France

This course considers how European integration has affected European citizens, their identities, their resistances, and collective representations. It analyzes the construction of the European Union as a community and as a political order with particular emphasis on its social and political dimensions. To understand the reactions of ordinary citizens towards European integration, and in addition to the existing explanatory strands focusing on interests and institutions, the political sociology of the EU questions the weight of socio-political variables that hinder or favor the Europeanization of European societies. Topics under scrutiny include: the modes of interaction between elites and masses at the EU level; citizen identifications' levels and models to understand the attitudes of citizens towards European integration; the process of (de-)politicization of European integration; and the impact of Europeanization (mainly in terms of public policies) on European public opinion. 

This course traces the evolution of economic thinking throughout the late-modern and contemporary era. It surveys the major currents of classical, socialist, neo-classical, demand-side, Soviet, neoliberal, and contemporary economics while providing a detailed examination of both theory and practice. Economic thought is presented and discussed alongside its relationship of mutual influence with historical events to provide a clear perspective of how ideas and theories influenced the unfolding of key events, such as the Industrial Revolution or the rise of welfare economics, and of how in turn crises, conflicts and radical experiments influenced economic thinking. The different currents of economic thought are discussed both in the specific context of the times in which they were conceptualized as well as part of broad debates that continue to this day, such as those on laissez-faire versus State intervention, on welfare and private interest, on national sovereignty and globalization, and on inequality and growth. The course not only accounts for the theoretical origins of capitalist and socialist economics, but also details the theoretical and practical evolution of both, providing an analysis of the often sidelined but historically and economically meaningful Soviet planning experiments. It covers two and a half centuries of economic thought through subsequent sessions dedicated to major thinkers and the key events that influenced and shaped their theories. The course then reaches the contemporary era fully equipped to survey and discuss the theoretical and practical answers to the economic crises of the 1990s and 2000s. Finally, the course discusses the core issues and broad debates that link all its parts to consider their purposes and outcomes. 

This course focuses on the climate crisis and, more broadly, the ecological issues, environmental struggles, and social movements that participate in it. It studies how sociology has taken hold of ecological problems (subjects, issues, methodologies), notions and concepts (risks, Anthropocene, transition/transformation, environmental inequalities, justice), and theoretical frameworks to identify the postures (scientific, ethical, committed, neutral) endorsed by sociologists. The course first reinscribes these current dynamics of mobilizations and research in a double chronology: that of environmental struggles and that of the constitution of a sociological field dedicated to the environment. It then considers recent works on environmental policies and controversies relating to industrial and agricultural pollution to illustrate scientific results and actions that sociological approaches can produce on issues of environmental justice.

This course analyzes how policy making and artificial intelligence may be intertwined in a dynamic that has major impacts on the definition of public service itself. It investigates the integration of artificial intelligence related tools: how they are likely to affect policy making processes, whether they will change the relationship between the administration and citizens, and if they enable the delivery of new public services. The course emphasizes the adoption of artificial intelligence in a historical context of the progressive adoption of technologies, from traditional bureaucracies to essentially digital governance and e-bureaucratic forms. It focuses on the study of major artificial intelligence technologies and their potential uses, the value of data as a resource and product of administrations, as well as data ethics. The course analyzes use cases of artificial intelligence adoption in major policies such as health, education, bureaucracies, security, and climate change mitigation in the context of their implementation, from international to citizen-related approaches. It critically assesses the relationship between public-based policies and the creation of public value; the potential leverages, risks, or barriers; and the geopolitics of public artificial intelligence. Finally, the course develops a critical approach on how not only public agents, but also citizens, have major roles to play in the adoption of these technologies.

This French language course consolidates the basics in oral and written French. It improves the four competencies: written production, written comprehension, oral production, and oral comprehension. Written production involves writing short texts respecting coherence and cohesion using the tenses (past, present, future) and introducing the notions of cause, purpose, and obligation. Written comprehension focuses on understanding short texts on daily life and activities with the past and present tenses. Oral production practices addressing someone to ask for information and precisions on facts. Oral comprehension practices understanding simple or more complex conversations on present daily life and on past events.

This course presents the various methods and techniques of psychological evaluation.

This course considers how the global pandemic of 2020-2021 has challenged the modus operandi, urban development model, and financial viability of the world's great cities at a time when those also have to face the profound challenge of making themselves more resilient against the multi-faceted threat of climate change. It highlights both the danger and opportunity brought on by the pandemic, in terms of rethinking transport systems, commercial real estate, commuting and work arrangements, food distribution, energy, waste management and recycling, housing policy, education, and the provision of essential business as well as personal services. The course examines the shake up of “established wisdom” in urban economics which has led to new thinking and an opening for innovation that extends to new organizational formations within the context of the “circular economy,” as well as “social solidarity economy” such as urban commons and cooperatives.

The course is broken into three parts. The first part focuses on the science of vision, covering early theories and anatomical observations, the eyes’ dark adaptation functions, visual organization (size, shape, orientation, and spatial frequency shown with illusions and clinical testing of the limits of vision), and vision impacting memory. The second part focuses on a linguistic aspect showcasing auditory anatomy and vocal anatomy. It describes the science behind how sound is measured and differentiated and how language is produced and understood; and observes language by breaking down the elements of sound and signing into primitives diving into phonemes, phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. There are also demonstrations of early cognitive development showing how plastic young brains are compared to their adult counterparts. The last part of the course is about language and memory. It focuses on comprehending text and writing and covers theories of how humans developed and started using written language as it is a relatively young invention in the history of the earth and humanity. The course reviews the role of comprehending knowledge and discusses the biological systems that make up and help our understanding of language.

This course introduces the study of educational inequality and education policy. It begins by reviewing the main goals, achievements, and outstanding challenges in education policy at the beginning of the 21st century. Specifically, it takes a historical perspective to review the progress made with respect to providing education to large parts of the world's population and with respect to reducing gender inequality in education. The course then turns to one key policy challenge of the early 21st century: reducing the inequalities in education between individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds. It examines the social processes that may account for these educational inequalities and discusses whether and how different policies can address them.

This course provides an overview of the goals institutional actors are pursuing when they design and reform an electoral system. It discusses conceptual dimensions and criteria for categorizing and comparing electoral systems and studies specific national cases to assess the impact of electoral laws on party systems, legislator behavior, and interbranch relations. The course explores both aspects of intraparty and interparty politics. After completing a long series of case studies, it adopts a comparative perspective to discuss recent scholarly research in this field.