Sociology

This course is divided into two parts: the first covers the conceptual and methodological framework of historical sociology and research design in comparative sociology; the second part examines institutions and central topics in historical sociology such as types of social power and the evolution of empires, organization sources of the modern state, political institutions and social revolutions, etc.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on the genesis, development, and evolution of sociology of education. Emphasis is placed on the sociological contribution to the study of institutions and educational processes in the field of education. Special attention is placed on specific knowledge/sociological skills functional to the assessment of the impact of educational interventions in reference to equality and inequality of opportunities in education. A separate section of the course is devoted to how to read and evaluate statistical-sociological data and indicators used in analyzing data pertaining to school systems. The course is divided in two portions. The first portion of the course focuses on the analytical models of educational processes and institutions and on the transition from a school centric to a polycentric model of training. Starting from the definition of the field of study and research in sociology of education and the contributions of various authors (Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Parsons, Simmel, etc.) the following topics are addressed: the relationship between education and society, socialization and theoretical models of reference, social self and theories of identity, equality of opportunities in education, and actors and agencies. The second portion of the course deals with specific issues such as inequalities in education and educational pathways for students who do not have Italian citizenship. The course includes traditional lectures, seminar activities, and in class discussions, as well as PPT presentations, slides, and videos. Assessment is based on a final written exam with essay questions and an oral exam on course materials during which students can discuss an essay on a pre-approved topic related to course materials.

Brain, Cognition, and Daily Life (BC&DL), formerly known as Culture and Cognition, provides students with an opportunity to learn human cognition and information processes operated in our daily life. The course covers a wide range of cognition such as perception, attention, memory, problem solving, and language and its applications to our daily life in the context of human neuroscience. In other words, students learn important concepts and issues regarding human cognition and brain and how they are operated in our living. The course focuses on how our cognition and brain are influenced by, changes in, or interacts with our living contexts. 

What does it mean to live in a surveillance society? How does the digital age challenge questions regarding privacy, individuality, and freedom? When does surveillance as care tip over into surveillance as control? And how does the Stasi system of vigilance prefigure contemporary surveillance culture? This course on the one hand examines the impact of surveillance on society by looking at the multifaceted ways technologies, societies, and the arts interact; and on the other hand, reflects on surveillance in a totalitarian context while comparing observation techniques in the GDR with contemporary surveillance methods. The course also explores how surveillance is represented in contemporary literature, film, and popular culture. The course maps out important themes with regards to surveillance and its repercussions (e.g., visibility, identity, privacy, and control). The course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of surveillance and covers the latest research in the following major areas: 1. Relationship between surveillance, power, and social control; 2. Histories of Surveillance: GDR and the Stasi (especially in the context of Berlin) 3. The concept of privacy; 4. Surveillance in the arts and popular culture.

This course offers a study of economic sociology, a perspective on economic behavior and knowledge of the sociological theories that are most relevant for the understanding of economic behavior. Economic sociology provides the ability to reflect critically on the core mechanisms and institutions influencing economic behavior and the ability to challenge conventional thoughts in economic theory. The course focuses mainly on contemporary economic sociology; however it explores classical economic sociology with an emphasis on Weber, Marx, Durkheim, and Simmel in order to create a foundation in classical theories to better understand contemporary economic sociological theories by Bourdieu, Giddens, and Habermas. The course reviews classical economic sociological analysis on the development of the modern society, and examines the contents and developments of economic sociology since Granovetter's reintroduction of the concept of embeddedness in the mid-1980s and the development of economic sociology with contributions from Gary Becker, Bourdieu, and others. The course discusses topics including the understanding of markets, the role of the state, the impact of social structures in relation to how modern society works and how it should be studied, sociological theory, economic sociology analysis on societal developments, and the analysis of modern society and individual actions. This course consists of lectures in which there are presentations and discussions of the texts. The course recommends that students have prior knowledge of economic theory as a prerequisite.