81773 - Sociology of Inequalities

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours 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. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

 

The course focuses on the concepts of “difference” and “inequality” from a sociological perspective and explores them with reference to gender, age, social class, ethnicity, education, the labour market and health. The course will also analyze if, and to what extent, social inequalities have changed in Western societies over time.

At the end of the course, students will be able to: - manage properly the terminological and conceptual framework of sociology of inequality; - interpret and discuss actual social facts applying the theoretical concepts acquired during the lessons; - comment and criticize articles on inequality published in academic journals and newspapers.

Readings/Bibliography

Regularly attending students

Students will be classified as “regularly attending students” if they attend at least 75% of lessons (no more than 3 absences after the first week) and participate in class activities, such as: reading, discussing and presenting papers.

Textbooks for regularly attending students are:

• Slides presented and discussed during the lessons and available in the section "Materiale didattico" of the professor’s Unibo website.
• Zanfrini L. (a cura di), Sociologia delle differenze e delle disuguaglianze, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2011. Chapters: I.1, I.2, I.3, II.1, II.2, II.3, III.1, III.4, III.6
• Kazepov Y. e Carbone D., Che cos'è il welfare state, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

Non-attending students

Textbooks for non-attending students (or attending students who prefer not to participate in class activities) are:

• Zanfrini L. (a cura di), Sociologia delle differenze e delle disuguaglianze, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2011. Chapters: I.1, I.2, I.3, II.1, II.2, II.3, III.1, III.4, III.6
• Kazepov Y. e Carbone D., Che cos'è il welfare state, Roma, Carocci, 2018.

  Two monographs freely chosen among the following:

• Barone C., Le trappole della meritocrazia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012.
• Castel R., L'insicurezza sociale. Cosa significa essere protetti?, Torino, Einaudi, 2011.
• Pacchi C. e Ranci C. (a cura di), White flight a Milano. La segregazione sociale ed etnica nelle scuole dell'obbligo, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2017.
• Alacevich M. e Soci A., Breve storia della disuguaglianza, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2019.
• Todesco L., Quello che gli uomini non fanno, Roma, Carocci, 2013.
• Romito M., Una scuola di classe. Orientamento e disuguaglianza nelle transizioni scolastiche, Milano, Guerini Scientifica, 2016.
  

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lessons. During the course, students are strongly encouraged to debate the topics discussed.

Assessment methods

Regularly attending students:

The exam is split into two parts.

The first part concerns the presentation and discussion in class of a couple of academic papers or the presentation and discussion in class of research freely conducted by the student on a specific topic linked to inequality. The mark achieved in this exam determines 2/5 of the final mark.

The second part of the exam is administered in exclusively written form. It consists in open-ended and closed-ended questions on textbooks for regularly attending students. The mark achieved in this exam determines 3/5 of the final mark.

The final mark is the weighted average of marks achieved in the two above-mentioned parts.

Non-attending students:

The exam is administered in exclusively written form. It consists in open-ended and closed-ended questions on textbooks for non-attending students.

All students:

The only valid mark is the one achieved in the most recent attempt to pass the exam. Candidates who do not participate in an exam for which they have registered cannot participate in the following exam session.

WARNING: Each student is personally responsible for his/her registration in the exam session on AlmaEsami. Registration closes 5 days before the exam. It is not possible to sign up for the exam after registration has terminated.

Students who change their minds must withdraw their registration no later than the day before the exam. Withdrawal from the exam permits the student to participate in the following exam session. Nonetheless, in case of withdrawal during the last 5 days before the exam, the student must send an e-mail to d.mantovani@unibo.it [mailto:d.mantovani@unibo.it] .

MARK REJECTION: Students can refuse a passing mark just once. After the first refusal, any passing mark will be registered.

Office hours

See the website of Debora Mantovani