BIQ0602-15 Social structure and dynamics (3-0-4)
General goals:
By the end of this course the student should be able to interact critically with the world. The
general goals are: (i) internalize content which make the interaction with other individuals to
be ruled by critical observation of facts and relations between social groups; (iii) learn skills to
check data about citizenship, social inequality and economic relations, as well as inserting this
data in both a social context and a theoretical sociological one.
Specific goals:
The main goals of this course are:
1.
To understand the social and class-related relations based on the founding principles
of modern sociology (Durkheim, Weber, Marx and others).
2.
Understand religious relations according to the same authors.
3.
Understand the relation between citizenship, self-autonomy and power of the state.
4.
Understand which mechanisms operate to maintain the social and economical
inequalities in Brazil, and how they may be overcome.
Syllabus:
Social structure and social relations; cultural dynamics, diversity and religion. State, democracy
and citizenship; economic dimensions of society; inequality and the social reality of Brazil.
Program:
Week 1: Social structure and social relations: Émile Durkheim.
Week 2: Social structure and social relations: Karl Marx.
Week 3: Social structure and social relations: Max Weber
Week 4: Cultural dynamics, diversity and religion: C. Geertz
Week 5: Cultural dynamics, diversity and religion: Max Weber
Week 6: Economic dimensions of society: Karl Marx.
Week 7: Economic dimensions of society: contemporary authors.
Week 8: State, democracy and citizenship (1)
Week 9: State, democracy and citizenship (2)
Week 10: Inequality and the social reality of Brazil (1)
Week 11: Inequality and the social reality of Brazil (2)
Week 12: Inequality and the social reality of Brazil (3).
Grading:
The professors assigned to this course, together with the course coordinator, will define the
grading criteria based on the evaluation system of the pedagogical project.
Pedagogical strategies:
The professors assigned to this course will, together with the course coordinator, define the
best pedagogical strategies for the course.
Prerequisites:
None.
Required texts:
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M. Castells, The power of identity. Wiley-Blackwell (1977)
M. Castells The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and
Culture. Wiley-Blackwell (2009)
E. Durkheim, The rules of sociological method: And selected texts on sociology and its
method. Free Press (2014).
C. Geertz. The interpretation of cultures. Basic books (1977)
K. Marx, Capital. Penguin classics (1992)
M. Weber, Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology. University of
California Press (1978).
Additional texts:
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Z. Bauman, Community: seeking safety in an insecure world. Polity (2001).