Admission requirements
None.
Description
Built as a varied set of ideas used to make sense of everyday life ―in relation to capitalism, the state, the individual, nature, society, bureaucracy, the media industry― social theory begun in the 19th century to became the backbone of the social sciences as we know them today. Classic thinkers such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber are still informing contemporary scholarship, although the field is vast and the exercise of theorizing the social contentious. This course is an invitation to learn some of the essential components of the vocabulary that social theories gives us to make sense of, and respond to, global issues such as institutional exploitation, digital politics, climate change, population displacement, epistemic (in)justices, and social anomie, among others.
In this course, students learn central tenants of classical theories and contemporary debates to think about the texture of their everyday life ―the ways we understand ourselves, others, and the overall shape of our interactions. While social theories enable us to think creatively and critically about the human relations that underpin the economic, scientific, political and cultural spheres of our lives, their development is the result of an historical unfolding with distinct pathways on different continents.
Training your awareness to the importance of theory is relevant because any action and intervention in the world is, ideally, grounded in a form of thinking. Therefore, this course is a purposeful invitation to think about how the social shapes everyday life. By usings a range of social (and political) theories, informed by past exercises to understand the social, learning social theory is at the centre of developing an informed imagination to anticipate future challenges and imagine collective responses.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course students should develop:
An understanding of the emergence of classical social theories alongside sociology and anthropology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how such foundational ideas are being refreshed and updated by social scientists today.
The capacity to appreciate the strengths and limits of foundational western social thought and examine the relevance of classic thinkers today, in a more multi-polar world.
The ability to use social theory to identify, understand, and analyze current political preoccupations and global entanglements. Therefore, bridging the presumed ideological gap between theory and practice.
A sociologically and anthropologically informed way of thinking about the constructed, contingent, and mediated aspects of everyday life.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2025-2026 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This course employs interrelated visual, audio, and textual modes of learning. The syllabus provides a clear roadmap for the course developments. Though it is a 100 level course, the course requires the active engagement of students with (i) the material assigned to each session and (ii) the exercise of writing weekly reflections on your process of learning to theorize the (many forms of the) social. Please refer to the syllabus for more specific details on the mode of instruction and expectations regarding the weekly reflections.
Assessment Method
The course is assessed based on three assignments that correspond to the course’s main learning aims:
Close reading comprehension and critical understanding of the material is assessed by a portfolio built by weekly reflections to be submitted 24 hours before the second session of each week (weeks 1 to 7): 35%
In-class group performance using social theory to sketch the description and discussion of a fictional scenario reflecting a contemporary situation (week 6): 25%
A final open book exam to assess the development of your analytical and interpretative skills (using the course material/portfolio) in week 8: 40%
Reading list
Readings will be indicated in the syllabus and available mostly via Leiden’s digital library.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr Daniela Vicherat Mattar, d.a.vicherat.mattar@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
-