Project Description

Elementary Forms of Social Life

In case that an on-campus Summer School is not possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this module will take place online.

Module content

• Discuss main authors of microsociology and cultural anthropology in relation to empirical phenomena like opening and closing of communication, laughing, crying, manifestations of humour, grief, or communicative preconditions of misunderstanding, gossip, intrigue and conflict

• Outline small research projects on the basis of classical theoretical concepts (by Georg Simmel, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Marcel Mauss, Max Weber)

  • Programme – The course is taught in English (4 ECTS)
  • Requirements – Bachelor’s and Master’s students in the Social Sciences (e.g. Sociology, Anthropology). Open for other disciplines
  • Programme fee face-face/ online – EUR 500.00 (includes all study materials, transcript of records)
  • Application deadline – tba.

Course description

The elementary forms of social life refers to an analytical perspective that places human communication into a threefold conceptual framework of actor, cultural ideas and constellations. Main authors of microsociology and cultural anthropology will be discussed in relation to empirical phenomena like opening as well as closing of communication, laughing, crying, manifestations of humor, grief, or communicative preconditions of misunderstanding, gossip, intrigue and conflict. Participants of the course are asked to outline small research projects that will be discussed on the basis of classical theoretical concepts (Georg Simmel, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Marcel Mauss, Max Weber).

The course comprises 28 contact hours (8*3.5 hours). Upon successful completion, 4 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) points will be awarded for the module. A single ECTS point is defined as the equivalent of 25 to 30 hours of student workload. This includes class hours, additional preparations for class activities, readings, assignments as well as final assessments. The final evaluation will be based on a presentation at the end of the module. Assessment and award of credit points will be on a pass/fail basis, no grades will be given.

Attendance: Participants have to attend at least 80 % of the classes.

Instructors

Prof. Dr. Tilman Allert 

Professor of sociology and social psychology at Goethe University Frankfurt. He has been teaching university classes for many years including lectures at the universities of Yerewan, Armenia, Tbilisi, Georgia, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nantes, France. He is member of the teaching staff at the international university of psychoanalysis, Berlin

Charlotte Nell

Charlotte Nell is a PhD-candidate and lecturer at the Schiller University of Jena. She has studied Sociology and American Studies at the University of Frankfurt as well as at the University of Toronto.