Sociology and Anthropology of the Contemporary Worlds
[ESPO1113]
[40h] 5 credits
This course is taught in the 1st semester.
Teacher(s): Jean De Munck, Matthieu de Nanteuil-Miribel
Language: French
Level: First
Aims
The course is intended to enable students on a range of degree courses to become familiar with the perspective and theoretical and conceptual framework adopted within Sociology and Anthropology. The point of departure for this introduction to the topics covered in Sociology and Anthropology will be to examine some of the key issues of modern society.
This course aims to: introduce students to the perspective taken in Sociology and Anthropology; teach students about contemporary social realities; help students acquire the principal concepts and discover the main interpretative theories of social reality; place modern society within its historical perspective.
Part II
This course builds on the introductory Sociology and Anthropology course. The main focus of the course is on learning to interpret anthropological and sociological texts, the aim being to teach students to read scientific texts in these two fields, involving:
- understanding the key concepts in the text;
- identifying the explicit and implicit arguments;
- summarizing the content;
- positioning the text in relation to the rest of the writer's work;
- positioning the text in relation to other texts in the same field (intertextuality);
- situating the text within its socio-historical context;
- locating the issues dealt with in the text within the contemporary socio-historical context;
- producing a critical analysis of the text
Main themes
- Sociology and Anthropology will be used as instruments for analyzing society and discourse in the human sciences: students will be given a brief overview of the historical development of sociological and anthropological approaches, showing the types of questions they have raised over the course of time and their relation to social change. The course also shows how anthropological and sociological methods have developed and illustrates research techniques.
- This introduction will be based on the analysis of social realities and changes in contemporary society. Various specific topics will be covered within the following broad topic areas: Individual and society (individual/genre and sexuality); Social institutions (Family, marriage, kinship / Education / Media / Science and Technology / Religion); spaces and territories (City / Mobility / Globalisation); Social structures and power (Stratification and social inequalities /Exchange and negotiation /ethnic relations / states and political parties / Groups and organizations / War, the Army); social change: production and reproduction (Education and training/ Work and organization /Consumption).
- This approach places contemporary society within a historical perspective, linking it with pre-modern societies and the anthropological bases of society.
- Students should also acquire key elements of sociological and anthropological theory: this will include the basic elements of a sociological and anthropological vocabulary and some major conceptual notions. For example: the idea of society as a complex whole of social forms produced by the culture; the theory of man as an actor within society; culture and the creation of the individual; social powers and relationships; stratification and social mobility.
Part II
The texts covered may come either from a book on Sociology and Anthropology or be a collection of disparate texts from the two fields.
Content and teaching methods
- lectures given by the course teacher;
- active student participation through reading and production of summaries and critical analyses
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)
Evaluation: For students of Sociology, Anthropology and Political Science, the course will be evaluated in conjunction with the introductory course in Sociology and Anthropology.