The course provides students with critical tools to understand the relationship between education and society, aligning with the L19 degree objectives. It emphasizes the role of sociological knowledge in interpreting educational processes and defining their purposes.

Students will develop awareness of their own societies and gain skills to navigate contemporary multicultural contexts. The course explores contrasting social tendencies—closure vs. openness, competition vs. cooperation—and their links to differing views on democracy. Through perspectives from Marx, Dewey, Todorov, and others focused on colonial issues, it promotes a broader, more universal idea of democracy, extending equality and the rule of law beyond political institutions to economic and international relations, enriching culture and education.

The course focuses on two thematic areas that will be made to interact during the lessons.

1. Society, democracy and education in the thought of John Dewey

The relationship between education and society; the individual and the social unconscious; static environment and dynamic environment; reciprocity and unilaterality of stimuli; democratic society and despotic society; progress and stagnation; the concept of "social endosmosis"; "privileged classes" and "subjugated classes"; individualism, cosmopolitanism and nationalism between the 18th and 19th centuries; economic barriers and political barriers; relationships between nations; the interaction between the natural and the social and between geography and history; naturalism and humanism; the social reason of study; politics and morality.

2. Western democracy and its contradictions

Individual, people and sovereignty in Hegel; democracy in Tocqueville, Schumpeter and Bobbio; Marx and the concept of economic-social democracy; positivism and Luddism; dichotomous logic and the category of “interpenetration of opposites”; capitalism, wage labor and slavery; Marx and the racial question; the Western image of the East; the Eastern image of the West; the gaze of the other: Edward W. Said and the colonial question; colonialism and democracy; the social construction of consensus; the mobile borders of the East and the West; anti-colonialisms in comparison: Tzvetan Todorov and Frantz Fanon; the concept of “human sameness”.
 

None.

Students are expected to acquire:

1. Knowledge and understanding: understanding of the political-social phenomena examined during the lessons and the authors explained during the course. Understanding of the relationship between education and the social environment and knowledge of the variants of the concept of democracy that emerge from the different theories presented.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding: understanding of the concepts and authors illustrated during the course and ability to develop insights, from both a theoretical and practical-empirical point of view. Ability to apply what has been learned also to examples other than those proposed by the teacher.

3. Making judgments: ability to establish connections between the different theories and concepts of the course, highlighting their affinities and divergences. Ability to critically reflect on the themes, topics, authors and texts presented. Ability to express opinions supported by solid arguments on what has been learned.

4. Communication skills: ability to present the sociological issues addressed in a clear and correct way through the use of categories and concepts illustrated during the course.

5. Learning skills: ability to use knowledge and concepts to reason according to the logic of the discipline. Ability to identify, on the basis of what has been learned in the course, the contradictions that cross the different social contexts.
 

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

None.

Teaching

Lectures. Concurrent study of the assigned texts and provided materials in all the specified sections during class attendance.

Attendance

Not required.

Course books

John Dewey, “Democrazia e educazione”, Anicia, Roma 2018.
pp. 95-202; 259-271; 319-331; 395-424; 467-482.

Emiliano Alessandroni, “Dittature democratiche e democrazie dittatoriali”, Carocci, Roma 2021.
pp. 9-74; 86-121; 142-155; 221-226.

Assessment

The expected learning outcomes will be assessed through a written test with three open questions.
The time available to answer the proposed questions is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

The evaluation criteria are: the level of mastery of knowledge, the degree of articulation of the response, the acquisition of cultural foundations capable of developing critical assessment skills. 
Each of the criteria is assessed on a four-level scale of values/ratings. Particular weight is given to the first two criteria.
The written test grade is expressed in thirtieths.

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.

Teaching

Individual study of the exam program in its entirety.

Attendance

Not required.

Course books

John Dewey, “Democrazia e educazione”, Anicia, Roma 2018.
pp. 95-202; 259-271; 319-331; 395-424; 467-482.

Emiliano Alessandroni, “Dittature democratiche e democrazie dittatoriali”, Carocci, Roma 2021.
pp. 9-74; 86-121; 142-155; 221-226.

Assessment

The expected learning outcomes will be assessed through a written test with three open questions.
The time available to answer the proposed questions is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

The evaluation criteria are: the level of mastery of knowledge, the degree of articulation of the response, the acquisition of cultural foundations capable of developing critical assessment skills. 
Each of the criteria is assessed on a four-level scale of values/ratings. Particular weight is given to the first two criteria.
The written test grade is expressed in thirtieths.

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.

Upon request of students, supplementary and/or in-depth lessons will be arranged.