408002 VO Sociological Perspectives and Approaches 2: Contemporary Society

summer semester 2022 | Last update: 06.05.2024 Place course on memo list
408002
VO Sociological Perspectives and Approaches 2: Contemporary Society
VO 2
5
weekly
each semester
German

Curr. 2021 § 5 (1) 1: Students learn to take up the sociological perspective. They acquire the ability to explain the theories and history of sociology as the science that analyses social action multidimensional, i.e. not limited to one section of human coexistence such as economy, politics or science. They can scientifically, i.e. theoretically, analyse current social, cultural, economic and political developments and evaluate them critically using current examples of social actors, institutions and processes.

Sociology trains sociological imagination. It analyses human action fundamentally because it also considers the constitution of human “subjectivity” itself. It is not limited to a sub-field of societal activities, such as the economy, the field of work, law, culture or politics. All parts of society and their interplay are its object of research:

Object: How does personal identity emerge? How does social order emerge? Why is everyone suddenly striving for "self-optimisation"? Is there still social inequality? What does neoliberal globalisation mean for the world of work? How do you fabricate a "financial crisis"? Why are people voting for extreme parties again? And why is talk of "religion", "gender", "ethnicity" not decreasing - but increasing?

Theory: Sociology thinks relationally. To research its subject matter, it needs both: theory and empirical inquiry. It uses theory for analysing the hidden mechanisms that produce society (and subjects). With empirical research methods, it lays its ear to human practice in society. Together, it offers the sociological view.

In this introductory course, participants understand social actors and institutions, social structures, and processes. The lecture offers an overview of fundamental problems and ideas of sociology as well as their conditions of origin and their history. It explains ways of thinking, shows perspectives and challenges the participants in many discussions to practise the sociological view on many examples from everyday life experiences and economic, political and cultural processes.

After introducing the completely new, no longer state-centred, no longer philosophical, no longer historical view of a historically new form of society, decomposed into macro-sociological "structures" and micro-sociological "actions" (PART ONE), which was theoretically founded by the classics of sociology (Marx, Weber, Durkheim; Adorno; Freud, Mead), this lecture (LV Nr. 408 002) deals with the following under the title "Contemporary Society" (PART TWO) (a) questions of social inequality (Bourdieu, Beck) - the once again topical basic theme of sociology -, (b) of capitalist globalisation (Wallerstein) and neoliberal "art of governing people" (Foucault: governmentality) as well as postmodern and feminist interpretations of culture, and therein what constitutes university scholarship in the first place: the fascinating reflection on the (c) construction of all knowledge.

lecture & discussion

Written exam

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction.  A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Bröckling, Ulrich. 2016. The entrepreneurial self: fabricating a new type of
subject, London: Sage.

Butler, Judith. 2019. Gender trouble

Foucault, Michel. 2008. The Birth of Biopolitics. Lectures at the Collège de France 1978-1979

Sociologically inspired literature:
Eribon, Didier. 2016. Return to Reims (autobiography)
Ohde, Deniz. 2020. Streulicht. Roman. Berlin: Suhrkamp
Berg, Sibylle. 2019. GRM: Brainfuck. 3. Aufl., Köln: Kiepenheuer (does it exist?)

none

Students of the Bachelor’s Programme – Management and Economics UC 033 571 (elective module) and the Diploma Programme International Economic and Business Studies UC 155 (compulsory module) do not register for a course via the “SOWI point booking” but via the booking button “LFU:online”.

When registering for the corresponding course, students should also note that they want to attend the course as an elective or compulsory module.

see dates
Group 0
Date Time Location
Tue 2022-05-17
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Thu 2022-05-19
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-05-24
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-05-31
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Thu 2022-06-02
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-06-07
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-06-14
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-06-21
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Thu 2022-06-23
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-06-28
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free 1. Klausur
Thu 2022-06-30
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free
Tue 2022-10-04
12.00 - 13.45 Aula (Sowi) Aula (Sowi) Barrier-free 2. Klausur
Fri 2022-11-18
08.00 - 09.45 HS 1 (Sowi) HS 1 (Sowi) Barrier-free 3. Klausur