Sociology

Teacher(s)

Zitouni Benedikte;

Language

French

Learning outcomes

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

The course is an in-depth introduction to sociology. Rather than surveying the field, it explores some of the field’s classics and key-authors. In so doing, it aims at raising the students’ awareness about the stakes at play in each sociological undertaking. These stakes are theoretical, practical, but also political and even existential. Debates and divergences amongst sociologists will thus be emphasized. More generally, the course aims at giving students the necessary reference points and overall understanding of sociology for their future orientation in the social and human sciences.

Content

The course is divided into two parts. The first part is the introduction to the field taught by the professor throughout the Fall Term (13 weeks, from September to December). The second part is a series of applied sessions where the assistant (sometimes with the professor) discusses with the students and confronts the theoretical contents to current affairs.

During the introduction, the professor presents the founders of the discipline i.e. those that are referred to today (Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and the Chicago School). Next, she presents more recent theoretical endeavors that shape the field: critical sociology (Pierre Bourdieu, Loïc Wacquant, and others), symbolic interactionism (Howard Becker, Goffman, and others) and actor-network-theory (Antoine Hennion, Bruno Latour, and others). Each time, the lecturer points at the paradigmatic as well as the conceptual choices made by the authors that are being discussed.

Overall, through both conceptual exploration and 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 asscitant in order to tackle issues and questions raised by the students.

Evaluation methods

Closed-book exam. 

Other information

This is a French-taught course.

Bibliography

Exceptés le syllabus et le visionnage de documentaires ou lecture de faits d'actualité prévus par le cours, il est fortement encouragé aux étudiant·e·s de s'intéresser à des essays et prises de positions rédigées par des intellectuel·le·s et/ou chercheur·e·s. 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.

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