Political sociology

Teacher(s)

Wets Johan;

Language

Dutch

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

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

The aim of this course of Political Sociology s to provide information on basic concepts and theories and the analysis of social structures and processes which give rise to how society is organised and managed, how social goals are achieved. Many social phenomena and events and the decision making process can only be understood by looking at social structures, norms and values of a society. The students should comprehend the basic concepts and theories and are expected to develop the ability to analyze different social problems.

Content

- What is (Political) Sociology?
- The global context
- Globalization
- Ideology
- Power
- Politics, state and political system
- Capita selecta : social security
- Capita selecta in election years: The American elections

Teaching methods

The course is a theoretical direct-contact course (ex-cathedra). An active participation of the students is encouraged and valued.
The lessons are supported by PowerPoint presentations which will be made available to the students.

Evaluation methods

The students will be assessed by an oral exam with preparation time (written).
The exam assess to what extend the students are familiar with the concepts and theories presented in the course and to what extend they are capable of analyzing a social problem using the insights taught.
In the event of force majeure when only distance learning is possible as during the COVID-19 period,  the students will be asked to write a synthesis of the treated subject matter after every 3 lessons (i.e. 4 times a year). As an exam, the students are asked to write a paper based of a text distributed just before the exam. The final quotation is based on the syntheses (4 x 15%) and the exam paper (40%).

Other information

30 direct-contact hours, Second quarter, theory.
The students will be able to download a reader as well as the in-class used PowerPoint presentations.

Faculty or entity

> ESPB