LFU:online

Students will acquire via theoretical, historical and comparative analysis in the area of urban sociology and urban studies. The course is of particular relevance to political and economic sociology, political science and organization studies.

The city has been a central theme in sociology since the inception of the discipline. More recently, 'urban studies' has emerged as an area of interdisciplinary investigation across sociology, political science, social geography and political economy. Nowhere is the relationship between state and market more evident that in the urban context. This course will examine major perspectives in the analysis of urban life from early classics - Weber, Simmel, and the Chicago School - to key contemporary debates. Questions discussed include: What is the city and what is its relationship to the rural? How have cities contributed to democracy and to the market economy? How do cities reflect and generate wider social transformations? We examine and spatial urban social divisions, gentrification, urban crime, and urban social movements and urban governance.

The lectures will be delivered online in OLAT. Each week students will be offered (i) a screencast lecture (audio over Power Points); (ii) study notes; (iii) relevant additional readings.

A written examination at the end of the course consisting of a list of question from which students will be expected to answer two (in English or German).

R.T. LeGates and F. Stout (eds.) (2009): The City Reader, 5th edition. London: Routledge.

positive completion of the compulsory module according to § 5 Para 1 No 8.