6 ECTS credits
158 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1021092BER for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.
The “Critical Thinking”-courses build on the concepts taught in the first year, but focuses more explicitly on their role as tools of scientific and social critique. They does so by exploring the critical currents that exist within each of the three core disciplines of communication studies, political science and sociology. Through in-depth lectures and discussion of core theoretical texts the students will learn the various ways in which these disciplines have defined the notion of “critique”.
This course forms the sociological component of the “Critical Thinking”-triad. Throughout this class we will use the notion of “critique” as a lens through which we will read and discuss some of the key authors that have helped define classical and contemporary sociology. Starting from Marx’ and Durkheim’s vision of sociological truth as inherently defined against the dominant “ideologies” or “common sense” of the day, we will work our way through the history of the discipline in order to find out what it means to be “critical” in a sociological sense. We will look at different attempts to define “power” in its various manifestations and will devote several lectures to discussing one of the most sociological and critical concepts of them all, namely “social class”. Having acquired a series of conceptual tools that will help us to think critically about the social world throughout the semester, we will finish the lecture series by applying these tools to some contemporary empirical cases.
The bulk of this class is composed of a series of ex cathedra-lectures interspersed with three reading seminars. The reading seminars seek to strengthen the students in their capacity of reading and processing academic texts with an interdisciplinary mindset. During the seminars students are expected to actively participate in discussing the texts, thus practicing the skill of formulating clear stances, supported by critical theories and concepts in a way that adds to the scientific and societal debate.
The course material consists of the following:
Description of expected study load:
Below is a rough approximation of the expected study load of this course. The specific contact hours are amenable to change.
Lectures: collective contact-dependent moments during which the lecturer engages with learning materials.
Seminar, Exercises or Practicals (Practical): collective or individual contact-dependent moments during which the students are guided to actively engage with learning materials. Reading seminars in which key theoretical texts are discussed in smaller groups.
Self-study: 112 hours
After successful completion of this course students will be able to:
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 70% of the final mark.
Practical Exam determines 30% of the final mark.
Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Within the Practical Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
The particular weight given to each evaluation format will be outlined in the 'study guide' that will be provided at the start of the semester.
In case a student fails this course in the first session, the written exam can be redone in the second session. The grades on reading notes and participation are specific to the reading seminars and cannot be changed for the second session.
More specific details will be provided in the course’s “study guide”.
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