CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

STOSO

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2020/2021

Type of Course:

Basic

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in SOCIOLOGY AND CRIMINOLOGY

Disciplinary Sector:

GENERAL SOCIOLOGY

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

ALTOBELLI DARIO

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

102

Objectives

The aim of the course is to provide students with the contents and tools for acquiring a solid knowledge base of sociological thought in its main expressions. The knowledge of general theories is always inserted in the historical-social and cultural context, about national traditions, as a necessary background to understanding and study.
In this perspective, the course develops a thematic path around the concepts of capitalism, forms of life and utopia as defined, themed and used in sociological thought. The three concepts are, in fact, directly or indirectly present in the thinking of the major sociologists and constitute a fundamental part of the scientific and public debate developed from the nineteenth century to today.

Contents

The course "History of Sociology" is aimed at the knowledge and study of the major classical and contemporary sociologists and of the main sociological theories.
The course of this year, entitled "Capitalism, forms of life, utopia. Paths of history of sociological thought”, traces the history of sociology, and of social and human sciences in general, from the nineteenth-century origins to recent times, through the interpretative lens offered by the concepts of capitalism, forms of life and utopia.

Extended Syllabus

The course offers a complete and reasoned review of the thought of the main sociologists and of the most important and influential sociological theories from the origins of the discipline to the contemporary age.
Specific attention is given to the definition of historical-social and cultural coordinates, regarding national traditions, in the birth, affirmation and consolidation of sociological reflection and its applications.
The study of the sociological discipline is configured as a field of reflection that also concerns the neighboring territories of the other human and social sciences, specifically cultural and social anthropology.
Specific attention is given to the understanding of the conceptual network woven between the notions of capitalism, forms of life and utopia in sociological reflection. These three themes are particularly fruitful for a transversal and problematic reading of the discursive domain of sociological thought: on the one hand, they are manifest, latent or in-making fronts of elaboration and reflection; on the other, they represent anything but trivial terms of the epistemological perimeter of sociological knowledge together with the political dimension always present in the human and social sciences.

Recommended Bibliography

Below is the list of textbooks for the exam. If possible, it is recommended not to purchase books before the start of the course as instructions will be given in the first days of class.
1. F. Crespi, Il pensiero sociologico, il Mulino, Bologna, 2018.
2. D. Altobelli, L’utile e il ragionevole. Saggio su Cesare Lombroso, Mimesis, 2020
or D. Altobelli, Jean Baudrillard. Il male, l’utopia, il simulacro, Mimesis, 2020
3. Classics of sociological thought. A text chosen from the following:
- K. Marx, Antologia. Capitalismo, istruzioni per l’uso, Feltrinelli, 2015.
- É. Durkheim, La divisione del lavoro sociale, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- M. Weber, L’etica protestante e lo spirito del capitalismo, ed. or. 1905, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- G. Simmel, Filosofia del denaro, 2019, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- G.H. Mead, Mente sé e società, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- H. Blumer, Interazionismo simbolico, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- T. Parsons, Sistema politico e struttura sociale, 2014.
- Th.W. Adorno, M. Horkheimer, Dialettica dell’illuminismo, ed. or 1947, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- E. Goffman, La vita quotidiana come rappresentazione, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- H. Marcuse, L’uomo a una dimensione. L’ideologia della società industriale avanzata, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
4. Classics of contemporary sociological thought.
A text chosen from the following:
- P. Bourdieu, Per una teoria della pratica, Cortina.
- J. Baudrillard, Lo scambio simbolico e la morte, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- N. Luhmann, Potere e complessità sociale, Il Saggiatore, 2012.
- J. Habermas, Storia e critica dell’opinione pubblica, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- U. Beck, La società del rischio. Verso una seconda modernità, Carocci.
- Z. Bauman, Modernità liquida, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.
- A. Giddens, Le conseguenze della modernità. Fiducia e rischio, sicurezza e pericolo, più volte edito e in commercio in edizione italiana.

Teaching Methods

Lectures, use of ppt, any audiovisual aids useful for understanding the course contents.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

Oral exams with grades expressed in thirtieths.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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