OSPC 3075 - Comparative Sociology of Political Participation

This course aims to analyze political participation by drawing attention to different forms of political participation including voting, party engagement, mobilization, political consumption, etc. It takes two specific perspectives. Firstly it will adopt a political sociology’s perspective. It means that it will analyze political participation in terms of socialization, social inequalities, social identifications and social networks. Secondly, it applies a comparative approach. This comparison is based on the selection of readings and enriched through discussions during the different sessions as well as in the writing of a comparative research paper by students.

Two sessions (weeks 2 and 3) will be devoted to the mapping of political participation (what types of activities and behaviors could be considered as such?) and its theorization (what are the major theoretical frameworks that have explained political participation?).

Then we will compare citizenship (week 4), voting (week 5) and party engagement (week 6). Finally, we will focus on social inequalities (session 8), social identification (session 9), social networks (week 10) and the impact of generational renewal (week 11).

Week 1 will be dedicated to presentation and organization of the work (the instructor will explain what she is expecting for the mid-term and final papers) and week 7 will be dedicated to a first presentation and collective discussion on mid-term papers. Week 12 will focus on the discussion of final papers

Face to face seminar

The validation is based both on participation and the writing of a comparative research proposal

• Class participation: 30% including
• oral participation during the discussion of readings and of midterm and final papers by giving feedback to other students.
• written participation : each student will choose to write two short “response papers” (around 800 words) discussing the readings
• Comparative research proposal (70%) including a preliminary midterm paper and a final research proposal
• Mid-term preliminary paper 20%

Throughout the duration of the course, students will be working on a final research proposal. The mid-term paper (around 800 words) is the first step of it. The specific topic of the paper will have to be agreed in advance with the instructor. The mid-term paper is due before week 7. An electronic copy must be sent to the instructor by email (the date for submitting the paper will be specified later).

• Final research paper 40%

Final papers should be between 4,000 words in length. It will take the form of a research proposal and take a comparative perspective. An electronic copy must be sent to the instructor by email.