Academic Year/course:
2023/24
523 - Master's in Sociology of Public and Social Policy
67515 - Political sociology: democracy, political players and ideologies
Syllabus Information
Academic year:
2023/24
Subject:
67515 - Political sociology: democracy, political players and ideologies
Faculty / School:
109 - Facultad de Economía y Empresa
Degree:
523 - Master's in Sociology of Public and Social Policy
ECTS:
4.0
Year:
1
Semester:
Second semester
Subject type:
Optional
Module:
---
1. General information
Politics cannot be abstracted from its socio-cultural context nor from the changes that this context undergoes. Therefore, the subject aims to approach politics taking into account the different interpretations that sociology, philosophy and anthropology have given it, the importance of cultural variables in the deepening of democracy, the relationship of politics with violence (terrorism, wars, coups, etc.), the emergence of new values, the crisis of classical political actors (political parties and trade unions), the emergence of new actors (social movements, associations, NGODs, crowds), the crisis and emergence of ideologies, etc.
These approaches and objectives are aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda:
1: End of poverty.
4: Quality Education.
5: Gender Equality.
8: Decent Work and Economic Growth 10: Reduction of inequalities Goal 17: Alliances to achieve objectives.
2. Learning results
Upon completion of the subject, the student will be able to:
-Explain the social and cultural reality that underlies any political phenomenon
-Identify the basic tools and devices used by public policies
-Recognize and evaluate the plurality of political activity manifested by different actors (parties, social movements, etc.) and ideologies
-Examine public policies with attention to the political and social contexts in which they are implemented
3. Syllabus
Topic 1. The concept of the political
Conference: Sociology of violence
Seminar: Political Anthropology.
Topic 2. The democratic system and central actors
Conference: Political actors and people
Seminar: Electoral analysis
Topic 3. Peripheral players
Conference: Participatory action-research in the construction of society
Seminar: Socio-political participation
Topic 4. Politics and culture
Conference: The clash of civilizations
Seminar: Values and modernization
Topic 5. Ideologies
Conference: Ideologies in the water conflict
Seminar: Classical and contemporary ideologies
4. Academic activities
Program offers the students help to achieve the expected results and comprises the following activities:
1. Characterizations of the political: power, freedom, anthropological interpretations and the problem of the political
2. Main actors in political activity: political parties, trade unions, social movements, etc
3. Socio-cultural changes: post-materialistic values, cultural contradiction of capitalism, problem
4. Ideologies: socialism, liberalism, environmentalism, feminism, nationalism and racism
5. Assessment system
The student must demonstrate achievement of the intended learning results through the following assessment activities:
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
EXAM to be taken to evaluate the use of the lectures and the readings voluntarily done by the student from the extensive bibliography that will be added later. The exam will consist of 10 questions, each of which will be worth 1 point. Therefore, a maximum grade of 10 points may be obtained. It will take place on the day agreed upon by the students and the teacher at the end of the last topic of the subject.
To prepare for the subject, we recommend to use the text by J. A. Bergua Sociología de la política (editorial Mira), which is available in the library of the Faculty of Economics, the notes taken in the lectures, the texts added to each lecture and the other readings that the student may do on their own.
PRESENTATIONS in the 5 seminars. All students must present one text during the term. The replies, comments, observations, etc. of their classmates will be valued. Grades will range from 0 to 13 points for the presentation and from 0 to 3 points for the replications of peers. This means that a student can score 25 points (13 points for their presentation and 12 points for the replies they makes on the days when they is not required to give a presentation).
The presentations should be prepared trying to summarize the point of view of the text and argue with it. Students who do not present must also work on the texts, prepare their interventions and debate with the speakers
INDIVIDUAL WORK. It will be valued up to a maximum of 55 points. The work does not consist of reviewing or commenting on a book. The idea is to choose a topic, read several books related to it, obtain information through the press and the Internet and creatively put all this material together. Although a personal opinion can be added, that is not what creativity is all about. Rather, it is a matter of showing intelligence, intuition and skill in relating the material worked on. The content of the work and the bibliography or data to be used must be previously agreed with the teacher. A script will be submitted to the teacher including: presentation of the project, objectives of the work and bibliography and sources. In order for the student to prepare for this meeting, it is recommended to read the text Sociología de la política (Zaragoza, Mira) mentioned above. It will be valued that the topic of work is carried out transversally across all the topics of the program.
CONSULTATION AND TUTORING ACTIVITIES: consultations, comments, dialogues, etc. that take place during tutoring hours or via e-mail. Up to 10 points may be obtained for this concept.
The maximum grade a student can obtain is 100 points. The actual final grade will result from dividing the grade obtained by 10. So the grade will range from 0 to 10. A grade below 5 means that the student has not passed the subject.