Course information

This course explores the relationship between politics (e.g. elections, political parties, institutions, the state) and society (e.g. classes, ethnic groups, minorities, religion, social movements). Politics and society are intertwined and shape each other in various manners, constantly, and at a certain level of abstraction we could state that both are analytical distinctions of the same thing. The course delves deep into how current trends, such as global pandemics, technological and demographic change, the platform economy, place and geographies, religion, can transform the social basis of politics and citizenship and reshape our institutions. The first section introduces the main concepts that we use during the course (power, authority, legitimacy, conflict, governmentality), through readings of classical authors such as Machiavelli, Marx, Weber, Gramsci, Foucault. In the second section, and drawing on the work of modern and contemporary authors, the course studies major issues that reveal the interplay of politics and society: class conflict, race and ethnicity, feminism, social movements, technological change, nationalism and revolutions, democratization and civil society, religion, and space and place. The debates and concepts examined during the course are illustrated with examples of Western European and Latin American countries.

In the complement d'études, we will watch documentaries and short films that touch upon the issues learned during the course. After the viewing, we will discuss how the concepts studied can be applied to interpret them. We will also learn that audio-visual material, including fictional works, can well provide a window to approach contemporary issues, and constitute legitimate empirical material through which to study politics (and society) in systematic manners.