UCL - Sociology

[PSP1123]

[30h] 3 credits

This course is taught in the 2d semester.

Teacher(s): Georges Liénard

Language: French

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods

Aims

- to underline the incidence of the sociological dimension on the individual behaviours and namely on the way they are analysed in terms of legitimacy, normality...
- to emphasise the weight of the collective adherences (to a culture, to a region, to a class...)

Main themes

- the theories and methods in sociology
- the founders : Durkheim, Marx, Weber
- the theoretical currents
- structuralism, functionalism, systemic approaches, action sociology
- some specific themes : the individual, power and society; daily life sociology

Content and teaching methods

The course will develop various sociological issues and approaches concerning the sociology of action and of power inside the society. Its aim is to explain the relationships between individuals, social structures, culture and social relationships qualifying a society. The relations between the psychological approach and the chosen sociological approach will be transversely positioned.
Chapter 1: the principles of an action sociology and the various action means available for individuals and for groups in order to act, to build a society and to define the stakes of their actions in this society.
Chapter 2: explanation and links between the various elements of the social structure : institutions, organisations, social trends, social groups, social classes, various social fields.
Chapter 3: position and functions of culture inside the society and functioning of the various cultural systems.
Chapter 4: analysis of the various types of social relationships forming the thread of a society.
Chapter 5: analysis of some general social processes, namely the one concerning culture democratisation and cultural democracy, and the one concerning society rationalisation and instrumentation.