Teaching and Assessment

Educational Goals

The course has two main goals:

  1. to provide good knowledge of the main aspects and problems of political sociology;
  2. 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 (online and on campus), exercises, case studies analysis, collaborative learning.

Assessment method: social/collaborative learning and papers discussed in class (online and on campus); essay; final exam.

 

Exams

  1. Paper’s presentation in class and/or activities of collaborative/social learning (mandatory – 30%)
  2. Essay (max: 3,500 words – 40%)
  3. Final exam (Q&A: 30% – topics: books, lectures, paper presentation, articles)

 

1. Presentation in class

This assignment asks you to make an oral presentation, using ppt or similar, lasting about 15 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 6 December 2020 (or, however, 10 days before the exam’s date)

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” or APA system (as described in “Final dissertation” page).

The essay must be uploaded in the provided space on Learn platform.

 

3. Final exam

An open-ended questionnaire.

 

4. Suggested reference books

See “Reference readings”

 

Exams: not attending students

The final exam previews:

  1. Essay (as for the attending students)
  2. Final exam (Q&A) based on the three reference books and the article (the class activities are replaced by the third book).
Essay Presentation and activities in class Final exam
Attending students  YES  YES YES (on 2 books and some articles)
Not attending students  YES  NO YES (on 3 books and one article)

The not attending students are kindly requested to send the essay to the teacher, via email (no uploading on Learn platform, please).

 

Reference Books and Articles (2020/2021) 

(for not attending students)

  1. de Nardis, F. (2020). Understanding Politics and Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  2. Blokker, P. and Anselmi, M. (Eds.) (2020.) Multiple Populisms. Italy as Democracy’s Mirror. London: Routledge.
  3. De Blasio, E. and Sorice, M. (2019.) E-Democracy and Digital Activism: From Divergent Paths Toward a New Frame. International Journal of Communication, 13: 5715-5733
  4. Morelock, J. (ed.) (2018). Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism. London: University of Westminster Press.

Books at points 1 and 2 are also available as ebooks (Kindle, etc.); the article and the book at points 3 and 4 are free for downloading (click the links)

For the reference readings of the academic year 2019/2020, please see “Reference readings”

The final exam will be based on the books and the articles (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 2020/2021

I exam session

 First  Second  Third
 Test  10 Dec 2020  12 Jan 2021  2 Feb 2021
    9:30 (CEST)  9:30 (CEST)  9:30 (CEST)

II exam session

 First
 Test

III exam session

First
Test

Timetable

Beginning:  14 September 2020

Class activities

Monday (groups 1-2) 16:45 – 18:30 On campus | Room 305
Monday (groups 3-11) 19:00 – 20:45  On campus | Room T01
Tuesday (all) 15:00 – 16:45 Online | Virtual Room 50
Friday (all) 11:30 – 13:15 Online | Virtual Room 65