Class, Conflict and Social Change

Recommended Prerequisites

Master’s candidates must have solid knowledge of sociological and other social sciences acquired in other levels of education or, in the case of experts/professionals or trade union leaders, the experience they have provided in the past will be important for a better training in this field. Any previous contact with the theory and epistemology in use by the social sciences will be important for this course. 

Teaching Methods

The teaching method consists of planning sessions with prior indication of the topics, authors and materials under discussion, which take place under the sign of the active participation of students. The classes are divided into two parts, the first being conceptual presentation by the teacher, clarifying concepts, theories and situating the terms of debate; the second part consists of a short oral presentation made by a student, previously scheduled. 

Learning Outcomes

This course aims at helping students understand the basic sociological and socio-economic contradictions and social classes in capitalist societies. It should highlight the structural inequalities and social classes in global capitalism. ‘Class Analysis', as a Marxist theoretical current, critically analyzes social structures seeking to interpret the new contours and processes of collective struggle, whose contradictions remain demonstrating the strong tension between capitalism and democracy. All reflection and theoretical discussion around these themes have as a backdrop the recent trends in Europe and the world, firstly with the strength of the global markets and production systems, secondly, with the deepening crisis and austerity, returning to put class analysis in the spotlight. 

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The class theory model by Erik Olin Wright

State, labor and society

Capitalism, labor unions and

Work and classes in Brazil and Worldwide

Capitalism, work and precariousness

Democracy and social movements

Classes, precarity and collective action in Europe

The precariat: crisis and alternatives. 

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Periodic or by final exam as given in the course information: 100.0%

Bibliography

ANTUNES, Ricardo - Adeus ao trabalho? : ensaio sobre as metamorfoses e a centralidade do mundo do trabalho. 15a ed., 2a reimp.. São Paulo: Cortez, 2013.

CARMO, Renato M. (org.) (2010), Desigualdades Sociais 2010. Estudos e Indicadores. Lisboa: Editora Mundos Sociais.

COSTA, António Firmino da - Desigualdades sociais contemporâneas. Lisboa : Mundos Sociais, 2012. CROMPTON, Rosemary - Class and stratification. 3rd ed., repr.. Cambridge : Polity Press, 2014.

EDER, Klaus - A classe social tem importância no estudo dos novos movimentos sociais?. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais [Em linha]. Vol. 16, no 46 (2001), p. 5-27.

ESPING-ANDERSEN, Gosta (ed.) – Changing classes : stratification and mobility in post-industrial societies.

London: Sage Publications, 1993. p. 225-241.

WRIGHT, E. O., Classes. London. Verso, 2005.