- Docente: Leonardo Allodi
- Credits: 10
- Language: Italian
- Moduli: Leonardo Allodi (Modulo AL) Leonardo Allodi (Modulo 1) (Modulo 2)
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo AL) Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
- Campus: Forli
- Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)
-
from Sep 24, 2024 to Dec 20, 2024
Learning outcomes
The course focuses on the role that culture has in social relations and institutional processes. In particular, culture is analyzed as one of the main resources of social groups, peoples and nations and, therefore, as an observation point for studying the major themes (geopolitical, economic, religious) that dominate the international scenario. At the end of the course, students will know the different positions that sociology, starting from the classics, has developed regarding the relationships between society and culture. They will also be able to identify and examine the cultural dynamics underlying the social processes that grow up on a local and / or international scale.
Course contents
The course adopts an experimental Y-shaped teaching organization method, which is divided into two different sections. One section is made up of 32 lectures face-to-face and aims to provide students with the core tenets of the discipline. A further seminar section (14 hours, 3 un person semonars) is aimed at the application of knowledge and its deepening.
The division into lectures and seminars is detailed in the following program. For the seminar section students will be divided into 3 seminar groups: groups. Thus, a total of 46 classroom hours are scheduled for each student.
Students are expected to prepare the assigned material before every lecture, and – in the case of seminars – active participation will also be required starting from the use of the knowledge acquired through individual readings to create thematic insights or case studies.
Students can freely choose which seminar to enrol in. For unexpected amount of preferences on a specific seminar, the chronological order of enrolment will apply.
The course analyses the main contributions that sociology has provided and still provides in the understanding of national and international cultural processes.
The first part will be devoted to the following themes: Holism and methodological individualism in sociology; L. Ricolfi’s growth equation; Introduction to cultural sociology. Positivism and rise of sociology; The contribution of the classics: Comte, Marx, Tocqueville, Durkheim.
The second part will present authors and currents of twentieth-century and contemporary sociology: The critical theory: M. Horkheimer and T.W. Weber; M. Scheler’s and P.A. Sorokin's cultural sociology.Adorno; T. Parsons and neo-functionalism; Z. Bauman and the liquid society.
The third part, that corresponds to the attendance at one of the four above-mentioned seminars, will be monographic:
Seminar 1 and 2:
The cultural sociology of P.A. Sorokin and the coming of the "democracy of narcissism" and anti-politics.
C. Lasch, La cultura del narcisismo, Bompiani, 1988
G. Orsina, La democrazia del narcisismo. Breve storia dell'antipolitica Marsilio, 2018
P.A. Sorokin, La rivoluzione sessuale americana, a cura di L. Allodi, Cantagalli, 2021
L. Cimmino, Narciso in frantumi. L'umano e il suo bisogno di una seconda identità, Rubbettino, 2023
Seminar 3
The problem of peace and pacifism between Philosophy of History and Sociology of culture
Texts:
M. Scheler, L’idea di pace perpetua e il pacifismo, Mimesis, Milano, 2016, traduzione e saggio introduttivo di Leonardo Allodi
M. Bertolini, G. Ghini, Guerra e pace al tempo di Putin. Genesi del conflitto ucraino e nuovi equilibri internazionali, Cantagalli, 2022, con Postfazione di Leonardo Allodi Credo quia absurdum. Per la ricostruzione culturale dell’Europa, pp. 239-273;
Cacciari, Caracciolo, Galli della Loggia, Rasy, Senza la guerra, Il Mulino, 2016
E. Jünger, La pace. Una parola ai giovani d’Europa e ai giovani del mondo, Mimesis, Milano, 2022
At the end of the course, students are expected to know analytically and critically the specific contribution of authors and schools; to compare the contribution of authors and schools on specific issues; to identify authors, works and sociological paradigms that have also had an echo in international relations studies; to orient themselves in the debate on fundamental problems of epistemology and social ontology (individualism vs. holism; materialism vs. cultural autonomy; realism vs. social constructivism; social order vs. social conflict; cosmopolitanism vs. communitarianism); to know the main reading paradigms on the connection between culture and society, with particular reference to the topics covered in the attended seminar.
Readings/Bibliography
Bibliography
Set books to be read by all students:
(1) R. Aron, Le Tappe del pensiero sociologico, Mondadori, 1989 (Chapters: Comte, Marx, Tocqueville, Durkheim, Weber)
(2) A. Santambrogio, Introduzione alla sociologia. Le teorie, i concetti, gli autori, Laterza, 2019 (Chapters: La Scuola di Francoforte: M. Horkheimer e T.W. Adorno; Il funzionalismo e la teoria dei sistemi in T. Parsons; La teoria critica; Sviluppi della teoria critica; Z. Bauman)
(3) Lecture notes on M. Scheler e L. Ricolfi, etc.
(4) Set books to be read:
Seminar 1 and 2: The cultural sociology of P.A. Sorokin and the coming of the "democracy of narcissism" and anti-politics.
C. Lasch, La cultura del narcisismo, Bompiani, 1981
G. Orsina, La democrazia del narcisismo. Breve storia dell'antipolitica, Marsilio, 2018
P.A. Sorokin, La rivoluzione sessuale americana, a cura di L. Allodi, Cantagalli, 2021
L. Cimmino, Narciso in frantumi. L'umano e il suo bisogno di una seconda identità, Rubbettino, 2023Seminar 3: The problem of peace and pacifism between Philosophy of History and Sociology of culture
M. Scheler, L’idea di pace perpetua e il pacifismo, Mimesis, Milano, 2016, traduzione e saggio introduttivo di Leonardo Allodi
M. Bertolini, G. Ghini, Guerra e pace al tempo di Putin. Genesi del conflitto ucraino e nuovi equilibri internazionali, Cantagalli, 2022, con Postfazione di Leonardo Allodi Credo quia absurdum. Per la ricostruzione culturale dell’Europa, pp. 239-273;
Cacciari, Caracciolo, Galli della Loggia, Raisy, Senza la guerra, Il Mulino, 2016E. Jünger, La pace. Una parola ai giovani d’Europa e ai giovani del mondo, Mimesis, Milano, 2022
(5) Within a specific seminar a list of texts will be distributed, from which students choose a text which has be studied in depth and on which to carry out, on a voluntary basis, a short paper. All students who attend the seminars have to read the material (parts of texts, articles, etc.) assigned from week to week.
Teaching methods
Teaching takes place according to the mixed above-detailed teaching methods
Assessment methods
Assessment methods
At the beginning of the course, students will be provided with instructions about the three mid-term exams, also with regard to sanitary conditions. To sit for these intermediate online exams in October, November, and December, they are invited to carefully attend lectures and seminars.
Marks are out of 30, and the pass mark is 18. Only students who have sat and passed all three intermediate exams may sit for the final oral exam.
Those students who do not sit the intermediate exams, or who are absent at two of the intermediate exams, or who do not pass two of the intermediate exams, shall sit a written exam covering all the topics of the program.
Oral examination
The oral exam focuses mainly on the two reference texts and the material provided within the seminar attended, but also on the fundamental concepts of the course. It is mandatory for everyone and can be sit in an appeal of the January-February session or June.
Topics of the first mid-term test: L. Ricolfi and the growth equation; the rise of sociology; Comte, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim. To prepare for this test it is necessary to study the textbook n. (1) (chapters dedicated to the authors) and lecture notes (about M. Scheler and L. Ricolfi);
Topics of the second mid-term test: M. Weber, la scuola elitistica italiana, Scuola di Francoforte: M. Horkheimer e T.W. Adorno; Sviluppi della teoria critica: J. Habermas; Il funzionalismo e la teoria dei sistemi in T. Parsons e N. Luhmann; Z. Bauman e la società liquida. To prepare for this mid-term test, it is necessary to study the textbook n. (2) (chapters dedicated to the authors and above-indicated schools) and lecture notes.
Topics of the third mid-term test:
Seminar 1 and 2:
C. Lasch, La cultura del narcisismo, Bompiani, 1988; G. Orsina, La democrazia del narcisismo. Breve storia dell'antipolitica, Marsilio, 2018; P.A. Sorokin, La rivoluzione sessuale americana, a cura di L. Allodi, Cantagalli, 2021; L. Cimmino, Narciso in frantumi, Rubbettino, 2023.
Seminar 3
M. Scheler, L’idea di pace perpetua e il pacifismo, Mimesis, Milano, 2016, traduzione e saggio introduttivo di Leonardo Allodi; M. Bertolini, G. Ghini, Guerra e pace al tempo di Putin. Genesi del conflitto ucraino e nuovi equilibri internazionali, Cantagalli, 2022, con postfazione di Leonardo Allodi Credo quia absurdum. Per la ricostruzione culturale dell’Europa; Cacciari, Caracciolo, Galli della Loggia, Raisy, Senza la guerra, Il Mulino, 2016; E. Jünger, La pace. Una parola ai giovani d’Europa e ai giovani del mondo, Mimesis, Milano, 2022.
In the three written tests the knowledge (also of a comparative type) that students have acquired on the authors, on the sociological paradigms and on the topics presented in the course will be verified.
Mark refusal
Students who have passed all the three mid-term tests can refuse the mark given for a single test. In this case, they are required to carefully prepare the corresponding part of the program and to sit a written test within one examination session. The mark refusal is to be notified via email within 3 days from the publication of the results of the third mid-term test. Students can also refuse the final mark (mid-term tests + oral test), but they will be expected to sit a written exam covering the entire program.
Exam for non-attending students
Students not attending the course can sit a written exam on books (1) (2) and on the reference texts of the chosen seminar. The written and oral exams shall be held during the winter exam session or in the first session of the summer session. Students have to contact prof. Allodi to agree texts and material in order to integrate the program and the above-specified bibliographic indications. The written exam will take place according to the procedures detailed at the time. Those students who do not sit the intermediate exams, or who are absent at two of the intermediate exams, or who do not pass two of the intermediate tests, shall be deemed as “non-attending students”.
Tutorial course
Working students or who have to pass one or more of the assigned exams, and ERASMUS students, are invited to attend the online tutorial lectures and to sit for the exam as indicated by the tutor, Dott. Matteo Andolfo (mail: matteo.andolfo@unibo.it)
Teaching tools
Use of slides
Office hours
See the website of Leonardo Allodi
See the website of
SDGs
This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.