| Course Name | Visual Sociology |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOC 325 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||
| Course Level | First Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | - | |||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | The goal of the course is to deepen the understanding of sociological thinking by examining certain topics and debates in the study of visual and material culture with a specific emphasis on society-culture relationship. It aims to understand the question of how we can use visual practices to understand and explain societies. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | The course is designed to make students familiar with sociological thinking through the discussions of visual and material cultural practices. To do this, by evaluating the general discussions of sociology of culture, the course focuses on visual and material cultural within the framework of sociological imagination. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals | |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | X | |
| Supportive Courses | ||
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction & Sociology of Culture | Rosamund Billington et al. Culture and Society, p:1-43 Les Back et.al. 2012, “Defining cultural sociology” in Cultural Sociology: An Introduction, 19-31. |
| 2 | Theoretical and Methodological Issues in the Study of Culture | Rosamund Billington et al. Culture and Society, p:44-63 & 101-118. Les Back et.al. 2012, “Methodological Issues in Cultural Sociology” in Cultural Sociology: An Introduction, 31-45. |
| 3 | Sociology of Visual Culture | Nathansohn, R., & Zuev, D. (Eds.). (2013). Introduction. Sociology of the visual sphere. Routledge. Ciampi, M. (2023). Visual sociology between tradition and new frontiers of research. International Review of Sociology, 1-20. |
| 4 | Sociology of Visual Culture | Becker, Howard S. (1995) 'Visual sociology, documentary photography, and photojournalism: It's(almost) all a matter of context', Visual Studies, 10: 1, 5-14. Douglas Harper. (2001) “the Image in Sociology” Journal des anthropologues. |
| 5 | Sociology of Material Culture | Tim Dant, “Material civilization: things and society”, The British Journal of Sociology, 2006, Volume57, Issue2, June 2006. Asa Berger, Making Sense of Material Culture, in What Objects Mean: Introduction to Material Culture 62-80 Asa Berger, “Applications” (selections), in What Objects Mean: Introduction to Material Culture 131-232. |
| 6 | Discourse and Visual Culture | Janet Hoskins, Agency, Biography and Objects in Handbook of Material Culture 74-89. Douglas Harper, “Ethnomethodology, semiotics and the subjective” in Visual Sociology. Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies: An introduction to Researching with Visual Materials, 186-219. |
| 7 | Midterm Exam | |
| 8 | Cinema- Film Screening | Laura Mulvey: ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in Visual and Other Pleasures Film screening |
| 9 | Reading Photographs | Marita Sturken & Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford University Press, Oxford ; New York; Read ONLY pp. 10-31. Susan Sontag “On Photography”, chapter 1, pgs. 3-24 |
| 10 | Photo-Documentation | Gil Pasternak (2013) “The Brownies in Palestina”: Politicizing Geographies in Family Photographs, Photography and Culture, 6:1, 41-63. Rose, Gillian (2003). Family photographs and domestic spacings: a case study. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 28(1) pp. 5–18. |
| 11 | Social Media | Julia Cook, Reza Hasmath , (2014) The discursive construction and performance of gendered identity on social media , Current Sociology. Brown, Brian J. (2001). “Doing Drag: A Visual Case Study of Gender Performance and Gay Masculinities”, Visual Sociology (16):37-54. |
| 12 | Visual aspect of identity construction | Shirin Khayambashi, (2019), Diaspora, identity, and store signs, Visual Studies. Woodward, R. and Jenkings, K.N. (2012) Soldiers’ photographic representations of participation in armed conflict. In S. Gibson and S. Mollan (eds) Representations of Peace and Conflict, Palgrave, London, pp.105-119. |
| 13 | Comparing societies | Dougles Harper, “Comparing societies” in Visual Sociology, 88-110. Rieger, Jon. 1996. Photographing Social Change. Visual Sociology 11 (1): 5–49. |
| 14 | Reviewing semester- Student Presentations | |
| 15 | Student Presentations | Discussion of assignments |
| 16 | Final Exam |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | |
| Suggested Readings/Materials |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 1 | 5 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | 1 | 5 |
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 10 |
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 10 |
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | 1 | 30 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 5 | 60 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 15 | 3 | 45 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | 1 | 5 | |
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 10 | |
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 10 | |
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | 1 | 24 | |
| Final Exams | 1 | 32 | |
| Total | 174 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To have the knowledge of classical and contemporary theories in sociology, and be able to comparatively analyze these theories. | |||||
| 2 | To have the knowledge of main methodological approaches in sociology as well as social research and data analysis methods. | |||||
| 3 | To have knowledge in the fields of general sociology, sociology of institutions, social structure and change, and applied sociology. | X | ||||
| 4 | To be able to determine the appropriate methods in the design of the planning stage and conclusion of a sociological project, individually or as part of a team. | |||||
| 5 | To be able to diagnose the social dynamics behind personal problems by using sociological imagination. | X | ||||
| 6 | To be able to define social problems at local, national, and global level, and offer new policies for solutions. | |||||
| 7 | To be able to apply commonly-used computer programs for data collection and analysis in sociological research. | |||||
| 8 | To be able to develop a socially responsible, scientific and ethical perspective regarding the collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. | |||||
| 9 | To be able to analyze different aspects of the social world by drawing on the knowledge produced by other disciplines of the social sciences. | X | ||||
| 10 | To be able to constantly renew herself/himself professionally by following scientific and technological developments in sociology and social research. | X | ||||
| 11 | To be able to collect sociological data and communicate with sociologists and other social scientists in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1). | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. | X | ||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
