Sociology

The course intends to deepen the various forms and declinations of social inequalities in contemporary territories in order to understand their main characteristics and evolutions in a context marked by a socio-economic and health crisis, which has determined the spread of poverty and unease between groups. increasing population. The analysis of inequalities in Italy highlights a picture of growing complexity and the urgency of more incisive actions, integrated with the objectives and the UN 2030 Agenda. The course aims to identify, on the basis of the study of the urban contexts in which inequalities originate, experiences of sustainable social inclusion to be taken as good practices. The objective is to contribute to the construction of policies shared by the various actors aimed at contrasting marginality and social exclusion and at overcoming educational, social and economic disparities, in particular of young people increasingly exposed to external risks such as the recent pandemic but also to risks self-produced by the company itself. The idea is that experimenting with new modes of action in this sector can generate positive impacts capable of bringing about sustainable changes in the medium and long term in the communities and territories in which they occur. 1. Knowledge and understanding. After successfully taking the exam, the student will need to know: the difference and similarities between the concepts of development, growth, distribution, inequality, social exclusion; the constituent elements of the concepts of inequality, social exclusion and sustainability; the main analytical approaches, methods and tools of the interpretative analyzes developed to decode the processes of sustainable social development; the main explanatory theories of the processes of social exclusion and the increase of social inequalities, especially in urban contexts; the most recent theories on sustainable development, reduction of social inequalities, inclusive public policies, empowerment of vulnerable subjects. 2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. From the point of view of empirical research, after passing the exam the student must have acquired the ability to: thematize a research problem with specific reference to the forms and contents of the processes and structures that favor or contrast inclusive social development and sustainable and the emergence or worsening of social and economic inequalities; build a research project based on the categories and tools of the approaches presented in the course, read and comment on texts on topics related to studies on: social exclusion and inequality, urban poverty and inclusion policies; build a research project on a case study, with particular attention to the identification of research problems and questions and to the definition of the research methodology. 3. The development of critical and judgment skills must be favored by activities aimed at: evaluating the main strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches to the study of sustainable development processes, the analysis of distributional phenomena that favor the emergence or worsening of social inequalities, especially in urban contexts; identify and apply the research methods and tools most appropriate to the cognitive objectives of the survey with competence and critical ability. 4. The ability to communicate what has been learned must be developed through public display activities; the content of complex texts on the issues of sustainability, social exclusion and inequality, urban poverty and inclusion policies; the results of the analyzes carried out; of a research project and / or the main results of a research carried out. 5. The ability to autonomously pursue the study of the topics addressed must be fostered by learning to conduct a bibliographic research and write a literature review.