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| SOCI0078-1 | Advanced questions of Sociology
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Jean‑François Guillaume |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Course contents :
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| The training provided within the framework of the Additional Sociology Questions course aims to encourage students to have "another" view on everday social reality. Students will be led to exercise their ability to observe and their critical mind. This implies a methodical mistrust regarding common sense propositions, "ready-made" ideas, a socio-psychological vulgate or ideological assertions. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| More specifically, this course aims to develop the following skills:
1. the ability to observe situations involving interactions on a daily basis and to draft an objective account of the facts observed (i.e. stripped of value judgements and normative prescriptions);
2. the ability to extract relevant information from existing data: statistical tables, written statements;
3. the ability to detect universal cultural references and models from day to day social practices, objects, spatial and temporal organisational methods, and to identify the bases of these reference models and the societal issues to which they respond;
4. the ability to deconstruct common sense propositions presented in the form of evidence, preconceived ideas, beliefs etc.;
5. the ability to formulate a social problem as a sociological problem.
By the end of the different working sessions, students should be able to carry out the following tasks:
1°) Draft an observational account of a human exchange which must contain a brief presentation of the conditions under which the observation took place, a description of spatial limits, a description of sequences particular to the context of the exchange, a description of regularities, regular behaviour which organises exchanges between people present in this context, a description of atypical behaviour which will be produced, a description of expected behaviour in the context of the exchange, a formulation of a few avenues for reflection or hypotheses on the function or place of this context in the organisation of our contemporary society (based on theoretical elements addressed in the syllabus).
2°) Detect errors committed by the author in observational accounts (a posteriori reconstruction of the observed sequence, personal interpretations, aesthetic or value judgements, etc.).
3°) Analyse accounts of incidents which have occurred in the context of interpersonal exchanges by using the concepts addressed in this course.
4°) Analyse personal statements by identifying the structural elements which determine the course of individual existence and the emergence of situations of suffering or distress.
5°) Extract information from a statistical table: the subject of the table, the type of table, the written formulation of the meaning of the data contained in the table, information drawn from the data presented. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Command of the French language.
Ability to search for information (Internet, library, etc.). |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| Classroom sessions will be based on resolving questions or problems relating to the sequence and organisation of human exchanges. Students are asked to answer questions individually. The answers given will then be corrected collectively. In order to do so, students will have access to written material setting out the problems, the theoretical elements to be used for their resolution, and additional bibliographical references.
As well as the issues addressed during class, several pieces of individual work will form that basis of a formative evaluation. These pieces of work should be drafted in line with the timetable given in class. |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Student presence is required, given the approach which will be taken to teaching.
Distance learning is possible based on the course work and documents which will be given during class. |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| 1. A syllabus.
2. Individual exercises carried out during classes.
3. Individual work carried out outside classes.
4. Collective summary of the exercises and individual work.
The everyday interaction situations subject to analysis will mainly be situations of family life, school life, and some other more specific contexts (beach, road, etc.).
Within the framework of the Additional Sociology Questions course, contributions from a specific author won't necessarily be envisaged: it won't be a matter of proceeding with a systematic presentation of a theoretical paradigm. It will be more a question of mobilising a series of tools which allow the necessary distance to be established to envisage social exchanges "in a different way". Reference shall be made to certain theoretical propositions of Anthony Giddens (as presented in La constitution de la société, Paris, PUF, 1987), Pierre Bourdieu, Erving Goffman, Jean-Claude Kaufmann and Guy Bajoit. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| The work carried out by each student will be assessed out of a total of 100 points, which are divided as follows:
Out of 20 points: writing up the work required during the classes.
For this work, the contents will not be the subject of a sommative evaluation. The points will be awarded according to the work the student has carried out and handed in within the given deadlines, and according to the instructions provided.
Out of 80 points: a written test. Based on short reports of everyday situations, the student is required to raise a group of coherent issues, and propose hypotheses regarding the "problematical" areas in each of the given situations.
The quality of the sociological contributions will be assessed by taking into account the following criteria (in decreasing order of importance):
- the accuracy and precision of the sociological contents (the notions used will be properly understood and defined);
- the integration of the different notions used in a global analysis (the assessment will be all the more favourable if the student has linked the various notions, rather than providing a succession of observations with no apparent link);
- the subtlety and originality of the analysis presented.
If the student does not achieve a sufficient mark in the exam (score equal to or less than 7/20), the student's work overall will be penalised by this mark.
In other words, the outcome of the Additional Sociology Questions depends on the result of the written test. |
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Contacts :
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| Jean-François Guillaume, Senior lecturer
04/366.35.03
Jean-Francois.Guillaume@ulg.ac.be
Bureau 1.90 (Bâtiment B31, Faculty of Law, Sart Tilman) |
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