ECTS Informacijski paket za akademsku godinu 2024. / 2025.

Epistemology of Social Practice

 

Naziv
Epistemology of Social Practice
Organizacijska jedinica
Odsjek za sociologiju
ECTS
6
Šifra
198921
Semestri
zimski
Nastavnici
Satnica
Predavanja
30
Seminar
30

Cilj
As a part of wider studies in epistemology of social sciences, the course is focused on examination of social practice as one of the most important issues in sociological epistemology. The concept of social practice is situated in the middle of two contrasted epistemological and ontological positions: those of methodological individualism and methodological holism mediated through elisionism and methodological dualism (social realism). In that sense, social practice attempts to bridge a gap between mentioned positions. During the course, the students will acquire knowledge on different views on social practice present in sociological tradition. They will develop analytical and critical thinking on this particular epistemological issue as well as will upgrade their knowledge on epistemology of sociology in general.
Sadržaj
  1. ‘Epistemological Problems of Central Concepts in Sociological Theory’
  2. Classical Sociological Concepts of Social Action 1 ‘Sociology as a Study of Meaning of Social Action (Max Weber) and Social Action Theory (Talcott Parsons)’
  3. Classical Sociological Concepts of Social Action 2 ‘Dramaturgical Social Action (Erving Goffman)
  4. Classical Sociological Concepts of Social Action 3 Studies in Ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel)’
  5. ‘Discourse as Social Practice: Michel Foucault’
  6. ‘Social Action from the Methodological Individualism Position’ (James S. Coleman)
  7. ‘Emergence, Complexity and Social Science’ (Keith Sawyer)
  8. ‘Theory of Communicative Action’ (Jürgen Habermas)
  9. ‘Structuration Theory vs. Morphogenetic Approach’
  10. ‘A Theory of Social Practices: Pierre Bourdieu’
  11. ‘The Concept of Figuration’ (Norbert Elias)
  12. ‘Actor-Network Theory’ (Bruno Latour)
  13. Seminar Conference – Applications of the Theory of Social Practice I
  14. Seminar Conference – Applications of the Theory of Social Practice II
  15. Concluding Discussion / Review for Final Examination / Guidelines for a Paper Development

Ishodi učenja
  1. Attaining relevant concepts that articulate social practice as an important theoretical category in sociology
  2. Comparing diverse theoretical approaches of conceptualizing social action
  3. Writing and competently discussing the review paper on a chosen topic in a given knowledge domain
  4. Applying and enhancing writing and overall communication skills
Metode podučavanja
Method of lecture, dialogue, discussion, oral and visual presentation (PowerPoint), consultations with students and even individual lessons if it is necessary. The selected papers will be collected in the Reader on the basic which students will prepare their oral presentations. Current technological and electronic devices will be applied during lessons.
Metode ocjenjivanja
A regular attendance of the classes is required as well as regular participation in class activities. The students will need to execute their homework assignments by reading the seminar literature as a preparation for every seminar’s class. The activity of in the seminar’s discussions will be taken into account in the assessment procedure, i.e. has an impact on the concluding mark. At the end of the course, the students will write an overview topic on a chosen topic, which they find most interesting.

Obavezna literatura
  1. Parsons, T. (1966[1937]) The Structure of Social Action. New York – London: The Free Press – Collier-MacMillan. (fragments within Chapt. II ‘The Theory of Action’ (pp. 43-60))
  2. Goffman, E. (1956) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. (fragments within Chapt. I ‘Performances’ (pp. 10-32))
  3. Foucault, M. (2008) The Birth of Biopolitics. Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, Lecture 9 (14 March 1979) and partly Lecture 10 (21 March 1979), 215-244.
  4. Bröckling, Ulrich (2016) Tracing the Contours of the Entrepreneurial Self, in The Entrepreneurial Self: Fabricating a New Type of Subject, London: Sage, 20-40.
  5. Sawyer, K. (2005) Social Emergence: Societies as Complex Systems. Cambridge University Press. (Chapt. ‘Emergence, complexity, and social science’ (pp. 1-9) and ‘Emergence and elisionism’ (pp. 125-144))
  6. Habermas, J. (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action Vol. I (Reason and the Rationalization of Society). Cambridge: Polity Press. (Chapt. ‘Relations to the World and Aspects of Rationality in Four Sociological Concepts of Action’ (pp. 75-101))
  7. Archer, M. (1995) Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapt.: Analytical Dualism: the Basis of the Morphogenetic Approach (pp. 165-194))
  8. Bourdieu, Pierre (1984) The Habitus and the Spaces of Life-Styles, in Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, chap. 3, 169-208 (add. 17)
  9. Elias, N. (1978) What is Sociology? Hutchinson: London. (Chapt. IV ‘Universal features of human society’ (pp. 104-133))
  10. Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Particular chapters within Part II: ‘How to Render Associations Traceable Again’(pp. 159-190))
Dopunska literatura
  1. Archer, M. (1995) Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Analytical Dualism: The Basis of the Morphogenetic Approach (p. 165-194))
  2. Asimaki, A., Koustourakis, G. (2014). Habitus: An attempt at a thorough analysis of a controversial concept in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice. Social Sciences, 3(4): 121-131.
  3. Audi, R. (2003). Epistemology. A Contemporary Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. (Second Edition). New York – London.
  4. Bhaskar, R. (2009) Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation (Classical Texts in Critical Realism), Routledge, USA. Critical Naturalism and the Dialectic of Human Emancipation (p. 69-150)
  5. Bohman, J. (2000) Practical Reason and Cultural Constraint: Agency in Bourdieu's Theory of Practice u Shusterman, R. (ed.) Bourdieu: A Critical Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. (p. 129-152)
  6. Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press.
  7. Garfinkel, H. (2006) Seeing Sociologically: The Routine Grounds of Social Action, Paradigm Publishers, USA
  8. Giddens, A. (2003) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.(Elements of the Theory of Structuration (p 1-40), Consciousness, Self and Social Encounters (p. 41-109))
  9. Habermas, J. (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action Vol. I (Reason and the Rationalization of Society). Cambridge: Polity Press.(Intermediate Reflections: Social Action, Purpose Activity and Communication (p. 273-337))
  10. Latour, B.(2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. Lockwood, D. (1964) Social Integration and System Integration in Zollschan, G. and Hirsch, W. (eds.) Explorations in Social Change. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  12. Parsons, T. (1937) The Structure of Social Action, McGraw-Hill Company.
  13. Parsons, T. (1978) The Theory of Social Action: the Correspondence of Alfred Schutz and Talcott Parsons Edited by R. Gatthoff.
  14. Sawyer, K. (2005) Social Emergence: Societies as Complex Systems. Cambridge University Press.
  15. Sewell, W. H. Jr. (2005) Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation. Series: Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning, USA., A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency and Transformation (p. 124-151)
  16. Weber, M. (1991). The Nature of Social Action. Runciman, W.G. 'Weber: Selections in Translation'. Cambridge University Press.

Izborni predmet na studijima
Stari studiji
  1. Sociologija, sveučilišni diplomski jednopredmetni studij
  3. Sociologija, sveučilišni diplomski dvopredmetni studij
  4. Povijest, sveučilišni diplomski dvopredmetni studij
Fakultetska ponuda
  • Diplomski studij: Zimski semestar