The course examines the subject of modern social institutions and their transformations, with particular reference to the age of globalization. Specifically, the aim is to analyze historically and explain sociologically the structural changes (economic, political, social and cultural) of contemporary societies and their consequences on subjective experiences. This will be accomplished by presenting the main topics covered, and the main theoretical perspectives developed on the subject.

The first part of the course is dedicated to the main transformations of modern social institutions during the twentieth century, and it will illustrate the transition from societal modernity, which emerged in the first part of the twentieth century and then institutionalized after WWII, to the so-called global modernity. The second part of the course is dedicated to the study of globalization, which is a multifaceted and nonlinear historical process, resulting in a vast array of social problems and opportunities to be theoretically engaged and critically discussed. Particular attention is paid to the political and economic dimensions of globalization and, consequently, to the transformations of democracy and the Nation-state on the one hand, and of capitalism and the consumer society on the other.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 

Knowledge and ability to understand: illustrate the main vectors of transformation of modern societies; explain the main theoretical perspectives developed to analyze the processes of globalization

Applied knowledge and ability to understand: critically present the economic, political, social and cultural transformations underlying globalization processes; describe the main transformations of the institutional arrangements of contemporary societies in their effects on subjective experiences and forms of social life

Autonomy of judgment: to recognize the importance of long-term historical trajectories in analyzing and understanding the contemporary phase of globalization; to be able to distinguish the prescriptive component of globalization discourses from the descriptive one, so as to develop scientifically objective and non-ideological analyses of issues of specific interest, be they global democracy, migration flows, environmental issues, social inequalities etc.

Communication skills: use acquired knowledge and appropriate scientific language to illustrate and explain globalization processes and phenomena in their connections with everyday life and concrete issues related to professional worlds 

Ability to learn: to orient oneself in the specialized literature by identifying relevant subject areas and bibliographic sources, so as to be able to broaden the knowledge acquired during the course also in relation to other disciplinary perspectives, subject areas or concrete problems related to professional worlds

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Lectures and active learning activities 

Innovative teaching methods

Debate, flipped class

Course books

Study materials will be decided together with students

Assessment

Evaluation will be done by oral examination as follows: three questions on the syllabus. Both rigorousness in study and comprehension of content (60%), as well as language property and argumentation skills (40%) will be assessed. 

Further arrangements for conducting the in-progress examination will be agreed with students at the beginning of the course

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Course books

Study materials in English will be decided together with students

Assessment

Evaluation will be done by oral examination as follows: three questions on the syllabus. Both rigorousness in study and comprehension of content (60%), as well as language property and argumentation skills (40%) will be assessed. 

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The lecturer is available to shadow students interested in doing their internship/internship - in whole or in part.

The topics on which the lecturer is available are:

- Human enhancement, optimization and self-tracking practices

- Work and well-being of scientists

- Sociology of persuasion techniques: marketing, advertising, propaganda, PR (new media analysis)

- urban sociology and out-of-home-advertising 

- history of sociology

- sociological theory (globalization, modernity, political anthropology, social imaginaries)

Reading proficiency and the ability to produce analysis reports in English are required for all lines of research.