Political sociology

Teacher(s)

Vanderborght Yannick;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

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

This introductory course aims at providing the students with a good overview of contemporary political sociology, of its main issues and currents of thought. The great authors and paradigms of this sub-discipline of sociology, which is closely connected to political science, will be dealt with. For each sub-field of political sociology, classic works and contemporary studies will be presented and analysed in some detail.

Content

After a general introduction on what makes political sociology a hybrid discipline, which uses the sociological method to study political phenomena, the course is divided into three main parts, in order to give a good overview of classic and contemporary works. Among the issues to be dealt with in class are: the state and the market, the determinants of voting behaviour, elite theory, political socialization, deliberative democracy...

Teaching methods

Lecture with Powerpoint presentation. The active participation of students is most welcome. A course syllabus is made available at the start of the second term. While it contains an outline and brief summaries of the topics covered, much of the theoretical discussion and case study examples will not be included. Class attendance course is therefore strongly recommended.

Furthermore, students are required to read a book (or several articles) in political sociology. Each year, a new list of readings (or book) is selected by the lecturer, and is part of the material to be studied for the exam.

Evaluation methods

The exam is written and consists of one or more questions on the required readings and several questions on the course material itself (authors, theories, historical facts, etc.). For detailed information on exam procedures and sample questions, students will check the exam procedures posted on Moodle.

Bibliography

Outre la lecture obligatoire (portefeuille de lectures ou ouvrage), de nombreuses références bibliographiques sont reprises dans le syllabus, pour information seulement.

Faculty or entity

ESPB