Sociology

This course examines theoretical debates about the relationship between state and society as well as the social context within which political actors operate and the extent to which they shape and are shaped by social structures such as gender, ethnicity, nationality, class, race and religion. What role do ethnicity, nation and gender play in contemporary politics? What is the link between identity and politics? And what makes for successful social movements? This course tackles these and other questions against the backdrop of three main sociological approaches to the study of society and politics: functionalism, conflict theories, and symbolic interactionism.

This course is about the problem of crime. It introduces some of the central issues, themes, and concepts involved in thinking critically about crime. Students are concerned with exploring how perspectives drawn from across the social sciences can inform our understanding of this significant contemporary social issue. 

This introductory level course provides a critical review of the evolution of notions of the human to the present day from a philosophical, anthropological, historical, social, and technological perspective.

The course investigates current problems from a posthumanist dimension articulated with at least two of the following perspectives: social, cultural, technological, or ethical, to highlight possible individual and collective impacts, in a way that promotes metacognitive reflection and action on the student's responsibility as an agent of change. Class discussions will focus on personal learning experiences and the usefulness of the post humanist perspective in one's daily reality.

This course examines the relationships between technological developments and cultural change, with a particular focus on digital media. It interrogates the changing theorizations of technology in society by tracing the influence of key texts in media studies, philosophy of technology, sociology, cultural studies and science and technology studies. Students explore the significance of technology in social power, identity, gender, social shaping, class, space, assemblages, actor-networks, experience, thought, time, and materiality. 

Framing the study of gangs in the context of debates on globalization, youth studies and urban sociology, this course approaches street gangs as a lens through which to analyze broader processes of social change and inequality in the contemporary era. Taking in perspectives from children and young people involved alongside the social, economic, cultural, and political forces shaping these experiences, the course equips students with an understanding of gangs that is sensitive to both the micro- and macro-level forces at work in the global era.

This course takes a sociological approach to the study of inequalities in the region. The first sessions provide fundamental sociological tools to approach social inequalities, minorities, and minoritization. It then interrogates the discursive constructions of the Middle East and North Africa region as demographically homogenous (for example, homogenously Arab). Each meeting is based on the study of a factor linked to social inequalities and linked minoritization; under study are minority-groups as well as minoritization based on gender, socio-economic class, race, citizen/migrant status, urban versus rural habitation, language/dialects spoken, religion/sect. The course ends with a study of minority movements that contest their unequal status.

This course focuses on the sociological issues (socialization, social control, regulation, medicalization) that characterize the contemporary world of mental health institutions, practices, and discourse. It covers both the theories and the concrete social processes related to the definition, intervention, and transformations of what used to be called “madness” and is now called “mental disorder.” By questioning the field and modes of intervention of the psychological disciplines, the course also examines the role of mental health in the production and maintenance of social relations. The course thus revolves around three aspects of the concept of mental health: as a field of social practices, as a social norm, and as an object of knowledge produced by the psychological disciplines (psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis).

This course studies the phenomenon of migration and critically analyzes the development of international migration and the complexity it presents for the states involved and for society in general. 

This course is designed as an introduction to the sociological study of lifestyles and social relations in urban spaces. It comprises two parts. The first focuses on the history of this theme in sociology and on the evolution of approaches and paradigms in relation to the social issues of different periods. It both traces how sociology has approached the morphology of urban spaces and the lifestyles associated with them, and follows the social issues related to the distribution/cohabitation/segregation of different social and ethnic groups over time. The general idea is to shed light on contemporary debates about the city related to population dynamics and relations between groups and individuals. The course goes back to the origins of this trend in urban sociology, with the work of the Chicago School, in order to better put more contemporary work into perspective. The second part, which is more methodological in nature, consists of an introduction to urban ethnographic methods through a mini-survey conducted in three contrasting types of urban spaces.

Visibility is commonly thought to be a positive attribute that plays a crucial role in influencing public opinion, prompting social change, and advancing individual and collective goals. But is this true, and how is visibility actually practiced? This course explores visibility as a meaningful social dimension of everyday life. Situated at the intersection of social theory, political science, organization studies, and urban research, it engages with key debates around visibility, including its relationship to recognition, stigma, power, surveillance, and socio-spatial politics in urban settings. The course discuss how visibility is practiced by individuals, groups, and organizations, and interrogates its implications across diverse contexts, with reference to discriminated minorities, the gig-economy and totalitarian regimes. The course equips students with foundational knowledge in the emerging field of visibility studies and introduce the “visibility lens” as a critical tool for analyzing contemporary debates and everyday phenomena.