09660 - Sociology of Culture (F-N)

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Moduli: Saveria Capecchi (Modulo F-N ) Saveria Capecchi (Modulo G.1-2) Chiara Gius (Modulo Gr 3) (Modulo D.Ass)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo F-N ) Traditional lectures (Modulo G.1-2) Traditional lectures (Modulo Gr 3) Traditional lectures (Modulo D.Ass)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Political, Social and International Sciences (cod. 8853)

Learning outcomes

Students can learn the basic notions of sociological theories and empirical research about culture and cultural consumption. It aims at developing the competences required to read the changes in cultural life and carry out field research in a proper sociological way. At the end of the course, the student should be able to understand the cultural processes, their role in the social life, and the characteristics of cultural consumption, including the traditional and digital media.

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (32 hours) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows. For the seminar section, students will be divided into 3 groups according to their preferences (14 hours each). Therefore, a total of 46 classroom hours are scheduled for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected.

The course consist of two parts.

1. Lectures. The first part provides the student a basic knowledge of the main theories and empirical research in the sociology of culture and communication with a focus on cultural consumption, included media and social media:

- Concept(s) of culture
- Relationships between culture and society
- Culture and cultural practices
- How cultural objects work

- meaning of "cultural consumption"
- the rise of the consumption and mass society; high culture /popular culture; audiences studies
- cultural consumption and lifestyles/subcultures
- cultural consumption and globalization in the social media era

2. Seminars will follow.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography

1) W. Griswold, Sociologia della cultura, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005

2) P.P. Giglioli, "Da Parsons a Ricœur passando per Bali: note sul concetto di cultura in Geertz"

www.scienzepostmoderne.org/DiversiAutori/Geertz/NoteSulConcettoDiCulturaInGeertz.pdf in Aut Aut, 335, pp. 37-55.

3) S. Capecchi, L'audience attiva, Roma, Carocci, new ed. 2015 (except box 1.1, 2.2., 2.3, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1)

4) Readings: Il consumo culturale: dialettica tra processi di distinzione e di omologazione (on VIRTUALE)

Teaching methods

Lectures and discussion.

Students can also address to the tutor of the course.

Assessment methods

Written exam (three open-ended questions) about the suggested readings.

Erasmus+ and internationals students who attend the lectures can agree with the teacher a different written option.

Teaching tools

Slides and video, and eventually social media discussion platform.

Students can also address to the tutor of the course: luca.zappi3@unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Saveria Capecchi

See the website of Chiara Gius

See the website of