6 ECTS credits
150 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1020434AER for all students in the 1st semester
at
a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.
- Semester
- 1st semester
- Enrollment based on exam contract
- Possible
- Grading method
- Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
- Can retake in second session
- Yes
- Taught in
- English
- Partnership Agreement
- Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
- Faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
- Department
- Sociology
- External partners
- Universiteit Gent
- Educational team
- Jannick Demanet
(course titular)
- Activities and contact hours
-
39 contact hours Lecture
111 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
- Course Content
The main objective of this course is to shed light on the specific nature of the sociological approach in the study of society, social groups, and interaction. We start with an introduction of the sociological approach and the main theoretical frameworks within sociology: functionalism, the conflict perspective, and the action perspectives. Thereafter, we focus on the different levels of social complexity, starting from the macro level (societies and world systems), over the meso level (groups and organizations) and arriving at the micro level (interaction). Along the way, we discuss two specific angles from which to study social phenomena: the study of structure and the study of culture. Next, three fundamental processes supporting the construction of social reality are explained: institutionalization, socialization and stratification. In a next part of the course, the whole of these insights is applied to a number of subfields in sociology, such as the study of deviance, . We end with establishing the bridge between theory and method, and discussing the various sociological perspectives. We go into the question of how these different methodological and theoretical approaches complement each other within the whole of the scientific study of social reality.
- Course material
- Handbook (Required) : Sociology, A Global Introduction, Macionis, J.J., & Plummer, K., 5th edition, Prentice-Hall, 9780273727910, 2012
- Additional info
Didactic forms
- Lectures and interactive lectures with class discussions, peer-to-peer learning;
- E-learning, online exercises and mock exam.
- Learning Outcomes
-
General competences
Upon completion of this course, students will have learned the following competencies:
- To have insight into the basic elements of sociological analysis
- To be able to discern and understand the classical approaches to the study of social reality
- To be able to distinguish between culture and structure
- To be able to distinguish between micro and macro approaches to the study of social reality
- To be able to understand and recognize middle-range theories in the fields of socialisation, social control and deviance
- To have insight into the stages of social change
- To understand how different methodological and substantive sociological perspectives complete each other in the study of 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.
- LO3: knows the cross-sections, the intersections and the cross-fertilisations that exist amongst the different social sciences.
- LO5: knows and can explain the multilayered and complex character of social, political and media-related facts and phenomena.
- LO8: can interpret and analyse contemporary social phenomena and problems and can take position, relying on contemporary theories in the domain of the social sciences, in debates on them.
- Grading
-
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
- Multiple Choice Exam
with a relative weight of 100
which comprises 100% of the final mark.
- Additional info regarding evaluation
Formative assessment
- Interactive lectures with group discussion, peer-to-peer learning, and application of theoretical subject matter to everyday examples;
- By making online exercises on the online learning platform, students can monitor their progress with the subject matter. The exercises will be accompanied by feedback. Moreover, a mock exam will appear on the online learning platform in the course of the semester, which is very similar to the real exam. As such, students get insight into the build-up of the final exam and their mastery of the subject matter.
Summative assessment
Written multiple choice exam. Emphasis will be laid on application and insight, rather than on reproduction of the subject matter.
- Allowed unsatisfactory mark
- The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.
Academic context
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Sociology
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Startplan