity of the sociological approach is clarified we tackle its central notions. b) The second part focuses on the central question within the discipline: how to understand the changes of modernity that shake up our society ? Hence we introduce the founding fathers and update their work by referring to more recent authors: Marx & Piketty, Durkheim & Merton, Weber & Boltanski, Bourdieu & Wacquant, Goffman/Becker & Butker. Overall, the course will give an overview of the major trends that mark modern society: secularization, postindustrial society, post materialism, globalization, the power of equality and sustainable development.

Teaching methods

This course starts with ex cathedra lectures and invites the students to participate in an active way. Several texts will be uploaded on Moodle. As external source we refer to the manual van Hoof, Jacques & Joris van Ruysseveldt (red.) Sociologie en de moderne samenleving. Students are invited to read the texts beforehand. The chapters that are not based on the manual, will be outlined in a written text that can be found on Moodle. For the whole course, power point presentations will be uploaded on the same digital platform. All this material comes as a support, yet it remains mandatory to attend class and take notes.

Evaluation methods

Oral exam. The relative weight will be the following: 3 open questions (15/20) + personal reading (prepared in advance, 5/20).

Bibliography

Le manuel dont des passages seront sélectionnés pour la préparation des séances:

• van Hoof, Jacques en Joris van Ruysseveldt (red.) Sociologie en de Moderne Samenleving. Maatschappelijke veranderingen van de industriële omwenteling tot in de 21ste eeuw. Amsterdam: Boom.

Lecture obligatoire additionnel, un livre à choisir parmi ceux-ci:

• Aziz, Rachida (2017) Niemand zal hier slapen vannacht. Berchem: EPO.

• De Grauwe, Paul (2014(2020)) De Limieten van de Markt. De slinger tussen Overheid en Kapitalisme. Tielt: Lannoo.

• Hens, Tine (2015) Het klein Verzet. Berchem: EPO.

Un podcast à écouter hebdomadairement: Interne Keuken Radio 1 (https://radio1.be/podcast-interne-keuken) et toutes les 2/3 semaines : PLAN B (https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/tag/plan-b/)

Teaching materials

• van Hoof, Jacques en Joris van Ruysseveldt (red.) Sociologie en de Moderne Samenleving. Maatschappelijke veranderingen van de industriële omwenteling tot in de 21ste eeuw. Amsterdam: Boom.
• Textes sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

> ESPB