France

This course provides a solid and global understanding of contemporary developments and challenges in the field of energy. It provides insight and overview to the particularities of the oil and gas industry, climate developments, renewables, the electricity sector, energy efficiency, and international energy affairs. Resource management in major producing countries is outlined. Energy economics and regulation is discussed both for renewable and non-renewable resources, for the environment and the prospects for a greener economy.

At a time of economic and health crises, structural unemployment and the densification of international labor flows, the forms of employment, and the work situations that result from them, are very heterogeneous. While the "Northern" countries largely exploit the labor force of the Southern countries, inequalities in employment and working conditions are also growing within each country. A large proportion of the workforce is vulnerable on the labor market, and subject to precarious employment that calls into question the most protective forms of employment. In Europe, for example, full-time salaried work on open-ended contracts is becoming less and less the norm, while new service jobs are flourishing, offering only very low paid working hours to workers. This course asks how we can explain the massification of low-quality jobs and work situations around the world. Students consider how the globalization of the labor market increases inequalities between workers. Prerequisites: Two years of Sociology coursework is recommended. A previous course of Sociology of Work is not especially required.

This translation course is taught at the second-year level. The course focuses on training students how to translate both the tone and grammar of Francophone and Anglophone literature and/or journalistic texts. Students first translate from English to French, and then from French to English. Students are given abstracts from English and French writers, mostly from the latter half of the twentieth century.

This course covers European economic integration including definitions, connections, stages, and political integration. The impact of economic integration is reviewed, taking into consideration trade and financial integration, through empirical evidence of the integration process in Europe. Also discussed is the Divergence/Convergence debate. Students are given an overview of the Economic and Monetary Union in Europe including its involvement in the Impossible Trinity Principle and the Theory of Optimal Currency Areas. Finally, the course covers macroeconomic principles in the EMU which includes governance in the EMU, monetary policy in the time of crisis, fiscal policies in the EMU and the exchange rate policy for the Euro.

The 19th century saw the reinvention of the subterranean. From the sewers in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables to the striking miners of Émile Zola’s Germinal, novelists began exploring the space beneath their feet. By the turn of the century, the opening of the Paris catacombs to the public and the construction of the metro system fueled the collective imagination, while the hidden strata of history and consciousness were being charted by the developing fields of archaeology and psychoanalysis. In the early to mid-20th century, the subterranean was as much a metaphor as it was a reality, with artists and philosophers drawing inspiration from newly discovered prehistoric cave paintings and the French Resistance returning once again to Hugo’s sewers. This class follows modernity as it goes underground. This course discusses topics including French and Parisian history and culture, urban text and its expressions in literature and film, and historical events and reinterpreting them in the context of their reliance on hidden historical and cultural undercurrents.

This course investigates how the early childhood period contributes to the reproduction of social inequalities, focusing on the role of early education and care, and on the interplay between micro-level characteristics with the policy context. Several interdisciplinary concepts are introduced, as well as the key policy evaluation tools, as applied to (early) education and care. The course discusses and questions current concepts in the early childhood literature and their relevance to the reproduction of social inequalities; examines early education and care; explores cross-national differences in early childhood policies and current policy debates; considers the concepts behind key policy evaluation tools; and applies acquired knowledge to evaluate early education programs and their role in the production of inequalities. Sessions are interactive and require participation.