Sociological Perspectives

6 ECTS credits
150 u studietijd

Aanbieding 1 met studiegidsnummer 1021424CER voor alle studenten in het 2e semester met een gespecialiseerd bachelor niveau.

Semester

2e semester

Inschrijving onder examencontract

Mogelijk

Beoordelingsvoet

Beoordeling (0 tot 20)

2e zittijd mogelijk

Inschrijvingsvereisten

Students must have taken ‘Critical Thinking in Sociology’, before they can enroll in this course.

Onderwijstaal

Engels

Onder samenwerkingsakkoord

Onder interuniversitair akkoord mbt. opleiding

Faculteit

Faculteit Sociale Wetensch & SolvayBusinessSchool

Verantwoordelijke vakgroep

Sociologie

Externe partnerinstelling(en)

Universiteit Gent

Onderwijsteam

Jannick Demanet (titularis)

Onderdelen en contacturen

39 contacturen Hoorcollege
111 contacturen Zelfwerk en -studie

Inhoud

This course aims to acquaint students with the dominant classical and contemporary theoretical perspectives that underlie sociological research. Substantive perspectives determine what sociologists will study. Each perspectives has its own postulates in looking at social reality, and they differ alongside two axes: structure-culture, and micro-macro. Methodological perspectives determine how sociologists study reality. While the focus of this course is on the substantive perspectives, also the methodological perspectives (positivism, interpretative sociology, and functionalism) are discussed.

We start with a presentation of the four dominant classical sociological standpoints, namely structuralism, sociology of social action, formal sociology and symbolic interactionism. Thereafter, contemporary sociological standpoints are presented that transcend the classical dividing lines between agency and structure. Each standpoint is first theoretically introduced, after which empirical applications of the standpoints are studied. Important is that students learn to identify the underlying standpoint and to develop an argumentation for this identification. This course predominantly takes on an interactive format, with students bringing their own insights from the texts to class, presenting their theoretical ideas and argumentations, and engaging in moderated classroom discussions.

Studiemateriaal

Digitaal cursusmateriaal (Vereist) : Digital reader, specific content to be communicated at the start of classes

Bijkomende info

Didactic forms

Lectures and interactive lectures with class discussions and peer-to-peer learning;
Micro-teaching;
Flipped classroom techniques;
Classroom assessment techniques

Leerresultaten

General competences

Upon completion of this course, students will have learned the following competencies

To have insight in classical and contemporary sociological approaches to the study of social reality
To be aware that the chosen standpoint has implications for the found results in empirical research
To be able to critically compare and integrate different classical and contemporary sociological approaches
To be able to independently identify the sociological standpoint that underlies empirical research, and develop a sound argumentation for this identification
To be able to situate classical and contemporary sociological standpoints in their wider temporal and spatial context
To be able to independently read, process, and present theoretical scientific texts and critically evaluate contemporary theoretical standpoints in their approach to social reality

More specifically, the course addresses the following program objectives:

LO1: knows and can elaborate on the most important theories, currents and concepts prevailing in the domain of the social sciences.
LO2: knows the historical developments that have occurred in the fields of sociology, political sciences and communication sciences over time.
LO5: knows and can explain the multilayered and complex character of social, political and media-related facts and phenomena.
LO10: can critically position their research against the theories that prevail in the international social sciences literature, including recent developments and innovations in these literatures.
LO11: can, independently, identify, gather and critically process relevant sources and literature on a specific social sciences research topic.
LO17: can work in team and collaborate with peers in a relationship of mutual respect.
LO18: can reflect on and evaluate their learning process and research and can deal with criticism in a constructive manner.

Beoordelingsinformatie

De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
Examen Mondeling bepaalt 70% van het eindcijfer

Examen Andere bepaalt 30% van het eindcijfer

Binnen de categorie Examen Mondeling dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:

Oral Exam met een wegingsfactor 70 en aldus 70% van het totale eindcijfer.

Binnen de categorie Examen Andere dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:

Micro-teaching met een wegingsfactor 30 en aldus 30% van het totale eindcijfer.

Aanvullende info mbt evaluatie

Formative assessment

Interactive lectures. Students will process scientific texts before coming to class, and their questions, discussion points, and comments will be used as input for interactive lectures, forming the basis for the group discussion, peer-to-peer learning, and application of the subject matter to everyday examples.
Micro-teaching (30% of total mark). In a small group, students will independently read contemporary theoretical texts, and develop and give a lecture where the contemporary sociological approach is taught to the rest of the group. Afterwards, the students will moderate a classroom discussion where the theoretical perspective is critically assessed and applied to everyday examples. Important: it is not possible to redo this for the second examination session, so this grade will be taken over from the first examination period.

Summative assessment

Oral exam (70% total mark). The oral exam assesses whether students can explain the theoretical approaches in their own words, whether they can compare them and discuss them in a critical manner, and apply them to new case studies.

Toegestane onvoldoende

Kijk in het aanvullend OER van je faculteit na of een toegestane onvoldoende mogelijk is voor dit opleidingsonderdeel.

Academische context

Deze aanbieding maakt deel uit van de volgende studieplannen:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Year 3: Orientation Sociology (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)