Presentation

This course complements the knowledge on approaches and concepts acquired through the first-year course of introduction to political science and the third-year course on political sociology. It aims to examine the contributions of political sociology in the reflection and debates on contemporary themes. The aim will no longer be to introduce students to the main schools of thought in the discipline and their canonical authors, but to show the topical relevance of the discipline: how and to what extent does contemporary research make it possible to better understand the social and political challenges of advanced democracies. Thus we will illustrate how one shift from public debate to scientific debate, how a methodological approach provides the necessary distance from the subject under investigation and helps to gain enough context to be able to  validate or refute research hypotheses or how, depending on the methodological and theoretical constructions of the authors,  dividing lines emerge and different interpretations of the phenomena studied are constructed.

Educational formula

This course aims to sharpen students' critical thinking skills with regards not only to their own preconceptions and to those of the social and political actors in those debates, but also in relation to the work of researchers who have tried to understand them. For this purpose, the course will alternate between classic lectures and discussion sessions using research publications  (one per week) as well as exercises in which students will be required to synthesize data and research findings.