The task of political sociology is to explore and explain the relationship between politics and society, between social and political institutions, and between social and political behavior. Contemporary political sociology also concerns questions of culture and identity, which shape or constitute the claims and interests that social and political actors hold or pursue. The course has two main goals: to make students familiar with the main aspects and problems of political sociology; and to provide a basic understanding of the key authors, theories, methodologies and techniques for the analysis of the relationships between politics and society.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: This course will provide theoretical and empirical knowledge relevant to the discipline of political sociology, its scope, and its importance within the social sciences. Students acquire a thorough understanding of major figures, debates and paradigms in political sociology. MAKING ARGUMENTS: Students are encouraged to analyze complex debates in political sociology and competently express their views on it. They are enabled to take and evaluate multiple perspectives on challenging questions and to make informed judgments. COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS: Students learn to communicate their standpoint using sociological concepts, appropriate terminology and logical argument. They interact with peers and instructors and improve their ability to deliver academic presentations. LEARNING SKILLS: This course teaches students to work with reading assignments, organize their personal reading and writing schedule and deliver results over the course of the semester. Special emphasis is placed on professional academic writing and correct use of literature and citations during assignments.

This is an introduction to key concepts and research areas in political sociology. Political sociology deals with processes and structures at the interface of state and society, whereby the causal path can be in either direction (from society to state, vice versa, or both). Giovanni Sartori`s famous example is political party formation, which is simultaneously expressive of (“society to state”) and formative for (“state to society”) social cleavages (around class, religion, region etc.). Thus understood, political sociology is a broad field that can be covered here only in fragments and in an eclectic way, partially reflecting the instructor`s own research foci and interests. Among the topics covered in this course are: What is power; theories of the state; models of democracy; political parties; the welfare state; citizenship; ethnicity, race, and nationhood; and selected recent problems and processes (immigration and integration, populism, Covid-19).

The exact sections of assigned readings will be detailed in the syllabus that will be distributed in the beginning of the course and published on Luiss Learn. All books are available on the perlego-app, to which you have access as Luiss student. Basic background reading on political sociology: The Handbook of Political Sociology, edited by Thomas Janoski et al., Cambridge UP 2012

Lectures, participation

The assessment for this course is partially enquiry-based and includes three components. [1] A mid-term exam in week 7 covers content of weeks 1-6: multiple choice + open questions; 40% of grade. [2] The final exam in week 12 covers the content of weeks 7-11: multiple choice + open questions; 40% of grade. [3] Participation, 20% of grade. For students who (in exceptional circumstances and with previous authorization by the competent offices and the lecturer) do not attend the course in presence and do not become part of an enquirer-team, the assessment method consists of one comprehensive oral exam on the whole content of the course. It is your duty to contact the course-teacher well ahead of the exam to receive the syllabus and the assigned reading.

For those of you interested, please reach me at christian.joppke@unibe.ch Teaching Assistants: apereti@luiss.it acourtley@luiss.it