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!

By cultural management we understand the administration of the resources of a cultural organization with the aim of offering a product or service that reaches the largest number of public or consumers, providing maximum satisfaction.

 The cultural manager, therefore, manages "culture" making it accessible to the contemporary human being.

The general objective of the subject is to offer a theoretical reflection of the "mission" of the manager. It answers the question "for what", contextualizing it in today's society.

The specific and transversal objectives proposed for the achievement of the general objective are:

• Define and understand in depth the philosophical and anthropological concept of "Culture"
• Understand how the past affects the present. The construction of "Culture"
• Deepen the understanding between culture and society
• Analyze the mechanisms of interaction between both.
• Detect the keys of the modern era, the main ideologies and cultural movements of greater relevance

As future cultural managers we will look for answers in Museums and Cultural Institutions of Barcelona, as well as in some of the most relevant contemporary authors and their different theoretical perspectives. In addition, one important object of our study will be the multicultural contribution of the components of the international group.

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. Analysis and synthesis capacity

 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 thins 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

COMPETENCES

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 evaluate 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.

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

CB1 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.

CB3 To be able to integrate knowledge and face the complexity of making judgments from information that, although incomplete or limited, includes reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.

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.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COMPETENCES

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

SPECIFIC COMPETENCES

1. To act as an active mediator in processes related to cultural diversity, multiculturalism, globalization and cultural identity, etc. (CE2)
2. To meet the main intellectual and historical streams on the notion of culture.
3. To gain the needed ability 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, globalization and cultural identity.
6. To be aware of the mediation role of the cultural manager to be developed within society.

1.      Historiographical Literacy. Students will build on their training to deepen their knowledge of the cultural and social significance of masterworks or masterpieces. They 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 research papers, skills that will culminate in the MA thesis project.

1. Introduction. Culture and Society. The concept of Culture. Characteristics of Culture. Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism and Pluralism.
2. Philosophy. The concept of beauty, taste and aesthetics.
3. History of Contemporary Ideas I. Roots of Modernity: Renaissance, Old and New Regime and Illustration. Romanticism and German Idealism.
4. History of Contemporary Ideas II. Ideological Modernity: Liberalism, Nationalism, Marxism and Science. Modernity: Personalism, Nihilism, Posmodernity and Permisivism.
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

Basic concepts of the theoretical framework of the subject will be presented, through traditional master classes and text readings. However, the main methodology for this subject will be the participative expository methodology. Dialogue, open debate and shared active reflection that will allow students not only to accumulate knowledge, but also to develop critical awareness.

A second methodological tool will be the study of practical cases. We will study some Cultural Institutions in Barcelona and 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. For its preparation we will have a workshop provided by the Library on “research techniques”.

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