French

This course focuses on seeing the different facets of the mobility of the land-sea boundary. In the first part of the course, students learn the definition of the littoral (coastlines) according to different disciplines (biology, geography, and ecology) and analyze a variety of problems that arise in coastal planning and conversation. The second part of the course focuses on coastal forces such as variations of the global sea level, coastal dynamics, and types of coastlines (processes, different forms, reefs). This part of the course includes a variety of exercises aimed at understanding the different scales of time and space regarding coastal systems. In the third part, the issues of coastal mobility are tackled by the analysis of policies and planning techniques (MIACA, MIALR, littoral law, PPRL, defense works, strategies in other countries). Finally, in the fourth period, it is a question of the littoralization and the stakes to come with tourism of the littorals, the retreat of the coastline on the low coasts, the mangrove, the coral reefs, etc.

This course is a tutorial for SOC 117. In this course, students discuss the subject at hand in smaller groups. Students are required to conduct a sociological study culminating in a term paper and oral presentation (in groups) focusing on a particular social problem of choice.

This course draws on sociology, political science, philosophy, and mass communication theories in a study of the role of images (including media, institutional, advertising, and cultural) in contemporary society. The course examines the effects of images on political opinions, political conflict, and international crises.

The objective of this class is to understand how public opinion is formed and to analyze how this opinion, once formed, can influence the political, economic, social and foreign policy decisions. The course looks at all the elements that the citizen, the employee, the member of an association, or a political party uses to form an opinion and how this influences the entity, the political, economic, association or social authorities. Presentations look at all the facets of opinion and how they play in decision-making process, as much to conform to as well as to resist.

This course looks at the construction of social classes and hierarchies throughout history as well as social inequalities related to gender. While the majority of the course emphasizes the class constructions and social inequalities that exist in France, it also takes into consideration the similarities to and differences from those of other countries, in particular those of the United States. In addition, it seeks to understand how social hierarchies have been defined and categorized throughout history. Specifically, the course analyzes the works Tocqueville, Weber, Marx, and Bourdieu.

This course intends to deepen the understanding of Europe of student-interns who are involved daily in the work life of Brussels by exploring more fully certain themes of the preparatory session, as well as introducing new themes such as an examination of the various “Europes” and “balconies”; the rich institutional environment; a study of European public opinion, democratization of the EU, and the notion of European citizenship; the relation of politics and culture in Europe (e.g. the impact of transnational space on local cultural identities). The question of what it is to be European, including in practical daily terms, and the search for answers on several levels to this question, will serve as the organizing principle of the course.

This course examines how sociology constructs and discusses the category of poverty and how public politics attempts to fight against it. It also discusses social reproduction and lifestyles of those who are seen as poor. The course considers the question of money, as poverty can be initially thought of as a lack of money, but it is not always through this angle that it is seen. The course relies on reading academic texts as well as analyzing written and iconographic documents which present representations of poverty.