Sociology (241117)

Learning Outcomes

The main objective of this curricular unit is that students develop the capacity to analyse human phenomena in a specifically sociologically and critical perspective.

For this purpose, knowledge about the origins of Sociology, basic epistemological and methodological issues, some of the most important authors of sociological theory, both classical and contemporary, as well as the main theoretical approaches guiding empirical research in Sociology, will be addressed.

There will always be a perspective of critical analysis, both of common sense and of the more elaborate ideas that circulate in the public sphere, and we will try to focus on empirical themes and theoretical approaches that are relevant to sociologically understand contexts of professional social intervention.

This theoretical explanation will also cross some contemporary topics related to gender and identities, global digital communication and network society, environment and risk society, among others.

Finally, the curricular unit also aims to contribute to the development of oral and written academic communication skills.

Study Program

1. What is sociology?
      1.1. Total social fact and the social sciences
      1.2. The sociological imagination
      1.3. How to do sociological research
2. The theoretical thought of the founding and classical authors of sociology
      2.1. Augusto Comte
      2.2. Karl Marx
      2.3. Harriet Martineau
      2.4. Émile Durkheim
      2.5. Max Weber
3. Modern theoretical perspectives
      3.1. Functionalism
      3.2. Conflict perspectives
      3.3. Symbolic interactionism
      3.4. Feminist perspectives
4. Some contemporary sociological thought
      4.1. Michel Foucault: body and power in modernity
      4.2. Jürgen Habermas: public sphere and communicative action
      4.3. Manuel Castells: network society
      4.4. Judith Butler: performative identities
      4.5. Ulrich Beck: risk society

Bibliography

MAIN REFERENCES

Giddens, A. (2014) Sociologia (9ª ed.). Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. (exists in English in ISMT’s library)
Abrantes, P., & Katúmua, MB. (2014). Curso de Sociologia. Lobito: Escolar Editora.