Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2022-2023
Prof. Álvaro Luna García
alvaro.luna@urjc.es
Introduction
Curso 2022-2023
What is Sociology? (I)
“Scientific study of social groups, whole societies, and the human world
as such” (Giddens & Sutton, 2021: 4).
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• Means that our social actions structure society as a whole, but it also
means that social structures influence our social actions.
• Connection between micro (the individual and civil society) and the
macro (Nation-States, Social Institutions, Global Processes)
What is Sociology? (II)
1. Nature of social relations that structure our daily lives: culture, norms,
beliefs, values, habits, technology.
2. The nature and change of social institutions that affect us: Family,
Education, Government, Religion, Economy, Financial Systems, Firms, 5
Media, etc.
Birth of Sociology:
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What is society?
* You must have a grade 5 in the written exam in order to consider the practical activities as part of the evaluation.
Extraordinary evaluation
Those students who have not reached the goals in the regular assessment,
or have not taken the subject exams, will have to take a make-up exam to
verify the acquisition of the tasks set out in the guide.
Evaluation of students with academic
exception
2. Curricular adaptations for students with a disability or special educational needs will be
determined by the Disabled Students Support Department, in accordance with the
regulations governing the Disabled Students Support service, approved by the Universidad
Rey Juan Carlos Council, in order to guarantee equal opportunities, inclusive treatment,
universal accessibility and a greater guarantee of academic success.
3. For this purpose, this Department will have to issue a curricular adaptation report,
therefore students with disabilities or special educational needs must contact the Department
to analyse the different alternatives together.
References
BAUMAN, Zygmunt; MAY, Tim. 1990. Thinking sociologically. Wiley, Oxford.
BELL, Daniel. 1976. The coming of post-industrial society. Basic Books, New York.
BERGER, Peter. 1963. Invitation to sociology. A humanistic perspective. Random House, New York.
BERGER, Peter and LUCKMANN, Thomas. 1966. The social construction of reality. A treatise in the
sociology of knowledge. Penguin Books, London.
CASTELLS, Manuel. (Ed.) 2005. The network society-a cross cultural perspective. Edward Elgar,
Cheltenham.
FOUCAULT, Michel. 1977. Discipline and punish. The birth of the prison. Random House, New York.
GIDDENS, Anthony. 1994. Capitalism and modern social theory. Cambridge University Press.
GIDDENS, Anthony and Sutton, Philliip. 2021. Sociology. Polity Press, Cambridge.
GOFFMAN, Erving. 1956. The presentation of self in everyday life. Penguin Books, London.
GOFFMAN, Erving. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Condition of the Social Situation of Mental Patients
and Other Inmates. Anchor Books, New York.
GOFFMAN, Erving. 1963. Stigma. Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Penguin Books,
London.
MACIONIS, John and PLUMMER, Ken. 2012. Sociology. A global introduction. Prentice Hall, Essex.
References
MILLS, Charles Wright. 1959. The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press, New York.
SASSEN, Saskia. 2007. A sociology of globalization. W.W. Norton &Company Ltd, New York.
SENNET, Richard. 2007. The culture of new capitaliism. Yale University Press, London.
ZUBOFF, Shosana. 2020. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Hachette Book Group. New York.
References