Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - Barcelona

Society and Culture in the 21st Century

• code 06721
• course 1
• term Term 1
• type OB
• credits 3

Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: English

If the student is enrolled for the English track then classes for that subject will be taught in the same language.

Head instructor

Dra. Gloria ROMANELLO - gromanello@uic.es
Dra. Maria Lucia PÉREZ - lperezp@uic.es

Office hours

By groupal or personal appointment at: alfonsp@uic.es

Also welcome with no appointment trying at

PROF. ALFONS PUIGARNAU (front door signal next door Classroom Alpha 301)

Cheers!

To understand Society and Culture in the 21st century, it is necessary to have knowledge of the following disciplines and concepts: Anthropology, Culture, Sociology, Art History and Philosophy History.

            The general objective of the subject is to offer a theoretical reflection on the culture in the 21st century and its social impact, to achieve a better understanding of some of the multiple relationships between culture and society and to analyze the mechanisms of interaction in order to gain a better understanding of the role of cultural management.

            As future cultural managers, we are going to look for answers in Museums and Cultural Institutions of Barcelona, as well as in relevant authors of the different theoretical perspectives. This course is designed to enable cultural manager students the time to pursue intensive personal research programs in a group environment.

             Students will be expected to attend local exhibitions, museums, visiting artist lectures, etc. As part of the course work, familiarity with the gallery scene in Barcelona is essential.

1.Participation in class

2.Attitude to work in team

3.Availability for personal interview

4.Relation capacity with the rest of the class

5.Capacity for text commentaries

6.Conditions for oral exhibition of a work

7.The excessive dependence on internet will be penalized

 1. To owe and understand

To understand reality

To know the relationship between the whole and its parts

Knowledge is not to have but rather to be

Study habit

To improve your work plan skills

To schedule yourself

To verify, to revise, to correct

2. To apply knowledge

Problems solution-oriented

To be right and not only to spend time in doing things

To multiply your working capacity

Competitiveness

Real problem solving

Sense of opportunity and efficiency

Self esteem and confidence in work

3. To assemble, to interpret.

To judge

To consider

To seek the virtue

To share vital decisions

Sense of prudence

Patience

4. To communicate

Explanatory clarity

To go to the core of things without neglecting the secondary

To generate confidence around

To transmit innovation together with the value of tradition

Quality in the briefness

5. To be autonomous

To be able to consult without wasting your time

To be able to depend on others

To be a wise person without being self-sufficient

To avoid precipitation

To exercise control on reality

1. The kernel of the targets of the new organization of the education (Bologna European University Space) is the competitions acquisition on the part of the students.

2. It will have to do emphasis on the learning methods of the above mentioned competitions and on the procedures to avaluate them.

3. The term competency is used here exclusively in its academic meaning, and not in the meaning of professional attribution. It is a combination of knowledge, skills (intellectual, manual, social, etc.), attitudes and values to solve problems or to intervene in matters.

Basic competences

CB6 To have and understand knowledge which provides a grounding or opportunity to be original in terms of the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research-based context.

General competences

CG5 To act responsibly, and produce good quality rigorous and efficient work that is placed at the service of society.

CG6 To demonstrate an ability to be open and flexible in attending to cultural and social diversity in the environment.

CG7 To know how to apply and adapt to new technologies in processes of cultural management, production and dissemination. Leadership, Culture and New Technologies

Cross-disciplinary competences

CT1 To design, direct, produce and evaluate projects, programmes, strategies, policies or cultural actions which involve a wide variety of different professional profiles, agents and institutions.

Especific Competencies:

1. To act as an active mediator in processes related to cultural diversity, multiculturalism, globalisation and cultural identity, etc.
2. To meet the main intellectual and historical streams on the notion of culture.
3. To gain the needed hability to grasp cultural tendencies and gaps both actual and future whether local, regional or international.
4. To deepen into the function of culture in our society as well as its relevance for a future development.
5. To research concepts like cultural diversity, multiculturality, globalisation and cultural identity.
6. To be aware of the mediation role of the cultural manager to be developed within society.

Learning results

1. Historiographical Literacy. Students will build on their training to deepen their knowledge of the cultural and social significance of masterworks or masterpieces. Students will deepen their understanding of the ideas and social contexts in which proposed culture works are placed.

2. Critical Thinking. Students will be able to investigate critically how specific scholars in their field of specialization have discussed the ideas and masterworks in conflict with other aspects of historical and social development within particular cultures. By the end of their course, students should be able both to critique cultural and social scholarship in their area of specialization and to begin to deploy significant methodological strategies in their own work as will be manifested in their MA thesis.

3. Research Skills. Students will strengthen their ability to develop appropriate research topics and questions to effectively shape their projects. They will be able to find appropriate research sources through the effective use of material in libraries and databases, and will develop the ability to use archival or other primary sources.

4. Communication Skills. Students will strengthen their ability to organize and express their thoughts clearly and coherently both in writing and orally. They will learn to produce cogent arguments for their research papers, developing a clear analysis of topics and source materials, and of the scholarly structure of their field of specialization. They will also have learned to use articulate, grammatically correct language and to construct thorough investigations in their research papers, skills that will culminate in the MA thesis project.

1. SYLLABUS

   1. Introduction. Culture and Society. The concept of Culture. Characteristics of Culture. Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Pluralism.
   2. Anthropology. The concept of Anthropology. Philosophical knowledge of the human being.
   3. History of Contemporary Ideas. Roots of Modernity: Renaissance, Old and New Regime and Illustration. Romanticism and German Idealism. Ideological Modernity: Liberalism, Nationalism, Marxism and Science. Modernity: Personalism, Nihilism, Posmodernity and Permisivism.
   4. Art History.  Ancient. Medieval. Renaissance. Neoclassicism. Romanticism. Modern and Contemporary art.
   5. The social organization of Culture. Cultural Institutions and professional of Culture.
   6. The analysis of cultural dynamics. Social innovation in the cultural field.  Cities as cultural hubs of changes and dynamics 

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

In the first part of the course there will be theoretical classes to provide basic concepts of the theoretical framework of the subject. However the main methodology for this subject will be the participatory expository methodology and a research written paper.

The students will organize a brief scientific investigation around one of the subjects of the program that will consist in a case study of a Cultural Institution, Museum or Exhibition taking place at the moment in Barcelona.  

To achieve the expected learning outcomes for the oral presentation of the written works, we will apply the TOASTMASTERS method. By giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere. This will promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences, collective work and the practical application of the learned.

EVALUATION SYSTEMS AND CRITERIA

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES

Basic

Becker. H. S. (1982) Art worlds.  University of California Press.

Bourdieu, P (2000). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Routledge Classics.

Florida, R. (2005). Cities and the creative class. New York/Oxon. Routeledge.

Gombrich, E.H. (1995). The Story of Art. Phaidon Press. London

Rocher, G. (1970). A General Introduction to Sociology. A Theoretical Perspective. Canada: Mcmillan

Recommended readings

Alexander, V.D. (1996). From philanthropy to funding: The effects of corporate and public support on American art museums. Poetics, 24(2-4), 87-129

Aron, R. (2009). Main currents in sociological thought. Transaction Publishers. New Jersey

Barthes, R. (1967). “The Death of the Author”. Aspen, 5-7

Bauman, Z. (1999). Culture as Praxis. Sage. London

Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press. Cambridge

Bell, D. (1996). The Cultural Contradiction of Capitalism. Basic Books

Bourdieu, P. & Darbel, A. (1997). The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their public. Polity Press

Chan, T. W., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (2007). Data, methods and interpretation in analyses of cultural consumption: A reply to Peterson and Wuggenig. Poetics, 35(4–5), 317–329.

Cicchelli, Vi., Octobre, S., & Riegel, V. (2016). After the Omnivore, the Cosmopolitan amatuer: reflections about Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism. The Global Studies Journal.

Crane, D. (2009). Reflections on the global art market: implications for the Sociology of Culture. Sociedade E Estado, Brasilia 2(2), 331–362.

Currid, E. (2007). How Art and Culture happen in New York. Implications for Urban Economic Development. Journal of the American Planning Association, 73(4), 454–468.

Duncan, C. (1995) The art museum as ritual, en Civilizing Rituals, London/NY, Routledge pp. 7-20.

Fishman, R.M., Lizardo, O. (2013) How Macro-Historical Change Shapes Cultural Taste, American Sociological Review. 78(2), pp. 213–239.

Gaarder, J. (1994). Sophie’s world. Norway: Berkley books

Girard, A., (1982) Cultural industries: a handicap or a new opportunity for cultural development?, en UNESCO, Cultural industries. A challenge for the future of culture. Paris, France, pp. 24-39.

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic books

Held, D. et al. “Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture”, Politics at the Edge. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2000. p. 14-28

Johnson, P. (2001). Modern Times. Perennial Classics. London

McLean, F. (2007) Museums and the costruction of national identity, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 3(4), pp. 244-252.

Peterson, R.A. (1990) Why 1955? The Advent of Rock Music, Popular Music, 9, pp. 97-116.

Peterson, R.A. (1992) Understanding audience segmentation: From elite and mass to omnivore and univore, Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Literature, Media, and the Arts, vol. 21, pp. 243-258.

Peterson, R.A., Kern, R.M. (1996) Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore. American Sociological Review, 61(5), pp. 900-907.

Peterson, R.A., Anand, N. (2004) The Production of Culture Perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 30(1), pp. 311–334.

Ritzer, G. (2013). Sociological Theory. McGraw-Hill Education. New York

Ritzer, G. (2012). Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots. McGraw-Hill Education. New York

Ulrich, B. (1992). Risk Society. Sage Publications UK