Society, Politics and Institutions: Stability and Change
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
The course aims at
- introducing students to the fundamental tools for the analysis of politics and institutions;
- providing knowledge of the main issues discussed in contemporary philosophy of the social sciences, with particular emphasis on social ontology and rational choice theory.
- introducing students to the fundamental tools for the analysis of politics and institutions;
- providing knowledge of the main issues discussed in contemporary philosophy of the social sciences, with particular emphasis on social ontology and rational choice theory.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course the students will have acquired
- some basic skills in the formation and use of scientific concepts and theories;
- some basic analytical and theoretical tools for understanding and studying politics and institutions in their social contexts as well as knowledge of some causal mechanisms typically recurring in such contexts;
- the ability of conducting "power analyses" of social and political situations;
- the ability to identify and interpret broad dynamics of political and institutional change in a historical and comparative perspective;
- substantive systematic knowledge of the "European model" (market economy, liberal democracy, the welfare state and European integration) and the challenges now facing it;
- the capacity to understand the theories that philosophers, psychologists, biologists and economists have put forward to explain the emergence of institutions;
- knowledge of the cognitive skills that allow human beings to engage in coordination and cooperation, on a scale of complexity that is unknown in the natural world;
- the ability to analyse and critically assess the main arguments brought in favour and against different views concerning the nature and functions of institutions, and the emergence of cooperation;
- the capacity to identify the ways in which these debates may be resolved, and how their solutions may contribute to scientific progress and understanding;
- the capacity to present the main arguments independently, satisfying the main requirements of scholarly writing.
- some basic skills in the formation and use of scientific concepts and theories;
- some basic analytical and theoretical tools for understanding and studying politics and institutions in their social contexts as well as knowledge of some causal mechanisms typically recurring in such contexts;
- the ability of conducting "power analyses" of social and political situations;
- the ability to identify and interpret broad dynamics of political and institutional change in a historical and comparative perspective;
- substantive systematic knowledge of the "European model" (market economy, liberal democracy, the welfare state and European integration) and the challenges now facing it;
- the capacity to understand the theories that philosophers, psychologists, biologists and economists have put forward to explain the emergence of institutions;
- knowledge of the cognitive skills that allow human beings to engage in coordination and cooperation, on a scale of complexity that is unknown in the natural world;
- the ability to analyse and critically assess the main arguments brought in favour and against different views concerning the nature and functions of institutions, and the emergence of cooperation;
- the capacity to identify the ways in which these debates may be resolved, and how their solutions may contribute to scientific progress and understanding;
- the capacity to present the main arguments independently, satisfying the main requirements of scholarly writing.
Lesson period: First trimester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First trimester
Prerequisites for admission
n.a.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The final exam will consist of a test with multiple choice and open questions.
Unit 1
Course syllabus
Detailed outline
Week 1: Politics, society and collectivities
- Definitions of politics, Power and legitimacy
- Collectivities and boundaries: groups and nations
Week 2 - States, nations, and nationalism
- What's a group and what's a nation
- Nations-building and the role of nationalism - Nation-states
Week 3 - Power, legitimacy and violence
- power, legitimacy and loyalty in nation- and state-building processes - from political conflict to war
- from political conflict to ethnopolitics and ethnocracy
Week 4 - Managing plurality
- Multinational states
- political engineering & institutional designs (consociationalism vs centripetalism)
- State-nations
Week 5 - Beyond the ethno-national group
- Power configuration, legitimacy, and double but complementary loyalties
- Lessons from Jugoslavia
Week 6 - What is the EU?
- Mainstream integration theories: neofunctionalism vs. intergovernmentalism - Confederation and demoi-cracy
- Postfunctionalist theory
- European disintegration?
Week 7 - The EU in crisis
- Models of monetary and fiscal integration - The euro crisis
- The COVID19 crisis and the NGEU
- The rule-of-law crisis (Hungary, Poland)
Week 8 - Differentiation and fragmentation within the EU
- North and South, East and West: diverging growth models
- The political economy of European integration
- Italy and Germany in the EU
Week 9 - The European Social Model
- The Welfare State in Europe
- Social Europe and the European Social Union
- Social investment
Week 10 - Globalisation and European integration
- The liberal international order
- The external policy domains of the EU
- Towards de-globalisation?
Week 1: Politics, society and collectivities
- Definitions of politics, Power and legitimacy
- Collectivities and boundaries: groups and nations
Week 2 - States, nations, and nationalism
- What's a group and what's a nation
- Nations-building and the role of nationalism - Nation-states
Week 3 - Power, legitimacy and violence
- power, legitimacy and loyalty in nation- and state-building processes - from political conflict to war
- from political conflict to ethnopolitics and ethnocracy
Week 4 - Managing plurality
- Multinational states
- political engineering & institutional designs (consociationalism vs centripetalism)
- State-nations
Week 5 - Beyond the ethno-national group
- Power configuration, legitimacy, and double but complementary loyalties
- Lessons from Jugoslavia
Week 6 - What is the EU?
- Mainstream integration theories: neofunctionalism vs. intergovernmentalism - Confederation and demoi-cracy
- Postfunctionalist theory
- European disintegration?
Week 7 - The EU in crisis
- Models of monetary and fiscal integration - The euro crisis
- The COVID19 crisis and the NGEU
- The rule-of-law crisis (Hungary, Poland)
Week 8 - Differentiation and fragmentation within the EU
- North and South, East and West: diverging growth models
- The political economy of European integration
- Italy and Germany in the EU
Week 9 - The European Social Model
- The Welfare State in Europe
- Social Europe and the European Social Union
- Social investment
Week 10 - Globalisation and European integration
- The liberal international order
- The external policy domains of the EU
- Towards de-globalisation?
Teaching methods
Evaluation will be based on the final test scores.
For PPPA students, the grade of unit1 must be averaged with the grade of unit2. The averaged grade will appear on your formal records through these steps:
1. passing successfully the tests of both unit 1 and unit 2 (>18);
2. registering the averaged grade during the first formal exam session ("appello d'esame") available for unit 2.
Non-PPPA attending students taking only unit 1 can register the grade at the first available exam session ("appello d'esame") of unit 2.
For PPPA students, the grade of unit1 must be averaged with the grade of unit2. The averaged grade will appear on your formal records through these steps:
1. passing successfully the tests of both unit 1 and unit 2 (>18);
2. registering the averaged grade during the first formal exam session ("appello d'esame") available for unit 2.
Non-PPPA attending students taking only unit 1 can register the grade at the first available exam session ("appello d'esame") of unit 2.
Teaching Resources
The complete and final list of study material can be found on Ariel.
Lecture slides
Barth F. (1969) Ethnic groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference. CH1, Introduction
Brubaker, R. (2004) "In the name of the nation: reflections on nationalism and patriotism", Citizenship Studies 8(2): 115-127
Wimmer A. (2013) Waves of war, CH Introduction and summary
Stepan, Linz, Yadav (2011) Crafting state-nations. CH1, 1 Comparative Theory and Political Practice: Do We Need a ''State-Nation'' Model as Well as a ''Nation-State'' Model?
Piacentini A. (2020) Ethnonationality's evolution in Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia, CH2 2 Ethnic Groups and Nations in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)
O'Leary, B. (2020) "The nature of the European Union", Research in Political Sociology 27: 17-44.
Degryse, C., Jepsen, M. and Pochet, P. (2013) "The Euro crisis and its impact on national and European social policies", Working Paper 2013.05, European Trade Union Institute.
Ferrera, M. (2017) "The Stein Rokkan Lecture 2016. Mission impossible? Reconciling economic and social Europe and the euro crisis and Brexit", European Journal of Political Research 56(3): 3-22.
Ferrera, M. (2019) "Disproved or vindicated? Stein Rokkan's 'impossibility theorem' on welfare democracy and European Integration", Journal of European Social Policy 29(1): 3-12.
Hay, C. (2006) "What's globalization got to do with it? Economic interdependence and the future of European welfare states", Government and Opposition 41(1): 1-22.
Lecture slides
Barth F. (1969) Ethnic groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference. CH1, Introduction
Brubaker, R. (2004) "In the name of the nation: reflections on nationalism and patriotism", Citizenship Studies 8(2): 115-127
Wimmer A. (2013) Waves of war, CH Introduction and summary
Stepan, Linz, Yadav (2011) Crafting state-nations. CH1, 1 Comparative Theory and Political Practice: Do We Need a ''State-Nation'' Model as Well as a ''Nation-State'' Model?
Piacentini A. (2020) Ethnonationality's evolution in Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia, CH2 2 Ethnic Groups and Nations in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)
O'Leary, B. (2020) "The nature of the European Union", Research in Political Sociology 27: 17-44.
Degryse, C., Jepsen, M. and Pochet, P. (2013) "The Euro crisis and its impact on national and European social policies", Working Paper 2013.05, European Trade Union Institute.
Ferrera, M. (2017) "The Stein Rokkan Lecture 2016. Mission impossible? Reconciling economic and social Europe and the euro crisis and Brexit", European Journal of Political Research 56(3): 3-22.
Ferrera, M. (2019) "Disproved or vindicated? Stein Rokkan's 'impossibility theorem' on welfare democracy and European Integration", Journal of European Social Policy 29(1): 3-12.
Hay, C. (2006) "What's globalization got to do with it? Economic interdependence and the future of European welfare states", Government and Opposition 41(1): 1-22.
Unit 2
Course syllabus
- Individualism and rational choice theory
- Conventions and coordination problems
- The problem of cooperation
- The evolution of cooperation
- Social norms
- Collective intentionality
- Constitutive rules theory
- Conventions and coordination problems
- The problem of cooperation
- The evolution of cooperation
- Social norms
- Collective intentionality
- Constitutive rules theory
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussions.
Teaching Resources
The complete and final list of material can be found on the Ariel website of the course (https://fgualaspisc.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/). Among the main texts:
* Weber, M. (1921) "The Interpretive Understanding of Social Action", in Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, edited by M. Brodbeck. Macmillan, pp. 19-33.
* Guala, F. (2016) Understanding Institutions, Princeton University Press, Ch. 2 ("Games")
* Lewis, D. (1969) Convention. Blackwell, selected paragraphs from Chs. 1 and 2.
* Peterson, M. (ed. 2015) The Prisoner's Dilemma. Cambridge University Press (Introduction).
* Handout on Repeated Games
* Camerer, C. F., & Fehr, E. (2004) "Measuring social norms and preferences using experimental games: A guide for social scientists", in J. Henrich et al (eds.) Foundations of Human Sociality, Oxford University Press.
* Frank, R. H. (1988) Passions within Reason, Norton (Ch.3: "A Theory of Moral Sentiments")
* Alexander, J. M. (2019) "Evolutionary Game Theory", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/game-evolutionary/ [online], especially sections 1,2,3,5.
* Okasha, S., (2013) "Biological Altruism", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philoso-phy https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/altruism-biological/
* Bicchieri, C. (2006) The Grammar of Society, Cambridge University Press, Ch. 1 ("The rules we live by"). [S&G, ariel]
* Gilbert, M. (1990) "Walking Together: A Paradigmatic Social Phenomenon", Midwest Studies in Philosophy 15: pp. 1-14.
* Searle, J. (2005) "What Is an Institution?", Journal of Institutional Economics 1: 1-22
* Guala, F. and Hindriks, F. (2015) "A Unified Social Ontology", Philosophical Quarterly 165 (2015): 177-201.
* Weber, M. (1921) "The Interpretive Understanding of Social Action", in Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, edited by M. Brodbeck. Macmillan, pp. 19-33.
* Guala, F. (2016) Understanding Institutions, Princeton University Press, Ch. 2 ("Games")
* Lewis, D. (1969) Convention. Blackwell, selected paragraphs from Chs. 1 and 2.
* Peterson, M. (ed. 2015) The Prisoner's Dilemma. Cambridge University Press (Introduction).
* Handout on Repeated Games
* Camerer, C. F., & Fehr, E. (2004) "Measuring social norms and preferences using experimental games: A guide for social scientists", in J. Henrich et al (eds.) Foundations of Human Sociality, Oxford University Press.
* Frank, R. H. (1988) Passions within Reason, Norton (Ch.3: "A Theory of Moral Sentiments")
* Alexander, J. M. (2019) "Evolutionary Game Theory", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/game-evolutionary/ [online], especially sections 1,2,3,5.
* Okasha, S., (2013) "Biological Altruism", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philoso-phy https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/altruism-biological/
* Bicchieri, C. (2006) The Grammar of Society, Cambridge University Press, Ch. 1 ("The rules we live by"). [S&G, ariel]
* Gilbert, M. (1990) "Walking Together: A Paradigmatic Social Phenomenon", Midwest Studies in Philosophy 15: pp. 1-14.
* Searle, J. (2005) "What Is an Institution?", Journal of Institutional Economics 1: 1-22
* Guala, F. and Hindriks, F. (2015) "A Unified Social Ontology", Philosophical Quarterly 165 (2015): 177-201.
Unit 1
SPS/04 - POLITICAL SCIENCE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professors:
Miro' Artigas Joan, Piacentini Arianna Maria Bambina
Unit 2
SECS-P/01 - ECONOMICS - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Guala Francesco
Educational website(s)
Professor(s)
Reception:
Tuesday 9.30-12.30, by appointment only
Department of Philosophy, via Festa del Perdono 7, Cortile Ghiacciaia, top floor