Sociology

This course 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 basic concepts of Criminology as they apply to the relationships between migration, deviance, and social control; the “new” prevention of crime in urban settings; and the sociology of social control and punishment. The course highlights the sociological theory of crime and punishment and in particular the relationship between such theories and the broader framework of migration in the European Union. What is the connection between processes of European unification (legal, political, economic and social) and migrants' criminalization -- in the two aspects of criminalization, i.e. migrants' participation in criminal behavior, and the construction of migrants as criminal subjects? Theories discussed include the ecological theory of the Chicago School, differential association theory, the theory of anomie, labelling theory, and the theories of “everyday life.”

This course provides an introduction to sociology and sociological theory. It analyzes real social problems and covers topics such as the historical development of sociology, society and social structure, culture, social interaction, socialization, groups and organizations, transgression and social control, social stratification and social mobility, political order, economic order, collective behavior and social movements, and social change

Understanding sustainability broadly, the course explores how social entrepreneurship and innovation are a particular form of organizing toward social transformation. The course provides knowledge of how to explore and evaluate social entrepreneurship and innovations in theory and practice. Different theories and intellectual tools from social sciences are used to both understand the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship and innovation and apply them to the design of social entrepreneurial ventures in groups. During the theoretical part of the course, an introduction to the academic field of social entrepreneurship and important key concepts in social innovations are reviewed. Students work in groups to develop their own social enterprise. 

This course is focused on the contemporary metropolis, Taipei, Taiwan and its concentration of power and wealth, goods, symbols, ideas, and information. The city is full of conflict, tension and oppression and this course focuses on understanding these issues and discussing potential solutions to these dilemmas. This course will explore Taipei urban life composed of different culture, class, ethnic, racial, age and gender groups that are gathered in this adjacent space in close contact. The social relations they link, and the activities that are juxtaposed in the common space, may lead to conflicts, resulting in the chances of life of certain people, being excluded, and causing social injustice. The city is a pool of differences and this course objective is aimed to understand how to coordinate diversity and differences, to achieve social justice that is a major challenge of urban life. The main axis of this course, that is, in the face of external environmental changes, as well as the internal conflict pressure of urban life, is how to connect the difference between the crowd, so that different people have the opportunity to pursue their beautiful life in the city vision.