Sociology and Psychology of Politics

The course aims to present the basic issues of political sociology and political psychology, to facilitate understanding of the sociological reasons, psychological motivations and circumstances that influence individuals to engage in political activities. In addition, participants will be familiarized with teaching conceptual notions, the use of the description and analysis both of the sociological and psychological aspects of place in the world socio-political phenomena is the most important for the political scientist.

This is an intensive graduate course devoted to analyzing selected political phenomena using two scientific perspectives: psychology and sociology. The basic assumption is that the students already have a good understanding of the scientific methods and concepts used by these two sciences, and know about their basic findings. Hence, we will be entering the world of political behaviour, armed this knowledge ready to build new multidisciplinary models. As a result, the students will sharpen their capacity to look at political behaviour in a more comprehensive way. The ability to manage multiple variables in complex models is today a sine qua non of professional political analysis.

Recommended literature:

- Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Russell J. Dalton (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Bahavior, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007.

- Kate Nash, Alan Scott (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, Blackwell Publishing, 2009.

- Anthony M. Orum, John G. Dale (Eds.), Political Sociology. Power and Participation in the Modern World, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009.

- Thomas Janoski, Robert R. Alford, Alexander M. Hicks, Mildred A. Schwartz (Eds.), The Handbook of Political Sociology: States, Civil Societies, and Globalization,

- Jost John T., Sidanius Jim (Eds.), Political Psychology: Key Readings in Social Psychology, Psychology Press, New York-Hove 2004.

- Sears David O., Leonie Huddy, Robert Jervis (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, Oxford University Press, New York 2003.

- Hans J. Eysenck, The Psychology of Politics, Transactions Publishers, New Brunswick 1999.

KNOWLEDGE

- Be able to highlight the factors affecting the political activity of society in different countries from present and historical perspective (KW_2)

- Be able to explain the causes and consequences - for the stability and legitimacy of a democratic regime - political passivity, apathy, political alienation and anomie (KW_7)

- Be able to characterize the basic concepts of the scope of the political problems and point out its relations from psychological and sociological perspectives (KW_10);

- Be able to diagnose the causes of low political and electoral participation of citizens in different time perspective (KW_11),

SKILLS

- Be able to analyze the phenomena occurring in the world, including the sociological and psychological aspects of their occurrence based on the knowledge of the basic conceptual categories of sociology and psychology of politics (KU_1),

- Assess the impact of the authoritarian personality and democratic political processes, in particular point to the consequences they have on the functioning of the political system (KU_7),

- Apply knowledge of the psychology and sociology political approaches to form predictions about political attitudes, behavior, process, including in particular the electoral behavior (KU_11),

SOCIAL COMPETENCES

- Be aware of the complexity and multiplicity of factors affecting the political involvement of citizens and be able to design - self or within the group - activities that aim at enhancing the desired effects in the socio-political life and to mitigate adverse(K_K03);

- Be able to interpret political phenomena on the basis of known psychological and sociological theories to identify and form activities aimed at eliminating stereotypes in society and also design efforts to resolve social conflicts (K_K05)

For this course to work well, all students must come to class prepared, having completed all assigned readings prior to class. Each session will start with an open discussion about contemporary politics. I will provide an overview lecture for each area we study and then will expect class members to participate in discussion about the research we read.

Course grade will be determined by a combination of the following factors:

- Class participation in discussions (15%)

- 3 presentations (15% each of them)

- Midterm exam (20%)

- Final exam (20%)

Regular attendance is expected. More than 4 unexcused absences need to be complete during office hours

Not aplicable