00905 - Sociology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students know the main theoretical and methodological sociological tools and should be able to identify different approaches to analysing individual and group behaviour.

Course contents

The course contents will be articulated on: 

• main steps on the history of the sociological thought and knowledge principles of the discipline
• theoretical aspects of general sociology
• methodological aspects of the social research
• operativity aspects
• furthermore, and in consideration of where the course takes place - the School of Psychology - a special attention will be dedicated to the Sociology of Health.

A detailed articulation of contents and other information for the online exams are discussed at the beginning and during the course lessons and are available for anyone in the document: “Presentation of the course - rev emergency (the summer session 2020, presentazione in italiano). You can find it on the teaching materials uploaded on Iol

Specific topics from the manual:

Part I The sociological perspective Chapter 1 Introduction. Sociology in the global world

Chapter 2 Theoretical perspectives

Chapter 3 Sociology as an empirical science: social research

Part II The main categories of sociological analysis

Chapter 4 Culture, cultural institutions and processes

Chapter 5 Power, social action and structures

Chapter 6 Social interactions, groups and processes of socialization

Part III Identity, differences and inequalities

Chapter 7 Migration and ethnicity

Chapter 8 Gender and sexuality

Chapter 9 Stratification and inequalities in the age of globalization

Part IV Social institutions and processes

Chapter 10 Media and consumption

Chapter 11 Deviance

Readings/Bibliography

• Croteau D., Hoynes W. Sociologia generale Temi, concetti, strumenti. Con Connect. Con e-book Ed. McGraw-Hill Anno: 2018 (cap 1-11 incluso)

• Guarino F., Alcol e stile giovane. Un'interpretazione sociologica, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2010 (monographic reading)

  Other readings will be suggested and/or integrated during the course.

   

or as an alternative:

• Giddens A., Duneier M.,Appelbaum R., Carr D. (2014), Introduction to Sociology, Seagull, NY.

• Tempesta E., Prina E. (a cura di) (2010), I giovani e l'alcool. Consumi, abusi, politiche, "Salute e Società",fascicolo supp.3, English version

In any case: contact directly the teacher (francesca.guarino3@unibo.it) 

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons, readings in the classroom, video, powerpoint on the lessons, focus discussions and specific group activities to improve the properties of the sociology as a scientific discipline, with a special attention to field research. These activities are possible only for students who attend the 80% of the lessons and are completing part of the evaluation of the course especially dedicated to attending students.

If you're not going to attend the course, you're invited anyway to attend the first lesson of the course or, eventually, to contact me with an e-mail in order to focus the studying of the books. 

Assessment methods

Normally you can choose one of these options:

a) oral exam on platform "Teams" in English, French or Italian (personalized option)

b) the written text in Italian/"zoom" platform 

In any case, you can contact me directly (francesca.guarino3@unibo.it).

 

a: oral exam criteria

A question is made for each text on a fairly general subject; based on the answer provided, the teacher can add questions in order to develod further and a deepen answer from the candidate: the greater the ability to manage and deepen the discourse/topic required, the greater the assessment of it. With this in mind, the vote will be worded as follows:

•if the student gives answers in a completely approximate way or lists points and uncoordinated, incorrect, and imprecise notions, he is invited to re-appear;

•if the student knows in a confused and approximate way the exam material and in any case responds to the questions and to the further probes with notions even in-depth but completely irrelevant to the discipline and the program, the grade will be less than 18/30 and the student will be invited to re-apply;

•if the student provides relevant but superficial and/or incomplete answers and demonstrates at the same time a knowledge of the framework aspects of the subject, the assessment will range between 18/30 and 21/30;

•if the student has a knowledge of the basic aspects of the subject and a more than sufficient ability to understand, deepen or connect between the parts, the grade will range between 22/30 and 25/30;

•if the student demonstrates a good knowledge of the subject, with the ability to deepen and connect the themes, the authors, research programmes and techniques, paradigms and theoretical notions as well as appropriate exhibition skills, the grade will be oriented between 26 and 30/30, where 30/30 represents an excellent level with desirable autonomous reworking.

•The praise is given in an exceptional way when cognitive objectives, mastery and ability to connect themes, deepening and reflexivity are constantly checked for all the proposed stimuli.

b: written text IN ITALIAN/Zoom

The written test is structured as follows:
12 cross/multiple choice questions: each correct answer is worth 2 points; only positive scores shall be awarded; this part is about the basic manual;

• 1 short answer/: you are asked for a concise answer, one/ two words (the name of an author, the name of a theory, a specific concept): the correct answer is worth 3 points; only positive scores shall be given; this part is about the basic manual.
• 1 open question: you are asked for an articulated response and, if possible, you are invited to make connections between concepts; This part deals with the supplementary item "Health", "Drugs" and "Alcol e stile giovane"; the maximum expected score shall be 4 points with the relevance of the answer; normally there is a track that guides the path of the response.

Teaching tools

PC, video (visual texts to illustrate and fix the topic of the lessons), powerpoint of the lessons, Prezi support, group activities such as field research, discussions on some specific topic with sociological tools, articles reading.

Links to further information

https://virtuale.unibo.it/pluginfile.php/833108/mod_resource/content/1/presentazione%20Corso%2C%20testi%2C%20esame%20Sociologia%20generale.pdf

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Guarino