Health sociology and lifestyle (2009/2010)

Course not running

Course code
4S01029
Name of lecturer
Luca Mori
Coordinator
Luca Mori
Number of ECTS credits allocated
6
Academic sector
SPS/10 - URBAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY
Language of instruction
Italian
Location
VERONA
Period
Sem. 2A dal Feb 22, 2010 al Apr 18, 2010.

Lesson timetable

Learning outcomes

Far from being an ascriptive attribute of individual, personal identity is conceived in modern societies as a project, a choice or, we could say, a strategy of the subject, reflexively engaged in the making of his own biography. Employment, career, material and cultural consumption, affectivity and religious belongings are all different arenas of choice building up what common sense define as life style. All these features represent the deepest cultural root of modernity. Modernity considers individuals, their autonomy, their dignity and their absolute uniqueness as the main value on which social order has to be constructed. Starting from the analysis of some classics (mainly A. de Tocqueville, É. Durkheim and M. Weber), the course proposes, from a sociological perspective, a critical reflection on the genealogy of the individualistic culture and its negative esternalities, that is social and psychological pathologies.

Syllabus

The course is composed by three main parts. The first one, more theoretically oriented, focusing on the concept of social role, tries to analyze the processes of social differentiation and their consequences related to its individualistic origin and development. In the second part, starting from empirical observations, apparently different phenomena such as individual exit from the public sphere, the excessive concern about his/her own bodily image, different forms of consumerism obsession and transformations of religion into a set of personal beliefs and superstitions, will be all related to the spread of the individualistic culture. In the last part of the course, the analysis will finally deal with a more precise pathological phenomenon such as that of drug abuse.


Textbooks for attenders:

- Seligman A., La scommessa della modernità. L’autorità, il sé e la trascendenza, Meltemi, Roma, 2002

- Bellah R., Masden R., Sullivan W. M., Swidler A., Tipton S. M., Le abitudini del cuore. Individualismo e impegno nella società complessa, Armando, Roma, 1996

- Articles suggested during the lessons

Textbooks for non-attenders

- Seligman A., La scommessa della modernintà. L’autorità, il sé e la trascendenza, Meltemi, Roma, 2002

- Bellah R., Masden R., Sullivan W. M., Swidler A., Tipton S. M., Le abitudini del cuore. Individualismo e impegno nella società complessa, Armando, Roma, 1996

- Mori L., I giovani come stranieri. Cultura giovanile e consumo di sostazne, Angeli, Milano, 2004

Assessment methods and criteria

Written test

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