ASOK15102U Advanced Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life

Volume 2016/2017
Education

MA Sociology 2015 - Compulsory course package subject.

Sociology students must be enrolled under MSc Curriculum 2015 to take this exam.

BA-Undergraduates from foreign countries (exchange students) can sign up for this course

Content

This is the compulsory course for the MA specialization in Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life. In this course we critically review a range key theoretical perspectives and empirical studies, each contributing to a sociological understanding of sociocultural problems within contemporary urbanized society. The course relates to but also seeks to move beyond existing understandings of what sociocultural phenomena are and how they can be empirically studied within a cultural sociology framework. 

First, we introduce the students to a problem based approach to cultural sociology: While the cultural aspects of everyday life and lifestyles have a “bright side” of enjoyable sociality, the course will focus on “dark side” of sociocultural life, especially in the context of the contemporary city. Urban problems arises, for example, in relation to contested uses of space, subcultural and delinquent lifestyles, street violence and cultures, and various criminal activities. This is moreover the case when lifestyles are related to transgressive risk behaviors, when cultures neutralize their deviance and thus provokes mainstream societies norms, or when one finds pleasures in others pains and loss. In the course we will examine these and related dark side of everyday urban life. 

Second, in the course we will examine the interface and interplay between the cultural and pre-cultural aspects of everyday life, reflecting the view that we are better analytically equipped to conceptualize cultural phenomena when these are compared to their pre-cultural flip side: Emotions, for example, are structured by cultural norms and rules but emotions also unfold as raw pre-cultural affects in a biological body. In a similar manner, the course will examine and discuss how the physical forms of urban space, the psychosomatic stimulants of drugs, and the biological underpinnings of face-to-face interaction have to considered as pre-cultural processes that shape the cultural expression of urban life, drug use and socio-moral order. 

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

The course will provide the students with knowledge of

- the core sociological research literature within the thematic field of Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life

- familiarity with the recent litterature within urban problems and uses of space, delinquent lifestyles related to transgressive risk behavouirs, as well as aspects of these issues related to the body and emotions. 

 

Skills:

Moreover, the students will have trained their ability to

- compare and contrast key theoretical perspectives that are central to the wider MA specialization in Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life

- identify significant historical and contemporary developments in the field.

- apply and critically discuss key theoretical concepts within the thematic field of Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life, particularly related to of urban cultural contexts marked by conflicts, contested lifeforms, and delinquency

- review scientic litteraruew and prodcue an state of the art. 

 

Competences:

Further, the student will be able to

- identify and analyze social interactions in relation to the interplay between cultural and pre-cultural processes of social life

- apply a problem based approach to analyze and explain cultural phenomena, including how theses analyses can inform practical interventions.

The total curriculum is app. 1200 pages. Texts will be avaiable online. In addition, students are required to choose supplementary reading materials for their project work (app. 400 pages).

Students must have knowledge of Cultural sociology on the level taught in cultural sociology ("Kultursociologi") at 4th semester at the BA. Further, it is expected that the students are familiar with sociological methods and theories on BA level.
The course combines class-based teaching and project work (either individually or in groups). In some weeks the teaching will combine lectures (first double lecture) and discussion and workshop based sessions (second double lecture). Students are expected to contribute actively to discussion of core theoretical-analytical tools as well as the more specific analytical examples and tasks. The problem-based focus is reflected in the teaching form: first and foremost, we will work with concrete analysis of contemporary problems within the workshops. Moreover, the students are expected to identify a problem to work with in their papers. This means that the students should expect to review literature besides the course texts already for their first paper. The work on the papers will be included in the more workshop-oriented activities in the course. As part of the project work, aspects of conducting literature reviews within the relevant field of research will be taught and trained.

The lectures will include presentations by external professionals within crime and urban areas: city planners, crime prevention units, police and architects.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam Preparation
  • 90
  • Exercises
  • 90
  • Lectures
  • 56
  • Preparation
  • 140
  • Theory exercises
  • 37
  • Total
  • 413
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio, -
Portfolio with oral defence. Individual or group. A portfolio assignment is defined as a series of short assignments during the course that address one or more set questions and feedback is offered during the course. All of the assignments are submitted together for assessment at the end of the course.
The portfolio assignments must be no longer than 30 pages. For group assignments, an extra 15 pages is added per additional student. Further details for this exam form can be found in the Curriculum and in the General Guide to Examinations at KUnet.
Exam registration requirements

No specific registration requirements.

Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

See learning outcome