Delivered at:: Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

Course type:: Compulsory course

When:: 2 year, 1, 2 module

Abstract

The course is aimed at giving theoretical and methodological resources to reflect on various social and economic phenomena which bind traditional, modern and (post)modern society. The emergence of the ‘sociology of modern society’ was recognized as a break with tradition. At the same time, there is a strong debate on whether this break was intellectually fruitful especially after the turn to a (post)modern state. For example, the growing interest in the artifacts of traditional society, such as gift giving, bazaars, and communities, realizes the need towards the resocialization of economy and society based on new technologies. Social sciences have accumulated rich theoretical and empirical resources which could be applied to conceptualize and objectify present-day challenges of human coexistence. During the course, we will rely on these resources to discuss the agenda of contemporary society. This introductory course exposes the structure of social sciences and the relationships between subfields to provide the polemics between several disciplines – sociology, demography, anthropology, and economic science. It is divided into several sessions which represent main spheres of sociological investigation: social solidarity, gift exchange, money & market exchange, origins of capitalism, stratification & social inequality, family & childbirth, religion, social groups & social networks, trust & social capital, modern organizations & platforms. Lectures in each session rely on the theoretical debates, local cases, and comparative data which represent various countries.

Learning Objectives

Familiarity with the main concepts and schools in social theory, with context of development of modern social thought
Ability to apply basic conceptual tools of sociology for studying basic problems of contemporary social life
Skills of discussion, critical analysis and evaluation of texts in social sciences

Expected Learning Outcomes

ability to differentiate the types of social stratification systems and analyze the social inequality on varoius dimentions
Knows the principles of the Soviet and post-Soviet family policy.
Having mastered the course, the students are expected to be in the position to identify the main sociological and theoretical debate of secularization and de-secularization (the historical processes and their underlying causes).
Able to define and apply sociological concepts and theories to analyse social phenomena of contemporary society
Able to define and apply the concepts of economic sociology, homo economicus, homo sociologicus, embededdness, trust, the substantive and the formal meaning of ‘economic’, new economic sociology, markets as mechanism versus markets as institution, money, social meaning of money, earmarking.
Able to define and apply the concepts of religion, profane and sacred, secularisation thesis, measurements of secularization, religious forms and religious movements, fundamentalism, ‘clash of civilisations’, jihadism.
Able to analyze key anthropological concepts (gift and commodity)
Familiarity with the grand distinction between public and private religion, measures of religiosity.
Familiarity with the main concepts and schools in social theory, with the context of the development of modern social thought.
Familiarity with the main concepts of gift and sharing economy.
Familiarity with the main issues of modern social thought.
Familiarity with the main sociological theories of marriage and family formation.
Familiarity with the origins of modern capitalism and Weber's argument in "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism".
to know main models of social stratification used in empirical researches of social inequality
Student to know about the mopral and legal implications of the embeddedness of informality in the contemporary Russian society
analysing basic approaches in gift theory
- ables to use sociological theories for the analysis of social phenomena and processes
- knows of basic classical theories and paradigms of sociological thinking
The student applies basic facts from graph theory in simple social networks
to describe the presence and intricacies of religions and religiosity in Modern Russia
learn meanings of 'bureaucracy', its features (advantages and disadvantages these features provide), its functions, its limitations, its types
Identify the main concepts and schools in contemporary social theory, with context of development of modern social thought
Apply basic conceptual tools of contemporary sociology for studying basic problems of contemporary social life
Train skills of discussion, critical analysis and evaluation of texts in social sciences
know basic approaches to the sociological studies of organisations
explain the role of social capital and weak ties on the job market
Able to define and apply the concepts of socialisation, habitus, family relations and reflexivity, marriage as nomos building instrumentality, family versus household, values shift, relational competences.
apply the concepts of social network theory to international relations

Course Contents

Introduction. Sociology as a science and way of thinking
Transition to Modern society. Durkheim's theory of solidarity
In search of the “pure sociality”. The Gift.
From Dyad to Triad and Social group. Formal Sociology of George Simmel
On the Origins of Modern Capitalism. Weber's sociology of social action.
Expansion of Capitalism and the rise of Social Inequality
Social networks. Strong and Weak ties.
Religion and (de) Secularization of Society
Family and Social Relations
Organizations and Institutions.
Sociology of Markets and Money
Sociology and International Relations

Assessment Elements

Final Essay
Midterm assessment
Final Exam
Устный экзамен предполагает ответы студентов на вопросы, сформулированные в билетах
Reading Seminars

Interim Assessment

2024/2025 2nd module
0.3 * Final Essay + 0.25 * Final Exam + 0.15 * Midterm assessment + 0.15 * Reading Seminars + 0.15 * Reading Seminars

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

A theory of fields, Fligstein, N., 2012
American religion : contemporary trends, Chaves, M., 2013
Analyzing social networks, Borgatti, S. P., 2018
Bureaucracy, Beetham, D., 1996
Centuries of childhood : a social history of family life, Aries, P., 1962
Culture, class, and critical theory : bettween Bourdieu and the Frankfurt school, Gartman, D., 2014
Distinction : a social critique of the judgement of taste, Bourdieu, P., 2000
Durkheim, Giddens, A., 1986
Economy and society. Vol.1: ., Weber, M., 2013
Economy and society. Vol.2: ., Weber, M., 2013
From Max Weber : essays in sociology, , 1997
Georg Simmel, Frisby, D., 2002
Getting a job : a study of contacts and careers, Granovetter, M., 1995
Handbook of marriage and the family, , 1964
Markets, Aspers, P., 2011
Networks of nations : the evolution, structure, and impact of international networks, 1816-2001, Maoz, Z., 2011
Organizations : rational, natural, and open systems, Scott, W. R., 1998
Personal networks : classic readings and new directions in egocentric analysis, , 2021
Pricing the priceless child : the changing social value of children, Zelizer, V. A., 1994
Readings in the economics of the division of labor : the classical tradition, , 2005
Religion, culture and society : a global approach, Singleton, A., 2014
Reproduction in education, society and culture, Bourdieu, P., 2000
Suicide : a study in sociology, Durkheim, E., 2010
The architecture of markets : an economic sociology of twenty-first-century capitalist societies, Fligstein, N., 2001
The Communist manifesto, Marx, K., 2012
The division of labor in society, Durkheim, E., 1997
The elementary forms of religious life, Durkheim, E., 2008
The gift relationship. From human blood to social policy, Titmus, R.M., 1973
The great transformation : the political and economic origins of our time, Polanyi, K., 1971
The New institutionalism in organizational analysis, , 1991
The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Weber, M., 1992
The purchase of intimacy, Zelizer, V. A., 2005
The relational subject, Donati, P., 2015
The rules of sociological method, Durkheim, E., 1982
The sociology of religion, Weber, M., 1993
The transformation of corporate control, Fligstein, N., 1993

Recommended Additional Bibliography

An Inquiey into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Smith, A., 1998
Bourdieu : a critical reader, , 1999
Capital : an abridged edition, Marx, K., 2008
Conflict and The Web of Group-Affiliations : [two major essays on the dynamics of social organization by the great German philosopher and social theorist], Simmel, G., 1964
Four sociological traditions, Collins, R., 1994
Institutions and organizations, Scott, W. R., 2001
Society and economy : framework and principles, Granovetter, M., 2017
The reason of the gift, Marion, J.- L., 2011

Authors

PAVLYUTKIN IVAN VLADIMIROVICH
Zakharova Elizaveta Sergeevna

Bachelor’s Programme 'International Program 'International Relations and Global Studies''

Address

Sociology

Course Syllabus