Social Classes and Social Structures
Code
711081001
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Sociologia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Bruno Miguel Dionísio, Márcio Silva Augusto
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
1. Knowledge and understanding of the fundamental sociological concepts related to the social structure of classes and their historicity put forward by the classic and contemporary authors;
2. Abilityto use these concepts to analyze and problematize modern worlds structures and inequalities and Portuguese society´s in particular , and in a way leading to possibilities for future empirical research;
3. Ability to use these concepts to produce scientifically consistent arguments about modern worlds structures and inequalities;
4. Ability to communicate on the sociological theory the learned results of carried out analyses and problematization in a meaningful and accurate way.;
5. Ability to reflect on the relation between common and scientific meanings of structures, relations, objects and social actions, and to apply it in the analysis of contemporary societies.
Prerequisites
The frequency of the Curricular Unit Introdução à Sociologia: Fundamentos e recommended.
Subject matter
1. From the constitution of political modernity to the autonomization of the question and of the questioning of social inequality.
2. From the political, social and economic revolutions to the recognition of the autonomy of its social explanations: from the French revolution to the industrial revolution
3. General introduction to the problematic of inequality: from the contribution of economists to that of historians 17th to 20th centuries
4. The theoretical formulations of Marx and Weber
5. Contemporary reformulations of class theories
6. Justice, classes and social inequalities
Bibliography
Bourdieu, P. (1979), La Distinction: critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Minuit.
Estanque, E. & MENDES, J.M. (1997). Classes e desigualdades sociais em Portugal: Um estudo comparativo. Porto: Afrontamento.
Giddens, A. (1975). A Estrutura de classes das sociedades avançadas. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar.
Hall, J. R. (ed) (1997). Reworking class. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Marshall, G., Switf, A. & Roberts, S. (2002). Against the odds. Social class and social justice in industrial societies. Oxford: Clarendon.
Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1976), A ideologia alemã, I. Lisboa: Presença.
Queirós, M.C. (2005). Classes, identidades e transformações sociais: Para ler as evoluções da estrutura social portuguesa. Porto: Campo das Letras.
Thompson, E.P. (1988). La formation de la classe ouvrière anglaise. Paris: Gallimard e Seuil.
Weber, M. (1984). Economía y sociedad. Ciudad de México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Wesolowski, W. (1977). Classes, estratos e poder. Amadora: Novo Curso.
Teaching method
Theoretical classes present the contents articulating them with socially recognized issues and problems.
Lectures in the syllabus topics feed on issues worked upon by national and foreign research on this area: classes, structures and social inequalities, aiming at questioning rather than at socially produced truths, and motivating the audience to put questions along the lectured problematic axes.
Practical classes consist of the discussion of papers, scenarios, charts and images, which contribute to the development of theoretical and methodological questioning.
Evaluation method
Continuous evaluation of students´ participation in practical classes (15%); one literature-based oral presentation in practical class (15%); one written review essay on syllabus readings (20%); one written text in class on the whole syllabus matters (50%).