| Academic year: | 2010-2011 |
| Course code module | 2BPSW-08E |
| Semester: | 1st semester |
| Credits: | 6 |
| Study load (hours) | 168 |
| Theory (hours): | 45,00 |
| Practice/Exercises(hours): | |
| Other (hours): | |
| Part-time program: | 2 |
| Instructor(s) | Dirk Geldof
|
| Language of instruction: | English |
| Semester exam information: | exam in the 1st semester |
| Contract restriction information: | |
1. Prerequisites
*Algemene competenties
·
Being familiar with central sociological concepts and being able to handle them
·
Knowledge of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ sociological tradition (Marx, Weber, Bourdieu, Dahrendorf, Goldthorpe, etc.)
·
Some acquaintance with situations and issues of inequality in contemporary society and with its organisation and functioning is an advantage.
*Sequentiality
Society, facts and problems (1BPSW-10)
Not applicable for Social Work
2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes)
Being familiar with sociological thinking about forms of social inequalities.
Advanced knowledge of some situations of inequality: facts, mechanisms, processes and their context.
Being able to identify and to analyse situations of inequality using the concepts, theoretical frames and methods discussed in this course.
3. Course content
1° Introduction: how did inequality became a subject of action and research?
· Prerequisites of a social problem
· Ideas : Rousseau, Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen
· Social movement: abolition of slave trade and slavery
· Some general conclusions
2° Illustrations of inequality
· Income distribution
· Education
· Health and mortality
· First definition of inequality
3° Central concepts (differentiation, fragmentation, inequality, exclusion and stratification) are explained on the basis of a model developed by Jan Vranken.
4° Important forms of organized inequality : classes, castes and estates.
5° Three main theories of stratification are explained:
· Marx, Weber & Eric Olin Wright
6° Social mobility :
· Types of mobility
· Models
· How to measure mobility?
· The relevance of mobility
7° Class structure in contemporary societies
· Important developments (globalisation, rise and decline of the welfare state, etc.) and their impact on class structure.
· The upper class: between capital owners and management
· The new versus the old middle-class
· The working class: subject to embourgeoisement?
· The urban underclass: also in Europe?
8° Modern authors on inequality and stratification
· Goldthorpe, Giddens, Bourdieu, E.O. Wright, Esping-Anderson, Beck, Wilkinson, Wacquant
9° Actual forms of inequality and stratification : every year specific topics are selected (such as poverty, life events, urban forms, ethnicity, globalisation and climate)
Theory, empirical data and methodology are balanced out.
4. Teaching method
Direct contact: Lectures
Personal work: Assignments - in groupSupervised self-study
5. Assessment method
Exam: Oral, with written preparationOpen questions
6. Compulsory reading – study material
Reader ‘sociology of inequalities’ (available at Universitas)
+ power point presentations and additional texts on blackboard
7. Recommended reading - study material
Additional texts and recommended reading on Blackboard.
8. Tutoring
For questions concerning this course, you may contact dirk.geldof@ua.ac.be.