Communication, technologies and digital culture

The course will consist of two modules: 1. Culture in social sciences (40 h). The definitions and meanings of culture. The relevance and complexity of the cultural processes in human societies. The theories of social sciences on culture. The contemporary approaches to the study of culture. Culture and identity. 2. At the frontier of the nature-culture relationship (8 h). The new issue "human animals-non human animals" in the today societies. Action-research on the relationships between humans and animals in Italian families.

No prerequisite required.

Students attending class: 1) D. Cuche (2004), La nozione di cultura nelle scienze sociali, Il Mulino - selectioned parts. 2) R. Connell (2011), Questioni di genere, Il Mulino - selectioned parts. Students not attending class: 1) D. Cuche (2004), La nozione di cultura nelle scienze sociali, Il Mulino. 2) a book on the relationship between human and non humand animals (title available at the beginning of the course) The bibliography may be subject to change, in consequence of the editorial plans; in any case, any updates will be published on the Elearning platform within the beginning of the course. Auxiliary materials for all the students will be published on the Elearning Sapienza platform.

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.

The course attendance is not required, but strongly recommended: indeed, the students taking classes can choose to participate to midterm exams, and focus on selected parts of the program. The distinction between students attending classes and not will be made by the participation to the midterm exams and to the classwork. In any case, all the support materials and news will be published on the platform Elearning Sapienza.

The exam of the students attending class is organized in 3 parts: 1) a written mid-exam with open questions on the first part of the programme. 2) a written mid-exam at the end of the course, with open questions on the second part of the programme. 3) a final homework, that is a paper attesting the capacity to use the acquired sociological competence in a field research. The students not attending will made a unique written exam, whit open questions on the whole programme. All the students can require an oral exam, as long as they have passed the written exam(s).

1) D. Cuche (2004), La nozione di cultura nelle scienze sociali, Il Mulino. 2) R. Connell (2011), Questioni di genere, Il Mulino. 3) G. Peruzzi (2021), Culture di genere, Durango. 4) P. Bourdieu (2014), Il dominio maschile, Feltrinelli.

Classroom lessons; analysis of key-concepts; analysis of social phenomena and current events; exercises of critical re-reading of their autobiographies. The Course will open on Moodle Elearning Sapienza, where all the news and materials will be available for students attending and not attending class. The registration in the Moodle Course is required to all the students, attending and not attending class.

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. A. Pogliano, Media, politica e migrazioni in Europa. Una prospettiva sociologica, Carocci 2020. 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.