ASOK15201U Comparative, Transnational and Global Sociology

Volume 2015/2016
Education

MA Theory and Methodology (MSc Curriculum 2015)
Course package: Knowledge, organisation and politics, Culture, lifestyle and everyday life and Welfare, inequality and mobility
MA theory course (MSc Curriculum 2005)
Specialiseringslinje: Organisation, ledelse og arbejdsmarked

Content

Current sociology faces the challenge of addressing the supra-national dynamics of a complex multi-scalar reality in the contemporary globalization. An increasing cross-country inter-dependency within transnational and globalizing forces requires to develop a supra-national analytical strategy to be integrated within nation-state sociology. The course aims to discuss the different ways that the sociological analysis of the supra-national reality can be made, and how it can relate to nation-state phenomena.

The course is divided in three theoretical perspectives and analytical levels with their main research strategies:

Part I: Comparative Sociology

-Comparing nation-states; small N and qualitative case studies

-Comparing modern societies; large N and quantitative structural studies

-Comparative studies in contemporary "knowledge societies": updating the Galton Problem.

Part II: Transnational Sociology

-Transnational flows and structures of: economy and objects, culture and practices, knowledge and ideas, people and groups.

-Macro-Regional Sociology; historical and "integration" analysis: the case of the sociology of EUrope.

-Multiple Modernities; civilizational analysis in the postcolonial age (current continental sociology of Africa, Asias and Latin America).

Part III: Global Sociology

-World (System) Analysis; space, capitalism and empires

-World Culture/Polity/Society; diffusion studies

-Cosmopolitan sociology.

Learning Outcome

This course will enable students to:

-know and apply the logic and main strategies and methods of comparative sociology.

-understand the supra-national aspects affecting nationally bouded social realities and phenomena.

-operationalize the supra-national factors in analyzing phenomena at nation-state level.

-learn how to do transnational and global sociology.

-reflect critically on the complex multi-scalar nature of social reality in the globalization age.

For 7 ECTS course the pensum is of about 600 pages.

For 10 ECTS course the pensum is of about 800 pages

A provisional general and reference syllabus:

Arjomand, Saïd Amir and Elisa P. Reis (eds) (2013) Worlds of Difference. Sage Publications.

Arjomand, S. A. (Ed.). (2014). Social theory and regional studies in the global age. SUNY Press.

Bhambra, G. K. (2013). The possibilities of, and for, global sociology: A postcolonial perspective. Political Power and Social Theory, 24, 295-314.

Beck, U. (2012). Redefining the sociological project: The cosmopolitan challenge. Sociology, 46 (1), 7-12.

Beck, U., & Grande, E. (2010). Varieties of second modernity: the cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory and research. The British journal of sociology, 61(3), 409-443.

Delanty, Gerard. (2006) The cosmopolitan imagination: critical cosmopolitanism and social theory. The British journal of sociology 57.1 (2006): 25-47.

Delanty, G. (2012). A cosmopolitan approach to the explanation of social change: social mechanisms, processes, modernity. The Sociological Review, 60(2), 333-354.

Goldstone, J., Zimmermann, E., & Sanderson, S. K. (2014). Concise Encyclopedia of Comparative Sociology. Brill.

Outhwaite, W. (2014). Towards a European society. In Handbook of European Sociology, edited by Sokratis Koniordos and Alexandros Kyrtsis, Routledge (p. 80-95).

Robinson, W. I. (1998). Beyond nation-state paradigms: Globalization, sociology, and the challenge of transnational studies. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 561-594). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.

Sasaki, M. (ed.) (2009) New Frontiers in Comparative Sociology, Brill: Amsterdam.

 Sassen, S. (Ed.). (2013). Deciphering the global: its scales, spaces and subjects. Routledge.

Therborn, Göran (2010) The World: A Beginner's Guide. Polity.

Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. Routledge.

As many texts as possible will be available in Absalon.

A basic knowlege on macro-sociology is required.
The classes will consist of a combination of short lecturing, discussion of texts, group-work and debates, student presentations, and working of examples and data.
Dette kursus har adgangsbegrænsninger. Kurset vil som udgangspunkt ikke blive udbudt igen. Du kan således ikke planlægge efter, at det udbydes i senere semestre, end hvad der fremgår af denne kursusbeskrivelse.

WORKLOAD
The number of lecture hours are the same for both 7,5 and 10 ECTS courses.

7,5 ECTS:
Lectures: 28
Course preparation: 60
Exercises: 28
Project work: 40
Exam Preparation: 50
Total: 206

10 ECTS:
Lectures: 28
Course preparation: 80
Exercises: 28
Exam Preparation: 139
Total: 275
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Course Preparation
  • 78
  • Exam Preparation
  • 50
  • Exercises
  • 30
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Project work
  • 20
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
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. Further details for this exam form can be found in the Curriculum.

In this course there are 3 assignments
I: individual small comparative project "Denmark in comparison"; the comparative analysis is to be submitted in a document.
II: report on "group debate".
III: essay on the broad topic of: "Between national and global sociology
Exam registration requirements

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

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Internal examiners.
Exam period

Submission dates and time will be available at KUnet, www.kunet.dk. Exchange students and danish full degree guest students please see the homepage of Sociology; http://www.soc.ku.dk/english/education/exams/ and http://www.soc.ku.dk/uddannelser/meritstuderende/eksamen/

Criteria for exam assesment

See learning outcome

Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Individual/group. Free written take-home essays are assignments for which students define and formulate a problem within the parameters of the course and based on an individual exam syllabus. The free written take-home essay must be no longer than 15 pages. For group assignments, an extra 7½ 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

Sociology students must be enrolled under MSc Curriculum 2005 to take this exam.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Internal examiners.
Exam period

Submission dates and time will be available at KUnet, www.kunet.dk. Exchange students and danish full degree guest students please see the homepage of Sociology; http://www.soc.ku.dk/english/education/exams/ and http://www.soc.ku.dk/uddannelser/meritstuderende/eksamen/

Criteria for exam assesment

See learning outcome