Educational Goals
The course has two main goals:
- to provide good knowledge of the main aspects and problems of political sociology;
- to provide a basic understanding of the theoretical tools, methodologies and techniques for the analysis of the relationships between politics and society.
These goals will be achieved through lectures, class activities, debating and case studies analysis.
Important
The course presents some topics close to that of Gender Politics, whose attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Method
Lectures, focused debating, papers presentation in class, exercises, case studies analysis.
Assessment method: test paper and papers discussed in class.
International Chairs
The chair of Political Sociology takes part in the “International Chairs Project”. In the frame of this project, some lectures will be held by Professor Darren Lilleker (Bournemouth University, UK). Prof. Lilleker is Director of the Centre for Public Communication Research at BU and he is one of the most important British scholars in Political Communication and Media and Democracy.
Exams
- Paper’s presentation in class (mandatory – 30%)
- Essay (max: 3,500 words – 40%)
- Final exam (Q&A: 30% – topics: books, lectures, paper presentation, essay)
1. Presentation in class
This assignment asks you to make an oral presentation, using ppt or similar, lasting about 20 minutes in which you report on the topic/s you received.
The presentation will be assessed in terms of (a) content, (b) organisation, (c) supporting materials, and (d) delivery.
2. Topics for essay
The essay’s length must be between 3,000 and 3,500 words.
It must be composed in Word format (.doc, .docx) and uploaded to the virtual class repository by 30 November 2018.
The suggested structure is the following:
- Introduction
- theoretical framework
- methodology (if the paper is based on a field research)
- findings and discussion
- conclusions
- bibliography.
The citation system must be “Harvard Citation System” (as described in “Final dissertation” page).
3. Final exam
An open-ended questionnaire.
4. Suggested reference books
Exams: not attending students
The final exam previews:
- Essay
- Final exam (Q&A) based on the three reference books (the presentation in class will be replaced by the third book)
Reference Books and Articles (2018/2019)
Books
- Clemens, E. S. (2016) What is Political Sociology? Cambridge: Polity.
- Wilson, J. and Swyngedouw E. (2015) The Post-Political and Its Discontents. Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- della Porta, D., Fernandez, J., Kouki, H. and Mosca, L. (2017) Movement Parties Against Austerity. Cambridge: Polity.
Articles (2019/2020)
The final exam will be based on the three books and the article (60%). The essay (40%) should be sent to the teacher at least ten days before the exam’s date.
- The essay’s length must be between 3,000 and 3,500 words.
- It must be composed in Word format (.doc, .docx) and sent to the teacher at least 10 days before the exam’s date.
- The topic can be cut from the course contents or constitute a deepening of the sub-topics (http://docenti.luiss.it/sorice/political-sociology/content/)
The suggested structure is the following:
- Introduction
- theoretical framework
- methodology (if the paper is based on field research)
- findings and discussion
- conclusions
- bibliography.
The citation system must be “Harvard Citation System” (as described in “Final dissertation” page)
EXAMS 2019/2020
I exam session
| First | Second | Third | |
| Test | |||
II exam session
| First | |
| Test | |
III exam session
| First | |
| Test | |
EXAMS 2018/2019
I exam session
| First | Second | Third | |
| Test | 10 Dec 2018 | 9 Jan 2019 | 31 Jan 2019 |
| h 14:00 | h 9:00 | h 9:00 |
II exam session
| First | |
| Test | 3 Jun 2019 |
| h 14:00 |
III exam session
| First | |
| Test | 2 Sep 2019 |
| h 9:00 |
Timetable
Beginning: 18 September 2019
Class activities
| Wednesday | 14:30 – 16:30 | Room: tbd |
| Thursday | 8:30 – 11:00 | Room: tbd |
Warning! The inaugural lecture will be held on Wednesday 18 September at 9:00 (not at 14:30)