SOCIOLOGY OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

SPS/08 - 6 CFU - 1° semestre

Docente titolare dell'insegnamento

GIUSEPPE TOSCANO

Obiettivi formativi

Aim of the course is to give students critical and analytical tools in order to understand communication processes between different cultures and different ethnic groups.
Theoretical and practical tools will be provided in order to support social interactions, to control stereotypes and stigmatization processes, and to develop role-taking skills.
Special emphasis will be placed on the perspective of Symbolic Interactionism.

Modalità di svolgimento dell'insegnamento

Lectures, presentations, video projections

Prerequisiti richiesti

There are no specific prerequisites

Frequenza lezioni

Attendance is optional but recommended

Contenuti del corso

Role-taking (George Herbert Mead). Social construction of self. Primary socialization. Secondary socialization. Re-socialization. Significant Others and reference groups. Pygmalion effect and Looking Glass Self (Cooley).
Stereotypes and prejudices. Ethnocentrism. Stigma. Labeling processes and total institutions (Goffman). Subcultures (Becker). Moral Panic (Cohen) and social problems construction.
Sociological reflections on the stranger:
Chicago School: migrations, urban subcultures and marginal man (Park, Thomas and Znaniecki, Whyte).

Testi di riferimento

1. Ken Plummer, Sociology: The Basics, Routledge, Milton Park, Abingdon, 2016.

2. Kent L. Sandstrom, K. J. Lively., D. D. Martin, G. A. Fine., Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014. (Chapters: 1, 3, 4).

3. Robert E. Park, "Human Migration and the Marginal Man", in American Journal of Sociology, 33, 6, 1928, pp. 881-893.

4. Herbert Blumer, “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position”, in Pacific Sociological Review, 1, 1, 1958, pp. 3-7.

5. Alfred Schütz, "The Stranger: An Essay in Social Psychology", in American Journal of Sociology, 49, 6, 1944, pp. 499-507.

6. Milton J. Bennett, “Developing Intercultural Sensitivity. An Integrative Approach To Global And Domestic Diversity”, in Dan Landis, Janet M. Bennett, & Milton J. Bennett (Eds.), Handbook Of Intercultural Training, 3rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2004.

7. Marcello Maneri, Jessika ter Wal, "The Criminalisation of Ethnic Groups: An Issue for Media Analysis", in Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6, 3, 2005.
http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs050391

8. Caroline Howarth, “Race as stigma: positioning the stigmatized as agents, not objects”, in Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 16, 6, 2006, pp. 442–451.

9. W. Wagner, R. Sen, R. Permanadeli, C. S. Howarth, “The Veil and Muslim Women’s Identity: Cultural Pressures and Resistance to Stereotyping”, in Culture and Psychology, 18, 4, 2012, pp. 521-541.

References for further readings will be provided in the class

Altro materiale didattico

http://studium.unict.it/dokeos/2017/

Programmazione del corso

	Argomenti	Riferimenti testi
1	Basic sociological concepts and perspectives	Ken Plummer, Sociology: The Basics, Routledge, Milton Park, Abingdon, 2016.
2	Culture, communication and social interactions	Kent L. Sandstrom, K. J. Lively., D. D. Martin, G. A. Fine., Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014. Chapter 1.
3	Role-taking skills and social construction of self	Sandstrom, Lively, Martin, Fine, Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality, Chapter 2; Milton J. Bennett, “Developing Intercultural Sensitivity. An Integrative Approach To Global And Domestic Diversity”, Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2004.
4	Stereotypes and prejudices. Ethnocentrism.	Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014. Chapter 4; Wagner, Sen, Permanadeli, Howarth, “The Veil and Muslim Women’s Identity: Cultural Pressures and Resistance to Stereotyping”, in Culture and Psychology
5	Stigma and Labeling processes, Moral Panic, social problem construction	Marcello Maneri, Jessika ter Wal, ''The Criminalisation of Ethnic Groups'', in Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6, 3, 2005; Caroline Howarth, “Race as stigma: positioning the stigmatized as agents, not objects”, 2006, pp. 442–451.
6	Sociological reflections on the stranger	Robert E. Park, ''Human Migration and the Marginal Man''; Herbert Blumer, “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position”; Alfred Schütz, ''The Stranger: An Essay in Social Psychology''

Verifica dell'apprendimento

MODALITÀ DI VERIFICA DELL'APPRENDIMENTO

Oral assessment

ESEMPI DI DOMANDE E/O ESERCIZI FREQUENTI

Definition of ethnocentrism.
According to Robert Park, who is a “marginal man”?
Stages of intercultural sensitivity.
Who are the most important agents in primary socialization?
According to Alfred Schutz, who is a “stranger”?
Students will be required to apply theoretical concepts by providing examples.

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