GENERAL SOCIOLOGY

Teachers: 
FUCCI Stefania
Credits: 
6
Site: 
PARMA
Year of erogation: 
2020/2021
Unit Coordinator: 
FUCCI Stefania
Disciplinary Sector: 
GENERAL SOCIOLOGY
Semester: 
Second semester
Language of instruction: 

italian

Learning outcomes of the course unit

The course has the goal of permitting students to reach knowledge and comprehension of some basic and essential elements of general sociology. This in order to develop in the students the competence of: - sociological observation and analysis of social ambience and context;
- acting some communication strategies;
- learning some skills to deal with institutions.
At the end of the course, the student should prove to have got;
- knowledges and understanding of the basic elements of sociology (describer 1);
- communication
skils with institutions (describer 4); - applying sociological knowledge in order to act in the context (describer 2);
- making judgements about the development of social identity (describer 3);
- making judgements about the construction of social representations (describer 3). Students, then, should be able: - to do simple sociological observations and analyses;
- to analyze context of life from a sociological point of view (describer 3);
- to communicate with groups and institutions (describer 4);
- to analyze the construction of social and cultural reality (describer 3);
- to apply good practice with different groups (describer 2).

Prerequisites

Attitude to the analysis and the critical thinking.

Course contents summary

The course will be organized in three parts. A first part in which an analysis of the pillars of sociological theory (culture, structure and power) will be proposed and the main categories useful for analyzing the different social phenomena will be presented. A second part will be dedicated to addressing issues such as identity, gender and inequalities. A third part will be dedicated to the analysis of the main institutions and social processes.

Recommended readings

Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., (2018), Sociologia generale. Temi, concetti, strumenti, New York, McGraw Hill Education.
For attending students the program of examination may be partially different because in-depth readings will be provided during the course which will replace some chapters of the book. The teacher is available for any clarification both during reception hours and via email.

Teaching methods

The teaching activity will be conducted partly in a frontal way, promoting in any case the exchanges and the discussions with the students; partly with exercises, decisional cases and discussions. The use of the Elly electronic environment is envisaged for sharing slides, readings, information and notices.

Assessment methods and criteria

The exam will be written and will focus on the exam book. In particular, it will composed by 5 open-ended questions with no answer limits (time available: 2 hours). The questions are open and general, and have the aim not only of assessing notional learning, but also the ability of the students to process critically and the appropriateness of language. Each question will be assessed with a score from 0 to 6 points and the exam will be sufficient if the student will respond adequately to at least three of the five questions proposed.