Sociology

This course provides an advanced, comparative insight into citizenship debates with a specific focus on the intersection between citizenship, migration, and belonging. The course primarily concentrates on Europe and Northern America but systematically introduces comparative elements with other regions of the world (Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East) to provide a wider, global perspective on the politics of citizenship. The course delves into the transformations of citizenship regimes through the review and discussion of key scientific contributions in the field of citizenship studies, which has developed at the nexus of different disciplines over the past thirty years (political science, sociology, history, law). Beyond discussing citizenship and the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion it entails, this course is also an opportunity to address more general concerns in social science research, such as how to assess change, how to ensure comparability across contexts, and how to address the gap between policy on paper and policy in practice.

This course begins with a historical perspective on the development of current economic and tech-structures, asking what is actually new. It then examines types of tech economies and forms of valuation, considering topics such as credit (e)valuations, the power of platforms, the producers of technology such as software engineers and users, prediction algorithms, digital money and markets, and surveillance capitalism. Anthropologists and social scientists from adjacent disciplines have the potential to contribute to both academic and public debates regarding economies of technology by engaging both critically and productively with the way that technology is shaping society and making specific assertions about what is “of value." Students develop their own argument about the changing economies of technology during the course using an empirical case and present their own case for feedback at a workshop, before writing the final essay. This course builds knowledge, skills, and competencies to engage with the current developments in tech by building on classical as well as current theoretical perspectives from fields including economic and digital anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies.

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories, hold on to misinformed beliefs even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, and/or spread rumors that may have little basis in fact? This course explores case studies of the causes, consequences, and tenacity of misinformation. Students able to think about understanding such situations and possible approaches to combat them

This course provides a critical introduction to French society with a strong emphasis on the debates and myths regarding French national identity (republicanism, integration). The first part of the course focuses on the main models which have been developed to account for French society (the Republic, the Education system, French Citizenship), and questions them in regard to the challenges French society had to face in the 20th century (democratization, immigration, globalization, women and LGTIQ+ movements). On the political sphere, as demonstrated by the recent presidential election, French society also confronts significant challenges with the rise of fringe parties (extreme left and, above all, the Rassemblement National). Traditional political movements (trade unions and working class actions) are equally defied by the rise of new social movements (unemployed, artists, women, gays), which put new identity (gender, sexuality, and others) at the heart of definitions within French society. The course tackles the issues of French identity politics through a focus on the media, with a true concern for their historical embeddedness, as a way to convey the complexity of events and debates that characterized French society through time.
 

This course begins with an understanding of age as a social variable and the life-cycle approach. It then examines the social construction of childhood from a historical and cross-cultural perspective. The central focus of this course is youth as a particular stage of the life-cycle. Topics such as the life cycle approach in Sociology; the social construction of childhood: children and the state; the social construction of adolescence: images of youth will be addressed. 

This course introduces the ways in which mental health has been studied as an academic discipline across the humanities and the social sciences. It shows that both the definition and the treatment of mental ill-health is not universal but shaped by the society in which people live. The course focuses primarily on the period of time from the closure of the lunatic asylums in Great Britain in the second half of the 20th century to the present day. Through an anthology composed of newspaper articles, political speeches, and party manifestos, the course analyzes some of the factors which influenced mental health policies, such as advances in medical knowledge, changes in social values, political ideals, the influence of the media (including social media), and financial cost. Alongside these factual texts, the course studies short extracts from films and literary works in order to gain an understanding of how changes in society’s attitudes towards the mentally unwell are reflected in cultural works.

This is an introductory course on international migration. The course explores various issues and challenges that come with growing migration today, focusing on multiculturalism, policy issues, racial and ethnic relations, social inequality, identities, xenophobia and nationalism. While taking a global, comparative approach, the course focuses on Japan, along with other industrial countries, such as the US, the UK, and South Korea. Through lectures, discussions, videos, and other class activities (e.g., guest speakers and field visits), the course collectively examine who migrates; why and how immigrants assimilate and integrate, and how states try to control immigration.

This course develops students' critical awareness of the core issues surrounding cultural competency, and provides them with practical tools with which to implement this awareness in their academic, professional, and everyday lives, and through this to effect positive change. While the course is embedded in the students' experience at King's, it also equips them with skills that are highly regarded by employers and which will enable them to be effective global citizens. 

This course introduces students to the changing nature of modern medicine. It offers insights into the emergence and evolution of modern medicine, its key actors and institutions, as well as discourses and practices. Health and disease are more than medical matters. They are shaped by social, cultural, political, and technological forces. Questions of health and disease are inextricably linked with questions of science, technology, modernity, religion, colonialism, capitalism, racism, globalization, humanitarianism, and the state.

This course offers a comprehensive overview of key issues in the study of international migration and immigrant integration. A dynamic approach that follows migrants’ journey from their origin countries to their receiving societies and examines the interethnic relations that develop therein is taken. The course is structured around three main themes: theories of immigration and immigration governance; categorization of migrants; integration outcomes and policies. A combined multidimensional perspective (comparing the integration of immigrants and their descendants in various domains of life, including the education system, the labor and housing markets, the neighborhood, politics, etc.) with a cross-national lens (comparing classical immigration countries and more recent immigrant-receiving countries) and a multilevel and multi-actor analytical framework (considering immigrants in relation to both their home/sending and host/receiving countries, and the networks of actors with which they interact, such as families, ethnic communities, government agencies, local administrators, NGOs, etc.) is used. The course has a strong empirical focus: it critically analyzes and discusses empirical studies that test theoretically derived hypotheses in various contexts. The perspective adopted is primarily sociological but insights from other disciplines such as human geography, political science, social psychology, economics, and anthropology are used.