The course offers a perceptive and comprehensive view of the social processes that underpin political institutions. Political Sociology?through a transdisciplinary approach with Political Psychology and Political Anthropology?provides the analytical tools to engage with the network of phenomena that constitute the core of politics. Among these phenomena are politics in the context of digital modernity, the structures of law, norms, and power, pre-politics and political culture, the State, public reason, democracy and elections, political socialization, civil and political agencies?especially political parties and pressure groups?political participation, totalitarianism, and the realm of metapolitics.
UNIT 1: BASIC CONCEPTS OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
Topic 1: Defining the Field of Study
1.1 Definition and history of Political Sociology
1.2 Political Psychology and Political Anthropology as complementary disciplines
Topic 2: Power in Advanced Societies
2.1 The social origin of the State: brief historical evolution
2.2 The distribution of power in today's world: post-sovereign State, globalization and economic powers in the network society, international politics, and supranational institutions
Topic 3: Processes of Political Socialization
3.1 Elements and characteristics of political socialization. Domains, agents, and institutions responsible for socialization
3.2 Leadership and political hierarchies
3.3 Political communication: democratic politics and the media
UNIT 2: CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL CULTURE
Topic 4: Political Community
4.1 Territory, people, and nation: borders and human mobility
4.2 Community and citizenship
4.3 Civil society and the public sphere
Topic 5: Global Democracy
5.1 Globalizations: global era or reflexive modernity?
5.2 The challenges of democracy
5.3 Welfare state and advanced capitalism: the crisis of the welfare state
UNIT 3: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Topic 6: Political Participation
6.1 Types and levels of participation
6.2 Interest in politics and the crisis of representation in today's society
Topic 7: The Electoral System and Political Parties
7.1 Social and political participation: elections and voting behavior
7.2 Political parties in the democratic Spain
Topic 8: Pressure Groups and Unstructured Political Participation
8.1 Associations and pressure groups
8.2 Other alternative forms of political participation
In general, students are expected to attend in-person classes. These sessions will include lectures, analysis of current events, viewing of film excerpts, reading of texts, and, on occasion, a session may be led by an expert or professional related to the topic being discussed. All materials covered and worked on in class will be made available to students for review and further study during their independent study hours. Students will be required to complete both individual and group assignments throughout the semester. Individual tutoring sessions will also be available.
To be eligible for assessment in the ordinary exam period, all evaluation activities must have been completed. Assessable activities must be submitted on the dates indicated by the instructor. If, for any duly justified and communicated reason, the activities could not be submitted within the established period, they may be submitted before the date of the subject?s exam, so that the instructor can grade them. However, in this case, the instructor is not obliged to provide feedback to the student on these activities.
On the other hand, the student has the right to take the final written exam even if they have not submitted all other evaluation activities. However, the final grade for the subject will only be calculated if all activities have been submitted and according to the evaluation criteria and weightings established in this syllabus. If any evaluation activity has not been submitted or completed, it will be recorded in the grade report as ?Not Submitted? for that exam period.
Use of AI tools:
If AI tools are used in any activity, a paragraph must be included indicating how AI was used and what instructions were given to obtain the results. Failure to do so is a violation of academic honesty policies.
EXTRAORDINARY EXAM PERIOD (IN-PERSON/REMOTE):
The evaluation criteria are the same as in the ordinary exam period, so all evaluation activities considered during the course must be submitted. Grades for completed activities (including the final written exam) will be retained while pending activities are completed. The same weighting criteria as in the ordinary evaluation will apply. This measure applies only for the current academic year; if the student does not pass the extraordinary exam, re-enrollment will require repeating the entire subject.
Completion of a written exam at the end of the course: 50%
Completion of the activities outlined in the topics: 35%
Attendance and participation: 15%
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