Sociology

This course offers a study of classical sociology. The course reviews work of early theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, and Georg Simmel. The course discusses topics including questions driving the formation of classical sociology and their relevance today, the basis of social order and structure, how and why societies change, the causes and consequences of conflict in society, and the place of the individual in society. This course consists of tutorial group meetings and lectures. Students read original materials accompanied by contemporary interpretations of the classics. This course requires that students have completed a course in macro sociology as a prerequisite.

The course gives an introduction to the subject of Sociology of Law, its history, and its position in the knowledge field between Law and society. The structure, contents, and organization of the Legal System are presented at a general level. The subject Sociology of Law introduces legal questions of relevance to understand the subject Sociology of Law as well as basic scientific theoretical and methodological perspectives. This course provides the history and knowledge field of Sociology of Law and Law and society. The theory of Science, Social theory, structure, contents, and organization of the Legal System are reviewed.

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. There are two versions of this course; this course, UCEAP Course Number 180B and Bologna course number 75074, is associated with the LM in Sociology and Social Work degree programme. The other version, UCEAP Course Number 180A and Bologna course number 81779, is associated with the LM in Language, Society, and Communication degree programme. The course focuses on different notions of globalization, and how information technologies affect everyday life, markets, and the process of consumption. Emphasis is placed on a sociological reading of globalization, i.e. understanding the internet culture and the relationship between globalization and web society. Students analyze the impact on individual behaviors and society at large within social networks and online communities through the mainstreaming of private information posted to the public sphere. The course addresses the emergence of a new rhetoric concerning democratization and participation in the web society, the changing relationship between producers, consumers, and prosumers in the web society and the consequences and effects of the Digital Divide nationally and worldwide.

This course aims to provide a range of qualitative research tools to invoke different stories, views, voices, identities, embodimenets and experiences. We discuss the theory, methodology and foundation of non-textual research methods. These different methods are hoped to provoke a new way of thinking away from the Western canon, contribute to more democratic and just research settings, and open up possibilities for transforming social inequalities. Through readings, class discussions, lectures from invited guests, and practical exercises students will explore the potentials and challenges of various methods, identify opportunities to use them, and consider how to treat and deal with data that comes out of the use of creative methods. This course is suitable for anyone who would like to experience and learn more about alternative and/or complementary methods to existing qualitative approaches (i.e. focus groups, interviews). It is of advantage if participants have prior experience of and with qualitative research. Participants at the early, middle and final stages of a qualitative research project will benefit, but if possible, it is best to consider data collection and analysis at the proposal stage.

This course examines key features and processes of criminal justice institutions, crime justice policy and practice, and addresses contemporary debates about crime in relation to substantive areas, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and youth offending.

This course provides a comprehensive understanding of the theories that explain social movements. Despite their seemingly chaotic and elusive nature, scholars have developed various theoretical frameworks that can help understand them. This course focuses on examining classic and contemporary sociological theories in the context of historical social movements. By analyzing a diverse range of social movements and theories, the class is encouraged to develop innovative ideas that can be applied to uncover and address social issues.

This course introduces sociological perspectives on food and eating in everyday life, as well as key sociological concepts and theories with relevance for food and eating. It deals with topics such as the social significance of meals within the family and in institutional settings, identity and the meaning of food and meals, and food poverty. It also examines developments in meal patterns and how societal challenges such as climate change, risks, and health (including body weight management) are dealt with in ordinary food practices. Parallel to the focus on social aspects of food and eating, the course introduces theories of social practices and human action and key sociological concepts such as inequality, stigma, social class, gender, age, and social inclusions and exclusions.

This course selects different aspects to objectively and truly show contemporary China to achieve two purposes. First, help international students understand and understand contemporary China, understand the cultural traditions and daily life of the Chinese people, understand China's political laws and governance methods, and cultivate international youth who are familiar with China and friendly to China. Second, understand the diversity and differences of Chinese society, understand the challenges faced by China in the process of modernization, and enhance a deep understanding of China.
This course has about 30 topics, including population and ethnicity, food and cuisine, language and dialects, festivals and traditions, marriage and family, leisure and entertainment, art and sports, transportation and transportation, tourism and world heritage, natural resources and environmental protection, media and publishing, education and research, politics and government, religion With faith, information technology and the Internet, cities and villages, etc.

When teaching, the teaching content is determined according to the topics that students are interested in and one topic per week. The choice of teaching content strives to be objective and comprehensive, and the selection of data comes from different aspects. Teachers do not make too many value judgments to help students form a correct understanding of China. The basic principle of teaching is to look at the world from the perspective of China and China from the perspective of the world. Through comparative analysis, we can find commonalities and personalities, questions of universal significance and answers with Chinese characteristics.
Each topic will be divided into several questions, leading the teaching content with questions, and looking for the answers to the questions and the enlightenment of these questions to Chinese society through introduction and sorting out. Taking the topic of "Population and Ethnicity" as an example, the topic will be divided into ten issues: population size, population density, aging population and aging society, child mortality rate, birth rate, life expectancy, surname, number of ethnic groups, ethnic population and regional autonomy. One is to examine the current situation, and the other is to show the past from a historical perspective. The profound changes in China in the past century include the increase in population and life expectancy, the decline in child mortality, the policy of regional ethnic autonomy in New China, etc., and examine the challenges posed by the aging society to Chinese society.
This course adopts self-edited textbooks, especially highlighting the characteristics of modern education technology. It pays attention to the fragmentation, materialization, visualization and narrativeization of knowledge points. It uses pictures, short videos, stories and other forms to present contemporary China in three dimensions, guides students to think deeply about different aspects of contemporary Chinese society, and deepens contemporary China. The understanding and recognition of the Chinese people, the Communist Party of China and China's governance model.

This course develops a broad analysis of the history of human rights and democracy in Brazil. It begins by discussing how the idea itself of human rights appeared in history worldwide to stablish a critical approach of the topic, considering the historical experiences of the country’s invasion, slavery, torture, and dictatorships of the past. The agenda of memory, truth, justice, and reparation in the reconstruction of democracy is foundational. The course considers how memory affects society, its culture, and the political system, and the frame of rights of the Constitution of 1988. The course treats crucial topics about human rights in the country, its limitations, and challenges.

This course deals with ethnic and cultural minority groups in contemporary Japan. Japan is often described as a homogeneous society; indeed, it has a very dominant ethnic and cultural mainstream. This course looks at how minority groups have positioned themselves vis-a-vis the mainstream in finding a place for themselves in Japanese society while exploring their many fascinating similarities and differences in experiences.