Bachelor
2021/2022
Contemporary Sociology in Global Age 1
Type:
Elective course
Area of studies:
Economics
Delivered by:
International College of Economics and Finance
When:
2 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Olga E. Kuzina
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Contact hours:
60
Course Syllabus
Abstract
Pre-requisites Students are supposed to be familiar with World Intellectual history or History of Western Philosophy, and English for academic writing. Abstract This is a course that will introduce you to sociological ways of analysing the rapidly changing social world of the 21st century. It covers different areas that today's sociologists focus their research on. Sociology is the study of society. But what is sociology? In which way sociological thinking is different from economic explanations? Whereas economists focus on costs and benefits, sociologists are interested in the impact of informal social norms, networks, culture, ideology, power and the like on human behaviour. For example, traditional economic analysis takes the atomistic individual as its starting point, sociology generally begins with groups, or whole societies, which it views as existing independently of and partially constituting the individual. When economic sociologists do focus on individuals, it is generally to examine the ways in which their interests, beliefs, and motivations to act are mutually shaped through the interactions between them. This focus on economic action as social—that is, as oriented toward other people—allows economic sociologists to consider power, culture, organizations, and institutions as being important factors which shapes economic behaviour. During the course students are introduced to sociological explanations of human behaviour as an alternative way of explanation. This course is structured into the following way. The first lecture introduces students into the subject matter of sociology. The second lecture focuses on the methodology of sociological research. In the lectures three and four the major sociological perspectives such as conflict theory, functionalism and social constructionism are described and compared. The rest of the course is devoted to the key theories of inequality in a global context. It offers the conceptual background of these research fields and presents specific cases as illustration. The major areas of inequality that are examined are social class (Lecture 5), race (Lecture 6), ethnicity (Lecture 7), gender (Lecture 8) and sexuality (Lecture 9). The course forms the basis of further studies in disciplines such as: Sociology Of Consumer Finance, Management, etc. An important contribution of this course to ICEF syllabi is made by developing academic essay writing skills which students will use for all further courses where these skills are necessary, as well as for course and diploma papers. The course is taught in English. Contemporary sociology in a global age 1 is an optional one-semester course which can be taken separately or in combination with Contemporary sociology in a global age 2. Taken together both courses are designed to prepare students for the external examination of UoL. The assessment of the students will be done either by the University of London (UoL) exam at the end of the year or by internal exams at ICEF in December (for Contemporary sociology in a global age 1) and in May (for Contemporary sociology in a global age 2).
Learning Objectives
- offer an overview of key issues in contemporary sociology
- apply core substantive and theoretical debates in sociology to a diverse range of empirical societies, including your own
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Able to define and apply sociological concepts and theories to analyse social phenomena of contemporary society
- Able to define and apply the concepts of race and ethnicity, racial discrimination, old (biological) racism and new (cultural) racism, multiple racisms and institutional racism, ‘critical race theory’.
- Able to define and apply the concepts of sex and gender, gender essentialism and biological determinism, gender roles, gender inequality and the history of feminisms, sexuality, heterosexuality versus homosexuality, medicalised homosexuality, heteronormativity.
- Able to define and apply the concepts of social and class stratification schemes.
- Able to define and apply the concepts of ‘new ethnicities’ and situational identity, ethnic inequality, globalisation of ethnicity, push factors’ and ‘pull factors’ models, ethnic conflict, assimilation and integration, ethnicity and health, global differences in health, ‘mobilities research’.
Course Contents
- Introduction The sociologic approach to human behaviour
- Class
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sexuality
Interim Assessment
- 2021/2022 2nd module0.3 * Midterm Assessment + 0.2 * Seminars’ participation and home assignments + 0.5 * Exam
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Bauman, Z. and May, T. Thinking Sociologically, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2001. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1811104
- Dillon, M. Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and Their Applicability to the Twenty-First Century. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) first edition. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1566387
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Cohen, R., Kennedy, P. M., & Perrier, M. (2013). Global Sociology (Vol. 3rd ed). Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1523906