Communication, technologies and digital culture

The course will be divided into two modules: 1. Culture in the social sciences (40 hours). The scientific concept of culture: definitions and meanings. . Social sciences and cultural studies. The sociology of culture today. 2. At the frontiers of the nature-culture relationship today: the man-animal question (8 hours). The emergence of the animal question in sociology Critical animal studies

No prerequisite required.

1) Denys Cuche, 2004, La nozione di cultura nelle scienze sociali, Bologna: il Mulino. 2) Peter Singer, 2024 (ed.orig. 1975), Nuova liberazione animale, Milano, il Saggiatore NB. The materials that will be made available on Moodle can be used by all students, attending and non-attending. Those who do not attend are still required to prepare themselves on the entire content of the two scheduled volumes, regardless of the topics covered by the auxiliary and supplementary materials.

Class-whole lessons, interactive lessons, analysis of current cases, exercises of writing sociological autobiography. All the auxiliary materials and news will be published on the platform Elearning Sapienza. The registration to the Elearning Sapienza Course is required to all the students. In consideration of the Covid-19 emergency and the evolution of the governmental and sanitary provisions, the Course or some parts of this could be made in distance or blended mode; in any case, all the security measures will be assured in the whole-class lessons.

Attendance at the course is not mandatory, but is recommended: attending students will in fact be able to choose to participate in ongoing evaluations, and will be able to concentrate on selected parts of the program. The distinction between attending and non-attending students will be determined by participation in the exercises and activities proposed during the course.

For those attending, the evaluation process is divided into the following 3 phases: 1) an intermediate written test, with open questions aimed at evaluating the learning of the first part of the program. 2) a written test at the end of the course, with open questions aimed at evaluating the learning of the second part of the program. 3) a final exam, in the form of a written paper, to be carried out at home, which demonstrates the student's ability to use the sociological knowledge in a field research activity. For non-attending students, the exam is written and is made of open questions on all the texts on the programme. Attending and non-attending students can request an oral exam, provided they have passed the written one.

1) M. Santoro (2023), Cos'è cultura, Bologna, Il Mulino. 2) P. Bourdieu (2014), Il dominio maschile, Milano, Feltrinelli. 3) R. Connell (2011), Questioni di genere,Bologna, Il Mulino.

Class-whole lessons, interactive lessons, analysis of current cases, exercises of writing sociological autobiography. All the auxiliary materials and news will be published on the platform Elearning Sapienza. The registration to the Elearning Sapienza Course is required to all the students.

The course describes the main concepts of the discipline, namely: culture, symbolic mediation, cultural process and cultural system, values, norms, beliefs, symbols. Further, main theoretical perspectives of discipline are examined. - Culture in social sciences. - The meaning of culture. Nature versus culture. - The relevance and the complexity of the cultural processes in human societies. - The scientific origin of the concept of culture. - The classical theories of social sciences on culture. - The contemporary approaches to the study of culture. - Culture and identity. - Culture, communication and media. - The cultural construction of social problems - Cultural construction of difference - Racism and racialisation

The course does not require specific prior knowledge.

Not attending: 1. W. Griswold, Sociology of culture, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2008 (With the exception of Chapter VII 'Culture in a Connected World').. 2. Programme to be defined. Additional or alternative texts may be indicated at the beginning of the semester or during the course of the lessons.

Lectures, interactive lessons, analysis of current news and media events, group work, analysis exercises, description and presentation of media content.

The exam of the students attending class is organized in 3 parts: 1) a written mid-exam with open questions aimed at evaluating the learning of the first part of the programme. 2) a written mid-exam at the end of the course, with open questions aimed at evaluating the learning of the second part of the programme. 3) a final homework, that is a paper attesting the capacity to use the acquired competence to read and critically analyze current cultural processes. The students not attending will made a unique written exam, whit open questions on the entire programme. The test consists of 10 questions: the maximum score attributable to each question is 3 points. The time provided for the test is 90 minutes. ORAL TEST: The oral exam is aimed at assessing adequate awareness of the contents, vocabulary and tools of cultural processes' analysis. The test focuses on the contents of the exam texts and, in the case of people who have attended the course, on the contents of the lessons. Some of the relevant elements in the assessment are: knowledge and understanding of the main contents, discussion of the papers, the logic followed by the student in their illustration, the ability to contextualize them and apply them to other examples or fields or to connect skills acquired in other courses; the use of appropriate language. WRITTEN EXERCISE: In the case of people attending, the presentation of a written text of ethnographic description and cultural processes' analysis made during the course is required. The evaluation of the text takes place both on the basis of its content and on the oral presentation made during the exam. Some of the relevant elements in the evaluation are: a) the ability of critical and cultural analysis; b) the quality of the presentation of the written paper.

Lectures, interactive lessons, analysis of current news and media events, group work, analysis exercises, description and presentation of media content.