30210

SoSe 20: The Sociology of Values: Comparative Perspectives

Christian von Scheve

Hinweise für Studierende

Important: This course will take place as an Online-Course. It will be taught using both synchronous and asynchronous teaching formats.
Detailed information will be made available by the lecturer via Blackboard after the enrollment on Campus Management.
If you don’t have access to Campus Management or Blackboard but want to partake in the course, please write an e-mail to the lecturer.
Current Information about changes related to COVID-19 can be viewed at the Institute’s Website. Schließen

Zusätzl. Angaben / Voraussetzungen

Active participation requirements:
Give an oral presentation and write a term paper (3.000 words) OR three essays (á 1.000 words) OR complete an oral exam.

Kommentar

The concept of values is inextricably tied to sociological inquiry. Values indicate what is conceived of as good, bad, socially desirable or undesirable and are thus thought to be major guiding forces of behavior. In conjunction with social norms, values exemplify the view that culture and social structure are chief determinants of social action and interaction. Although effective at the individual level, values are also properties of groups and collectives and differ within and across societies and cultures. Moreover, they are embedded in tightly interconnected and hierarchically structured systems of values. This course sets out to achieve an understanding of the various approaches from sociology and related disciplines linking values with culture, social structure, and social action, in particular in a comparative perspective. It aims at addressing three major questions: What are values? How are values related to social action? How do values differ across cultures and (European) societies? Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Introductory readings

Hitlin, S., Piliavin, J.A. (2004). Values: Reviving a Dormant Concept. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 359-393.
Haller, M. (2002). Theory and Method in the Comparative Study of Values: Critique and Alternative to Inglehart. European Sociological Review, 18, 139-158.
Miles, A. (2015). The (Re)genesis of Values: Examining the Importance of Values for Action. American Sociological Review, 80(4), 680-704
Arts, W.A., Halman, L.C. (Eds)(2013). Value contrasts and consensus in present-day Europe: Painting Europe's moral landscapes. Leiden: Brill.

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