THEORY AND METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The class explicitly aims to provide students with the main theoretical and empirical foundations of sociology. Therefore, it will provide an overview of the classics of sociology and fundamental contemporary theories. Going in depth through the theoretical frame, it will be asked about the reading and comment on a classic of sociology (as explained below). In order to complete the construction of the above theoretical frame, the most important American and European theories on collective action will be studied, as to provide students with a critical and in-depth framework on collective phenomena. Moreover, the class aims at training students in the methods and techniques of sociological research, making use of the research approach of those who continually throw doubt on the validity and reliability of the object to explain social phenomena; good knowledge of methods and tools for social research will therefore be essential to learn the construction of the research design, in both standard and non-standard approach. The monographic section focuses on theoretical and empirical approaches to social movements: starting from the conceptualization of the object, up to exemplifying the various possible research routes. The class aims, finally, to explore topics related to the ecological issue addressed through classical and contemporary sociological theories.

The course will be divided into lectures and a series of seminar meetings on the main topics of the program. It will be also scheduled ongoing evaluations.

INSTITUTIONAL SECTION: 1) What is society?; Individual and collective social actors, and identity; Social structures: institution and organization; 2) The relationship between theory and research; Emile Durkheim; Georg Simmel; Karl Marx; Max Weber; The symbolic interactionism; The exponents of contemporary society (Pierre Bourdieu, Raymond Boudon, Anthony Giddens); 3) Aspects and functions of sociological research; Developing research questions; Comparing quantitative and qualitative methods; The sampling; The interview; Questionnaire and survey.  MONOGRAPHIC SECTION: 4) Defining social movements; Conceptualization dilemmas; The Italian empirical research; 4) Reading of a classic of sociology (see texts below). 

1) Coser L.A., Masters of sociological thought. Ideas in historical and social contexts. New York: Hartcourt 1971.

2) Bryman A., Social research methods, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012.

3) Staggenborg S., Social movements, New York: Oxford University Press 2016.

4)  Simmel G, Fashion, The American Journal of Sociology, Volume LXII, 6, 1957.

The assessment of the examination will take into account the candidate's competency in content and skills, linguistic fluency and lexical propriety, as well as his/her argumentation ability and critical thinking 

Sample questions

The notion of interpretative interaction, according to Blumer, tends to:

a. make people the same

b. make people different

c. give the image of the group

Simon distinguishes the concept of rationality in:

a. simple and complex

b. substantive and procedural

c. economic and social

What does Durkheim mean by "social morphology"?

a) A series of elements connected to the space in which the company was structured;

b) A series of elements connected to the single individuals that make up society;

c) A series of elements related to time.

The interview aims to:

a) investigate emotions;

b) evaluate skills;

c) collect situations, behaviors, attitudes, and opinions.

What did the school represent for Marx in bourgeois society?

a) The expression of the ideologies of the ruling classes and had no other function than to reproduce the established order;

b) The place par excellence where it was possible to possess a critical reworking of traditional culture;

c) The place where meanings are reproduced