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Contemporary Social Theory

Código 16720
Ano 1
Semestre S1
Créditos ECTS 6
Carga Horária TP(45H)
Área Científica Sociologia
Objectivos de Aprendizagem By the end of this course, students will be able to:

- Demonstrate a critical understanding of major contemporary social theories and their key concepts.
- Analyze how leading theorists explain global transformations such as inequality, gender, risk, and digitalization.
- Apply theoretical frameworks (e.g., structure and agency, biopolitics, risk, coloniality, performativity) to the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Evaluate the possibilities and limitations of using the SDGs as an empirical lens to explore theoretical debates.
- Develop analytical, research, and communication skills through collaborative, problem-based learning and the production of a policy brief grounded in social theory.
Conteúdos programáticos -Introduction: Overview of the course and the SDGs as a global policy discourse; introduction to Problem-Based Learning (PBL).
- Structure and Agency: Giddens, Polanyi – social structures, markets, and moral economies.
- Power, Health, and Inequality: Foucault (biopolitics), Bourdieu (capital, field, habitus).
- Risk and Sustainability: Beck (risk society), Latouche & Kallis (degrowth) – modernity, reflexivity, and ecological limits.
- Work and Precarity: Bauman (liquid modernity), Castel (precarity) – transformations of labor in late capitalism.
- Gender and Intersectionality: Butler (performativity), Crenshaw (intersectionality) – identity, recognition, and social justice.
-Coloniality and Conflict: Fanon (decolonization), Mbembe (necropolitics) – postcolonial power and global inequality.
- Digital Networks: Castells (network society) – technology, connectivity, and surveillance capitalism.
- Crisis and Critique: Polanyi, Latour, Žižek – social theory in times of global disruption.

Metodologias de Ensino e Critérios de Avaliação Model: Continuous assessment based on individual and group performance. The course follows a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methodology, combining theoretical exploration with applied, collaborative research. Students work in small groups to analyze real-world cases linked to specific SDGs, using contemporary social theory as their analytical framework.

Teaching and learning methods include:

- Interactive lectures introducing core theorists and debates.
- Group discussions and critical readings
- Thematic classes connecting theory to empirical cases.
- Supervised group work leading to a written analytical report.
- Peer feedback and collective reflection sessions.

This active-learning approach encourages autonomy, critical thinking, and the ability to connect abstract theory with global social challenges.
Bibliografia principal Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood.
Beck, U., Giddens, A., & Lash, S. (1994). Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Stanford University Press.
Bhaskar, R. (2008). A Realist Theory of Science. Routledge.
Burawoy, M. (2005). For Public Sociology. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4–28.
Castells, M. (2010). The Rise of the Network Society (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press.
Foucault M. (1994) The Order of Things: An archaeology of the human sciences.
Routledge Classics
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Polity Press.
Latouche, S. (2009). Farewell to Growth. Polity Press.
Kallis, G. (2018). Degrowth. Agenda Publishing.
Mbembe, A. (2019). Necropolitics. Duke University Press.
Língua Português
Data da última atualização: 2025-01-11
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