DSOC 22A01 - Understanding contemporary Chinese society through social sciences

The course aims at analyzing the Chinese society through the notion of social norms. All societies are based on a set of standardized rules of behaviors and perceptions that underlies power relations and social stratification. These rules are themselves generated and reproduced by social structures. Teaching social norms in China is then also an attempt to revisit the theoretical literature on the fabric of society. In particular we will focus on what prominent European historians and sociologists like Weber, Bourdieu, Braudel, Elias said about how social norms are formed, how they structure society and how they are challenged by other norms. The course will be a kind of dialogue between theoretical framework elaborated on different societies and the particular case of Chinese society. We will adopt a historical perspective because of the dramatic change suffered by the Chinese society since the middle of the last century.

Jean-Louis ROCCA

Séminaire

English

Spring 2024-2025

To validate the course, the student is expected to pass the following assignments: 1°) One 15 minute in-class presentation followed by 10 minute debate. The presentation will be about one or two articles dealing with the topics of the day of the class. You should use the assigned readings as a starting point to explore issues related to the topic. It should demonstrate critical and innovative thinking. 2°) Each student is required to write a minimum 500-words essay summarizing the session (lecture and text presentation) during which he presented an article, 3°) One short paper (3000-4000 words; details to follow), due to one week after the last session. Grading Criteria for essays 1. A clear direction for your paper (problématique, research question). The best is a topic and a research question as precise as possible. 2. Based on academic literature not on media information 3. Clarity of Presentation. Are your ideas clearly expressed? Can a reader easily identify your main points? Are the ideas presented elaborated sufficiently? Are there sign-posts to guide the reader? Are terms defined? do you have sources varied enough to take into account the diversity of real situations? Have you tried to deal with contradictory analysis?

At the end of the course, the student is expected to: 1°) have a basic knowledge of sociological notions useful to analyze a society and able to us them by reading and commenting academic papers and debating in class. Students will be more specifically introduced to critical thinking in order to question common views and mainstream opinions. 2°) have improved his (her) level of knowledge in history of contemporary China. 3°) use comparative method: inciting students to compare China with the society they know the best.