Course convenor
Léna Pellandini-Simányi
Course content
This is a two-term course that enables students to carry out empirical fieldwork and critically analyse research findings on a specific topic. This year’s topic is social inequalities. In the first term we look at the notion and key aspects of social inequality, focusing on income, gender and ethnicity. Through the discussion of ethnographies, students will be encouraged to apply theoretical perspectives to case studies and critically discuss their strength and limitations. During the term students also gather and evaluate secondary data and write three discussion papers on current issues of inequality. Guest lecturers – activists and journalists working on different social inequality issues – are invited to talk about their work and the obstacles they face. In the second term students carry out their own primary research on a case of their choice. Seminars will focus on research methodology and the discussion of problems students encounter during their fieldwork.
Indicative reading
Bourdieu, P. (1999).The weight of the world : social suffering in contemporary society. Cambridge : Polity Press.
Fraser, N. and Honneth, A. (2003) Redistribution or recognition? : a political – philosophical exchange. London : Verso.
Giddens, A. (1993) Sociology. Cambridge : Polity Press.
Young, I. M.(1990) Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton, N.J : Princeton University Press.