Checking date: 28/03/2022


Course: 2023/2024

Sociological Analysis II
(19313)
Master in Social Sciences (Plan: 481 - Estudio: 325)
EPC


Coordinating teacher: FERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, JUAN JESUS

Department assigned to the subject: Social Sciences Department

Type: Electives
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:




Objectives
Core Competencies Possess and understand knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity to be original in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context. Students know how to apply their acquired knowledge and problem-solving skills in new or unfamiliar settings within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study. That students are able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of making judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments. Students know how to communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and ultimate reasons behind them to specialised and non-specialised audiences in a clear and unambiguous way. That students possess the learning skills that will enable them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous. General Competencies To evaluate and compare the different contributions to the important debates in the social sciences from an analytical, methodological and empirical point of view. Evaluate the internal logic of a scientific publication, examining the consistency between theory, analytical strategy, indicators, results and conclusions. Understand and know how to synthesize the main theories into one or more contemporary debates in the social sciences. Specific Competences To employ the core concepts of social theory in the analysis of the main determinants of social change and its mechanisms at the micro level. Learning outcomes 1. Mastery of the relationship between social structures and personal situations as the central axis of sociology. Identify the different types of social structures: social facts, institutions, aggregated recurrences and cognitive frameworks. 2. Knowledge about the dimensions of the debate on the nature of modernity in classical theory: rationalization (Weber), interdependence (Durkheim), mode of production (Marxism), cultural change (functionalism). Classical theoretical contributions to the debate. 3. Mastery of approaches in contemporary social theory on the nature of modernity: governmentality (Foucault), social fields (Bourdieu) and structuring (Giddens). 4. Knowledge of the terms of the contemporary debate between agency and structure in sociology. Micro-individualist, macro-cultural determinists and macro-structural determinists perspectives. Attempts to integrate both positions. 5. Mastery of the differences between contemporary analytical approaches in contemporary sociology: historical sociology, game theory, analytical ethnography, advanced quantitative techniques and analytical sociology. To identify the advantages and disadvantages of each of them and the common aspects among them. 6. Knowledge about the different types of mechanisms in social action: situational, action formers and transformational. To know the different types of social explanations: general laws, statistical explanations and mechanisms. 7. Mastery of the differences between styles and approaches in the sociology carried out in different regions of the planet: contemporary sociology from the United States, Europe and other regions. 8. Knowledge of the different types of social structure according to contemporary sociology. 9. Mastering the differences between different types of institutionalist approaches 10. Knowledge of the structure and style of the most prestigious studies in contemporary empirical sociology. 11. Mastery of the great differences between sociology, political science and economics towards the understanding of behaviour in society. 12. Knowledge of frontier research and future trends in sociology. The role of experiments, sociobiology, analysis of big data. Interdisciplinary confluence lines.
Skills and learning outcomes
Description of contents: programme
1. The relationship between social structures and personal situations as the central axis of sociology. 2. The nature of modernity in classical theory 3. Contemporary social theory about the nature of modernity 4. The contemporary debate between agency and structure in sociology 5. Differences between contemporary analytical approaches in contemporary sociology 6. Types of mechanisms in social action 7. The differences between the styles and approaches in the sociology carried out in different regions of the planet 8. Types of social structure according to contemporary sociology 9. Mastering the differences between different types of institutionalist approaches 10. The structure and style of the most prestigious studies in contemporary empirical sociology
Learning activities and methodology
TRAINING ACTIVITIES Theoretical class Practical classes Tutorials Individual student work TEACHING METHODS Presentations in the professor's lecture room with computer and audiovisual support, in which the main concepts of the subject are developed and a bibliography is provided to complement the students' learning. Critical reading of texts recommended by the subject professor: Press articles, reports, manuals and/or academic articles, either for later discussion in class, or to expand and consolidate knowledge of the subject. Resolution of practical cases, problems, etc. raised by the professor, either individually or in a group. Presentation and discussion in class, under the moderation of the professor, of topics related to the content of the subject, as well as practical case studies. Developing pieces of work and reports, individually or in group.
Assessment System
Basic Bibliography
  • Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction. Harvard University Press. 1984
  • Desmond, Matthew. Evicted. Penguin. 2016
  • Fishman, Robert. Democratic Practice: Origins of the Iberian Divide in Political Inclusion. Oxford University Press. 2019
  • Fligstein, Niel and Doug McAdam. A Theory of Fields. Oxford University Press. 2012
  • Foucault, Michel. Security, Territory, Population. Palgrave. 2009
  • Mills, C. Right. . The Sociological Imagination. Oxford University Press. 2000
  • Wimmer, Andreas. Waves of War: Nationalism, State Formation and Ethnic Exclusion in the Modern World. Oxford University Press. 2013

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.