Sociology

Teacher(s)

Zitouni Benedikte;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

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

Distinguish between the major currents of sociology as it is practiced today. He or she will be familiar with several founding texts and the theses presented by some of the discipline's key authors. He or she will be able to recognize the scientific and political stakes involved in any sociological research and, in turn, begin to use the tools of sociology to make sense of current events and, more generally, of social phenomena.

Content

The course is divided into two parts. The first part is the introduction to the field and its major theories taught by the professor throughout the Fall Term. The second part is a series of applied sessions where the assistant confronts the theoretical contents to current affairs (eight sessions spread over the entire semester). 

During the lectures, the professor presents the main founding traditions of the discipline : Emile Durkheim's positivist or structural approach, Max Weber's comprehensive sociology and last but not least, both schools of Chicago and Atlanta. Next, she presents more recent theoretical endeavors that shape the field: critical sociology (Pierre Bourdieu a.o.), symbolic interactionism (Howard Becker, Erving Goffman, a.o.) and actor-network-theory (Antoine Hennion, Bruno Latour, a.o.). She'll point out the paradigmatic as well as the conceptual framin for each of these traditions and endeavors.

Overall, through both conceptual exploration and its application to current affairs, the course aims to familiarise students with : the ways in which social backgrounds shape individual trajectories, the impact of historical and collective genealogies as well as the persistence of class inequalities. The course must also allow students to find their way and learn to differentiate several processes and mechanisms of exclusion such as norm-imprinting, institutionalisation of inherited values, social reproduction, stigmatisation, disqualification of some practices over others, amongst others.

Teaching methods

Lectures on the on the hand during which students must take note. Current affair sessions on the other hand which will favour, as much as possible, discussion with the students. Overall, developments will be made by the lecturer and the assistant in order to tackle issues and questions raised by the students. All of this is part of the course and must be studied for the exam.

Evaluation methods

Closed-book exam. If the logistical and material conditions of the exam allow for it, the student will also have to analyse a documentary, or fragment thereof, shown in the exam room. 

Other information

This is a French-taught course.

Bibliography

Exceptés le syllabus, le visionnage de documentaires et la lecture de faits d'actualité prévus par le cours, il est fortement encouragé aux étudiant·e·s de s'intéresser à des essais et prises de position rédigées par des intellectuel·le·s et/ou chercheur·e·s universitaires. En voici quelques-uns qui ont été abordés dans le cours, ces dernières années: 

Mona Chollet, Beauté fatale, 2012; Virginie Despentes, King Kong Théorie, Paris, Grasset, 2006 ; Silvia Federici, Le capitalisme patriarcal, Paris, La Fabrique éditions, 2019 ; Amandine Gay, Une poupée en chocolat, Paris, éditions La Découverte, 2021 ; Donna Haraway, Manifeste des espèces compagnes, Paris, Flammarion, 2019 ; Andreas Malm, Comment saboter un pipeline, Paris, La Fabrique éditions, 2020 ; Françoise Vergès, Un féminisme décolonial, Paris, Fabrique éditions, 2019; et tant d'autres qu'on trouve facilement dans les rayons des libraires indépendants. 

Pour ceux et celles qui souhaitent consulter un manuel en bibliothèque, ils peuvent s’en référer à : Luc Van Campenhoudt, Introduction à l’analyse des phénomènes sociaux, Bruxelles, Dunod, 2007. Par ailleurs, des extraits des textes classiques présentés au cours seront mise à disposition via l’interface Moodle.

Teaching materials

• Sociologie - Syllabus - Support pour le cours magistral

Faculty or entity

> ESPB