Sociology

This course is divided into two parts: civilization and literature. The civilization part covers the history of Australia since the beginning of the 20th century. It studies the major events that shaped Australian identity: the world wars and their impact on Australia's place within the British Empire, the major stages of indigenous activism, and the socio-cultural impact of immigration. The literature part of the course introduces the main paradigmatic change of 1980s Britain: the advent of shifting, plural, unstable identities. Hanif Kureishi’s THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA is the perfect introduction to these themes and also, at the time, brought a new light on the political and cultural period. The importance of drama and television writing is also discussed. Additional topics include Thatcher’s Britain, postcolonialism, marketing marginal voices, suburbia, and the pop scene.

This course provides students with a grounding in classical and cutting-edge interdisciplinary social scientific theories of work and empirical developments in the study of how people and organizations relate. It helps students develop a strong set of critical analytical and conceptual frameworks and applies them to a series of contemporary issues in the organization of work, labor markets, and economic life. Critical social theories are used as a means by which commonplace understandings of work can be unpicked and unpacked to better capture and represent the experience of changing workplaces and careers. Applying different theoretical and conceptual frameworks in different empirical contexts, the course focuses specifically on the varied range of forms and locations in which work takes place, including work inside and outside the home, the gig economy, health and social care, the digital economy, migrant labor, and unemployment as they are experienced in social-psychological terms across lines of class, ethnicity, age, and gender.

This course examines the nature, constitution and effects of the contemporary global political economy from a critical perspective, discussing the variety of approaches to and understandings of global political-economic practices, actors, patterns and ideas. Introducing  international political economy as a field of study and a space of human interaction, the course examines the relationship between politics and economics and the reasons why power, resources and privilege are often concentrated in particular hands. Scrutinizing the past, present and future of the global political economy, the course outlines and overviews key histories in, approaches to and developments of the global economic order. By focusing on particular dynamics in areas such as international development, trade, finance, production, the environment and gender, the course shines a light on how inequality is generated and maintained.

This course discusses and develops critical social-scientific perspectives on citizenship, belonging, and difference in contemporary, late-capitalist societies. In a world characterized by flux and the transgression of geographic and symbolic boundaries, a great deal of effort is invested in fixing and freezing identities and controlling and regulating borders. This dialectic of flow and closure is examined from a critical perspective that places contemporary social and cultural dynamics in the historical context of the rise of modern capitalism and nationalism while taking into account 19th and 20th-century experiences of colonialism, authoritarianism, and fascism. The first part of the course focuses on theories of modernity, citizenship, and differences in the political and social sciences, political philosophy, and the humanities. In the second part, several contemporary issues, including (the rise of) new forms of nationalism and the far right; debates about religious diversity and secularism; gender and sexuality; race and racism; and the transformation & politics of identity in neoliberal societies are the focus. The course brings together perspectives from various fields, while especially focusing on perspectives from the global south and from (relatively) marginalized academic fields, like queer studies, critical race perspectives, and postcolonial studies. Students develop and undertake a small research project on identity, based on which they write a final paper.

The mythologically masculine figure of the creative genius has often been employed to minimize and excuse violence against marginalized people. In exchange for great art, audiences might be more than willing to look the other way when women, people of color, queer people and children get hurt. With the arrival of social media, the violent price of art by monstrous men has become harder to ignore. Their crimes are all over the internet. When knowledge of the wrongdoings by artists spread, it becomes challenging for fans to ignore the reprehensible behavior of people like Michael Jackson, Roman Polanski, Louis CK, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey and R. Kelly. In this course, we reflect on the dilemma this leaves for audiences: How do we deal with great art made by horrible people? Students will learn how to make use of an intersectional feminist toolbox to engage with questions like: -- Does art have to be moral? -- Can we separate art from artist? Is this dependent on the medium? -- Is the audience complicit or culpable if they continue consuming the work created by monstrous men? -- How does the art by monstrous men play into discussions around individual taste and political identity as shaped by cultural consumption? -- What do strategies of ethical cultural consumption look like? -- Can we have harmless, morally sound cultural products in patriarchal, white supremacist capitalism? -- What is “woke capitalism” and does canceling culture ever work? -- What do accountability and consequences look like? -- Can monstrous men redeem themselves through confessions, apologies and contrition?

The course focuses on prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup relations. In particular, it discussed how the majority group reacts to minority groups in society. How prejudices develop, for instance, how negative attitudes follow from threats to people's identities, or their belongings are studied. The consequences of prejudices for intergroup interactions and, in particular, which political decisions are made, and which policies are implemented are examined. A special focus is on approaches to reduce prejudice and foster the cohesion of majority and minority groups in society. Attention to paid to existing prejudice toward other social groups such as religious or sexual minorities.

Topics in this course include: key concepts in sociology for the analysis of social reality; main forms of sociological explanation and understanding; sociology as a scientific discipline; historical emergence of sociology.

This course examines the relationship between crime, law, medicine and science. It focuses on criminal detection practices, death investigation systems, the coroner's office, autopsies and socio-legal management of the dead body, human tissue and organ controversies, and the role of medicine, science and psychology in criminal justice.

Hate crimes are on the rise, and so is support for political violence. Because of their subjugating and oppressing nature, bias-motivated offenses are generally viewed as different in their effects. Compared to their non-bias-motivated counterparts, hate crimes strike thrice. First, by targeting the immediate victim; second, by sending a “message” to the victim’s perceived community; and third, by calling into question an open societies’ commitment to inclusion, equity and tolerance. As such, hate crimes pose a serious threat to democratic ideals and to the complex challenge of maintaining and strengthening a peaceful coexistence. In this seminar, we will explore the contextual drivers of hate crimes through a quantitative lens. By examining the existing literature, we will investigate the impact of various social, economic, political, and institutional factors on the frequency and prevalence of hate crimes. In addition to exploring the causes of hate crimes, we will critically examine strategies aimed at preventing these acts. In addition to theoretical knowledge, this course emphasizes practical experience. We will engage with common datasets, learn about relevant research designs and replicate existing studies. 

This course introduces the concept of public space not only from a theoretical point of view but also through uses and behaviors taking place in urban public spaces, including gender inequalities. Methods of urban ethnography are considered for this purpose. All along the course, specific attention is paid to questioning links between theories and practices. Public space is a topical issue which plays a major role in our society and in our everyday lives. The course focuses on different disciplinary approaches (such as political philosophy, sociology, and urban studies) in order to identify the many meanings the concept can carry. It develops arguments to engage in the current debate around the supposed end of public space.