B015947 - SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURAL PROCESSES AND THEORIES OF CONFLICT AND MEDIATION

Italian

The study of some relevant contemporary socio-cultural issues, and the dynamics of their construction, diffusion, and transformation. Micro-, meso-, and macro-processes of the social interaction. The construction of social categories: the symbolic and material levels of the reproduction of discrimination. Tools for the deconstruction of stereotypes and the Mediation of Social Conflicts, mainly referring to the processes of racialization and gendering.

KNOWLEDGE: understanding of the disciplinary theoretical framework and its applications; knowledge of the main social construction dynamics in micro and macro processes of inclusion / exclusion; of the subjective diversity, gender, status, rights, and of the political and economic opportunities. To acquire tools for the analysis of the cultural processes of specific social phenomena. Critical analysis of the postcolonial situation, through the deconstruction of stereotypical categories, within processes of 'ethnocentrism', 'racialization', 'gendering'; analysis and Case studies of the dynamics of conflict and violence; proposed methods for mediation.
SKILLS: Recognition and ability in analyzing main socio-cultural dynamics, and deconstruction of ethnocentric and exclusivist attitudes. Capacity for the analysis of social conflicts. Recognition of the differences between types of 'integration', and differences between interaction and integration.
COMPETENCE ACQUIRED AT THE END OF THE COURSE: recognition of the theoretical frame of the most important contemporary socio-cultural phenomena and dynamics of their construction, distribution, transformation. Ability to draw a picture of the possibilities and techniques of social conflicts' mediation.

none

Front teaching lessons : 72 h
Laboratory activities : Team Work in class on key themes and case studies.
Seminars : Vision and analysis of documentaries on some processes of Gender Violence and Racist violence.

Oral exame, considering the team work developed in class.
NOT ATTENDERS: all the recommended books.

DETAILED PROGRAMME: Origins of the concept of "culture" in the social sciences. Culture as a complex issue and Cultural Relativism. Distinctions between "culture" and "civilization." Models of cultural forms: functionalist, causalist, interactionist, instrumentalist, structuralist. Characters of "culture" in sociology. The Chicago School, "Street Corner Society". The French School: the symbolic society. Differences and intersections between Nature, Culture and Society: how the environment and society influence the culture, and the reverse. The social and cultural differentiations in contemporary society: macro, meso, micro-contexts. Key concepts: colonization / de-colonization, globalization, market, alternatives. Differences between 'communication' and 'interaction'. Interactional dynamics. Verbal and nonverbal Interactions, and the 'face game'. A cognitive- linguistic expansion. Socialization and identity construction processes. Institutionalization of the 'symbolic universes'. Formation of ideologies. Possible deconstructions of stereotypes. The representations of the powers between the material and symbolic level. The construction of discrimination; social categories and social classes: crystallization and reproduction. Not only 'minorities': the cases of women, migrants, children: 'racialization', 'sexization', 'specism'. Symbolic and biologistic legitimations. The concepts of structural, symbolic, direct violence, etc . Aspects of the concepts of 'conflict'. Rights, dissent and conflict. Conflict's micro and macro levels: interpersonal, group, international. Theories and decostruction of conflict. The value of the conflict: negotiation and mediation processes. Nonviolence strategies. Social action and transmission, reproduction, production processes, and socio-cultural change.