09660 - Sociology of Culture (A-E)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide an analytical and comparative definition of cultural sociology, proposing to the student the learning and use of a specific model of interpretation, applied (and applicable) to the analysis of cultural objects. At the end of the course the student will be able to: - to clearly distinguish between sociologies of culture and cultural sociology; - to analyse and understand social phenomena such as "cultural objects"; - to apply a model of cultural analysis to different social processes and structures.

Course contents

The course aims to provide the student with the main theoretical and methodological tools useful for research in the field of Sociology of Culture.

The first part of the course provides students with a general framework of the main theories of the Sociology of culture, starting with classical authors. More specifically, in order to explore the concept of culture and the nature of its links with the social world in a global perspective, it will be considered the relationship between things, norms, values, beliefs and symbols.

The second part is aimed at applying the model of cultural analysis to some emerging social phenomena, including: the social construction of the migrant and migration; the representations of it offered to us by the media; the right to mobility as a factor of social stratification and borders as a culturally constructed social fact; and the social construction of climate change and its communication.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Griswold Wendy (2005), Sociologia della cultura, il Mulino - (for students attending only the first 5 chapters integrated + some insights available among the material uploaded to the virtual learning space of the course - https://virtuale.unibo.it/ ).
2. Musarò Pierluigi, Parmiggiani Paola (2022), L’ospitalità mediatica. Le migrazioni nel discorso pubblico, Franco Angeli, Milano, open access volume available for download at this link: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/791 (for attending students only the chapters n. 1, 2 and 3.
3. Bauman Zigmunt (2016), Stranieri alle porte, Laterza, Bari - for attending students only the chapters n. 1, 2 e 4;
4. One paper to be chosen from: (the list will be supplemented during the course):

• Bartoletti Roberta (2023), Grandi madri mutanti?, 5^ capitolo del volume Bartoletti, Grandi madri mediali, Liguori, capitolo 5, (pp. 99-127) chapter available among the material uploaded to the virtual learning space of the course - https://virtuale.unibo.it/
• Cappi Valentina (2023), L’altrove è già qui: comunicare il cambiamento climatico al tempo presente, chapter n. 5 of the volume: Cappi, Immaginare l’altrove nell’epoca dell’Antropocene, FrancoAngeli (pp. 101-126), open access volume available for download at this link: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/933 .
• Giacomelli, E. (2023), L’era del panico: migrazioni (ambientali) e immaginari sociali, chapter n. 2 of the volume: Giacomelli, Panicocene. Narrazioni su cambiamenti climatici, regimi di mobilità e migrazioni ambientali, Milano, FrancoAngeli (pp. 41-66), open access volume available for download at this link: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/977.

Teaching methods

The course is structured in 30 lectures of two hours each, including moments of discussion and comparison with students. Seminar lectures with external guests are scheduled in the second part of the course.

Assessment methods

For students who attend classes the exam is divided into two parts:

• a written midterm examination, in early November, on the program carried out in the first part of the lessons;
• an oral final examination based on the program carried out in the second part of the lessons.

The final grade will be a weighted average of the two partial grades.

For students who do not attend the lessons, the final exam consists of an oral exam on the texts indicated in the exam bibliography.

Assessment scale

It will produce excellent valuations: the ability to deepen and put into connection with each other the main issues addressed in the course; the use of appropriate language with the specific nature of the discipline.

It will produce discrete valuations: mnemonic knowledge of contents and partial ability to link the themes covered; the use of appropriate language.

It will produce sufficient valuations: a minimal body of knowledge on the topics covered; the use of inappropriate language.

It will produce negative valuations: lack of guidance within the themes addressed in the exam readings and training gaps; the use of inappropriate language.

Teaching tools

Slides projected in class and made available to students through the platform Virtuale – Learning Environment.
This course includes a teaching tutor, la dr.ssa Lucia Marciante (https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/lucia.marciante2/), who students can contact by e-mail or by going to office hour. The teaching tutor gives information on the program, on specific content of the training activities of the course and on the exam.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Parmiggiani