BA-PoliticalSociology
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The full syllabus will be available on the Sociology Department website. Here is a list of the topics covered by this second-semester module:
1. Introduction: what is political sociology?
• Definitions and history of the field of political sociology
• Historical overview of the main approaches to political sociology
2. Conflict theories, elite theories, power and institutionalisms
• The concepts of power and society
• Power and the classics of political sociology: Marxist and Neo-Marxist approaches
• Elite theories
• Power in the international arena
3. Theories of state formation and change; types of Contemporary European States; Citizenship
• Theories of state formation
• The autonomy of the state
• States and globalization
4. Globalization, governance and the State
• Globalization in various domains
• Globalization and neo-liberalism
• Horizontal and vertical governance
• New governance
• Territorial governance
5. Transnational and Supranational Challenges to the State
• Challenges to the power of the state from above and from below
• State responses to globalization
• How do different actors in a global governance replace former state functions?
6. Bureaucracies, Institutions and Neo-Liberalism
• What are the features of a traditional and a modern bureaucracy?
• Why is bureaucracy important for state development and political rule?
• The impact of the ideology of New Public Management on state bureaucracies
7. Political participation and theories of representation: introduction
• The concept of political participation
• The political sphere
• Changing forms of political participation
8. Forms of Political Participation: electoral behaviour and party politics
• Theoretical approaches to the study of electoral behavior
• Parties and party systems: an overview
• Institutionalization dynamics in different social and political realms
9. Activism and the city, deliberative structures
• The concept of political participation in cities
• The political sphere at city level
• Urban activism in different contexts
10. Forms of Political Participation: interest groups, advocacy and civil society
• Interest groups and functional representation
• Private and public interest groups
• Forms of advocacy
• The concept of civil society and its relevance in contemporary governance
• Civil society and its uses as a political ideology
• International civil society
11. Forms of Political Participation: social movements
• Unconventional political participation: social movements and contentious politics
• Main theories of activists’ mobilization
• Action repertoires and their historical transformations
12. Left-liberal movements: the no-global movement
• The Anti-Globalization or Global Justice Movement as a new type of movement
• Transnational coordination and the role of the new media
• Main organizations
13. Ethnicity: political-sociological approaches
• The nature of ethnicity
• Traditions in the study of ethnicity: the contribution of political sociology
• The multicultural backlash
14. Anti-racist movements in Europe
• Varieties of anti-racist movements in Europe
• Anti-racism in different institutional domains
• The controversial nature of anti-racism
15. Public Policy, Migration and Health
• Migration and public policy issues
• Health as a key domain in migration policy
• Health in relation to other domains, such as housing and work safety.
16. Nationalism
• Nationalism,
• Postnationalism
• Euroscepticism
• Transnational Ethnic identities and globalisation
17. Ethno-Nationalism
• Ethnicity and self-determination
• Regionalism
18. Ethnicity and the Extreme Right
• Ethnicity and right-wing parties
• Demand and supply theories of the radical right
19. Populism
• Populism: definitions
• The personalization of politics
• The politics of the enemy and populism
• Populism and Italian politics
20. Political Communication and the Media
• The new media
• Ethnicity and the media
• Framing processes, social movements and the public sphere
21. Political Sociology, the 2008 Financial Crisis and its aftermaths
• The impact of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermaths
• The crisis and new vulnerabilities in Europe
• The crisis and the EU
22. Conclusions and exam preparation