3 credits
This course is based on an analysis of the basic notions and concepts necessary for any approach or field of study and sociological research. It notes, therefore, differences between concepts "encompassed" and concepts of "inclusivity", in order to cover external phenomena/internal to corporations. It addresses notions and concepts such as: culture, civilization, collective belief, modernity, habitus, norm, compliance, status and role, value, socialization, classes and social elite, etc. It develops in students a critical perspective in its comprehension of all social reality. After the course, the students will have gained an inductive construction of the concepts discussed and a mode of sociological thinking.
3 credits
This course, intended for students following different circuits in human sciences (social sciences, psychology, literature, history, etc.) is divided into three parts: the first part deals with culture, of its constituent elements, of the difficulty in circumscribing it, of its relationship to identity and of transculturality. The second part concerns myths, their structure, their functions, their importance, their topicality. The third part focuses on the Sacred as founding phenomena of any culture and its multiple cultural and social expressions. The objective of the course is to raise the awareness of the student to the universality of the Sacred and myths as inscribed in the history and the life of all the societies and constitutive of the immemorial cultural fund of humanity and to make them discover their countless expressions in behavior, language, arts and letters. In addition to reading authors’ texts (Herskovits, Jung, Eliade, Girard, Lévi-Strauss, Otto…) and the analysis of myths or travelers’ stories, work can be conducted on audiovisual documents. As for the assignments, written or through oral exposition, that they will present, students are encouraged to develop themes derived from the issues addressed during the course.
3 credits
The course focuses on a central theme: power. This topic is treated in two parts with subthemes which graft onto the central issue of the course. Indeed, the notion of power is undeniably linked to politics in its relation to the state and the social actor, as explained in the first part of this course. It is also an object of reflection and questioning, as shown by the study of different thinkers and sociologists of the twentieth century, in the second part of the course. Students learn not only to handle the theoretical concepts but also to build their own reflection in a methodical way. Ongoing exchange is operated between ideas of sociological conceptualization and the political reality.
3 credits
In the first part, the course deals with the development that emphasizes the human’s central place as a social being, as well as the state and political structures in the organization of collective action for development. It also addresses the development of the entire population, its human potential, and both physical and intellectual progress through education. In the second part, the course introduces the unidimensional theories, evolutionists and structuralists of development, as well as planning techniques and development of agrarian and industrial policies. In the third part, the theoretical, methodological, and strategic foundations of community development will be addressed.
3 credits
This course deals with the family in its various forms, which, while being universal, presents spatiotemporal peculiarities that the sociological analysis reveal, both structurally and functionally. The course offers a reflection on the circumstances and the contemporary transformations of the family institution (diversity of models, fragility of the marital bond, family recomposition), and draws a picture of sociological theories of the family, focusing on contemporary sociology specific to this area. Thus, the family, in new forms, appears as an element of sustainability among social turbulence, and as one of the pillars of postmodernism to study. It is therefore necessary to highlight the multiple varied relationships that link the family to the whole of society, with particular emphasis on the current situation of the family in Lebanon.
3 credits
This course provides students with the basic knowledge essential to a survey in the service of a search. For this purpose, a knowledge of all stages of an investigation, of the preparation (setting objectives, questionnaire design, and choice of sampling method) is required to collect data and prepare them up to the analysis and presentation of results. Students will also learn to use SPSS for compiling the data and the analysis of results.