Sociology of Culture

Pre-requisites: Students must be familiar with general social theory and general culture, civilizations, the arts, myths, religions, mass culture, cultural morals and history.

Course objectives: Discussing general ideas about culture and civilization, insight into theoretical ideas, with a particular emphasis on the present state of the sociology of culture; differences and similarities between a sociological outlook on culture versus an anthropological, psychological or philosophical outlook.

Course description: This course is an introduction to general sociology and basic ideas about culture at large. The sociology of culture is one of the basic branches of sociology as a science, being that it encompasses several areas of sociology:history and theory of culture, language, the arts, morality, myth, religion, early forms of culture, philosophy, science, mass culture, lifestyles, relationships between cultures, politics and political ideologies, cultural politics, subcultures, contra-cultures and the symbolism of communication. The main goal of this course is to examine and highlight various theoretical standpoints on culture, as well as examine several important, contemporary issues regarding the cultural process; transcultural /acultural movements and cultural identities. Applicable material will be presented and reviewed. There will be some discussion in class and occasional lectures by relevant authors & contributors to cultural issues. Students will be given the opportunity to attend relevant cultural events such as art exhibits, film presentations, downtown meetings etc.

Learning Outcomes: Through lectures, class discussion and seminars students will develop a holistic and critical approach to regarding the relationships and characteristics of present models of culture, as well as a critical approach to models of culture.

Literature/Reading:

• Sreten Petrović, Kulturologija, Lela, Beograd, 2000.