Sociology

This course is a general introduction to sociology as a scientific discipline, covering essential concepts and models, main methodological tools, and basic theories of modern and contemporary sociology. Students will critically reflect on the historical origin of contemporary societies, on social structures and their evolution over time, and on social actions, interactions and behaviors, with a particular focus on globalized Western societies. In addition to theoretical and applied knowledge, the course will facilitate the development of competences of critical reading of scientific texts, interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data about social phenomena, and scientific communication.

Students will acquire (1) knowledge of fundamental concepts, theories and paradigms in modern and contemporary sociology; (2) ability to critically read and understand scientific texts in sociology and other social sciences; (3) ability to recognize, discuss and compare theoretical propositions and arguments in sociology, evaluating them in light of empirical evidence; (4) knowledge of the main empirical results from contemporary sociological research; (5) ability to interpret quantitative and qualitative data on social phenomena; (6) ability to appropriately communicate knowledge and scientific results from social research.