Year 2010-11
Social Structures (21668)
Qualification: Degree in Political and Administration Sciences
Year: 2nd
Term: 2nd
Number of ECTS credits: 4
Hours of student dedication: hours
Teaching language: Catalan
1. Introduction to the course
The course aims to introduce students to the systems of social stratification in Catalonia and Spanish. It also aims at encouraging students to reflect on the mechanisms that maintain or weaken social differentiation and hierarchical systems.
The issues raised in the program do not have a single answer and are not irrefutable. Instead, they have very different interpretations and will very seldom provide absolute responses. For this reason, students are expected to attend class prepared to actively engage in questioning the theories and empirical evidence presented. To encourage debate and help students a list of compulsory readings for each lecture is provided.
2. Competences to be achieved
GENERIC COMPETENCES
§ Instrumental competences:
G1. Ability to analyse and synthesise.
G3.Oral and written communication in one's own language.
§ Interpersonal competences:
G9.Ability to criticise and be self critical.
§ Systemic competences:
G19.Ability to learn.
G24.Ability to work alone.
SPECIFIC COMEPTENCES
1. Understanding of the processes that lead to the social structures of contemporary societies.
2. Ability to study specific cases using sociology terminology and language.
3. Ability to think about social problems in terms of sociology's main theoretical frameworks.
4. Understanding of the creation of social order and its sustenance.
5. Understanding of conflict as driving social change.
3. Contents
During the course, students should develop a position on the following set of key questions related to social stratification:
- What is the origin of stratification and what are the most important factors to understand individual opportunities?
- To what extent do individual opportunities change when migrant origin or gender are taken into account?
- How can social inequalities be measured and what are the minimum levels of inequality that we are willing to accept?
- In our society, in recent years, to what extent have our life opportunities been democratized?
- To what extent can different social policies and institutions alter the class structure or facilitate social mobility?
4. Assessment
Continuous assessment: 1) Participation in seminars (there will be 3 seminars), students must do the required reading and carry out their own research, individually and in group, in order to prepare for the seminars; 2) coursework (there will be 3 pieces of work): 60% of the final mark. Final Exam: 40% of the final mark.
Students' participation in lectures and seminars will also be taken into account.
5. Bibliography and other resources
5.1. Basic Bibliography
Carabaña, J. and de Franco, A. (comp.) 1993. Teorías contemporáneas de las clases sociales. Madrid: Pablo Iglesias.
Crompton, R. (1994) Clase y estratificación. Madrid: Tecnos.
Echeverria, J. (1999) La movilidad social en España. Ediciones Istmo.
Esping-Andersen G. (2000) Fundamentos sociales de las economías postindustriales. Barcelona, Ariel
Giddens, A. (1989) La estructura de clases en las sociedades avanzadas. Madrid, Alianza.
Giner, S. (ed.) 1988. La societat Catalana. Barcelona: Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya.
González, J. J. and Requena, M. (2006) Tres décadas de cambio social en España. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Hartmut, Kaelble (1994) Desigualdad y movilidad social en los siglos XIX y XX. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social.
Kerbo, Harold R. (2003) Estratificación social y desigualdad el conflicto de clases en perspectiva histórica y comparada. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
Ossowski, S. (1972) Estructura de clases y conciencia social. Barcelona: Península.
Parkin, F. (1984) Marxismo y teoría de clases. Una crítica burguesa. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.
Salido, O. (2000), La movilidad ocupacional de la mujeres en España. Por una sociología de la movilidad femenina. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
Tezanos, J.F. (ed.) 1999. Tendencias en desigualdad y exclusión social. Madrid: Editorial Sistema.
Wright, E. O. (1994) Clases. Madrid: Siglo XXI.
5.2. Other resources
SocioSite: http://www.sociosite.net/
http://www.sociosite.net/topics/inequality.php
Trinity University Stratification: http://www.trinity.edu/mkearl/strat.html
Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy of Harvard University:
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/inequality/
Marxist online archive: http://www.marxists.org/
PovertyNet: http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/spanish.htm
THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION (The Social Dimensions of Inequality)
Women's Studies Library: http://womenst.library.wisc.edu/
UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/spanish/
See also the UPF Political Science library guide: http://www.upf.edu/bibtic/ccpp/sociologia/estrucsoc.html
6. Methodology
Classroom based: 1) lectures; 2) seminars
Non-classroom based: 3) group work (seminar preparation); 4) individual work (coursework); 5) autonomous study.
7. Programme of activities
Week 1: LECTURE (What do we mean by social stratification?). Objective: to introduce the concepts related to social stratification.
Week 2: LECTURE (Do we live in a society without social classes? What does social class represent?). Objective: To define the concept of social class form different ideological and methodological paradigms.
Week 3: LECTURE (How can social inequality be measured?). Objective: explain the theories of the social reproduction of inequalities and the existence of given social mobility regimes.
Week 4: LECTURE (Does gender inequality exist?). Objective: to reflect on the importance of gender to understand its impact in the educational, labour and family sphere.
Week 5: LECTURE (Are there social stratification models by age and generation?) Objective: to reflect on the importance of age, the time in history and generational cohort of belonging in order to understand differences in resource access opportunities.
Week 6: LECTURE (To what extent does origin or ethnicity impact on social achievement in modern societies?). Objective: to analyze integration indicators and levels of social achievement by origin and ethnic group.
Week 7: LECTURE (To what extent does educational attainment explain social mobility processes in our society?). Objective: to explore the role of education as a mechanism that allows mobility within the social class structure.
SEMINARS: small group work on 1) processes that legitimise social inequalities, 2) gender inequalities and 3) immigration. Seminars will be held starting from the third week.