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Content

This module examines theoretical debates about the relationship between state and society as well as the social context within which political actors operate and the extent to which they shape and are shaped by social structures such as gender, ethnicity, nationality, class, race and religion. What role do ethnicity, nation and gender play in contemporary politics? What is the link between identity and politics? And what makes for successful social movements? This module tackles these and other questions against the backdrop of three main sociological approaches to the study of society and politics: functionalism, conflict theories and symbolic interactionism.

Teaching delivery

This module is taught in 10 weekly seminars. This is a compulsory module for the graduate programme in Politics & Sociology.

Indicative lecture topics (subject to changes):
1. Introduction to Political Sociology
2. Socialisation and Identity
3. Gender, sex and sexuality
4. Class and social stratification
5. Values, Religion and Political Culture
6. Ethnicity and Race
7. Nations and nationalism
8. Migration and integration
9. Media, politics and society
10. Civil society and social movements

Learning Objectives
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
1. Identify key arguments in political sociology, and assess how well they are presented in the literature;
2. Evaluate key advantages and problems of various conceptualizations in political sociology with particular stress on those relevant to the study of regions covered at SSEES;
3. Critically analyse relationships between social structures such as gender, race, ethnicity or nation and political practices and outcomes;
4. Construct well-structured arguments in favour of or against various positions on issues in political sociology;Ìý
5. Write a logical and coherently structured essay plan on one of the discussed topics.
6. Formulate succinct answers with arguments through short essays.