Sociology of public affairs 1600-SZD-SSP
The sociology of public affairs is a course covering issues from the scope of public sociology, the sociology of the public sphere and the sociology of public life, conducted in a way that teaches the application of knowledge and elements of sociological workshop to the analysis of public actions. Hence, the emphasis on public affairs as an analytical category and at the same time a category organizing public discourse and public actions. The criteria distinguishing the public and private spheres will be presented, and the processes of "wandering" of matters between these spheres will be analyzed. In addition, the mechanisms of constructing collective order in the public sphere, models of public affairs management and the course of decision-making processes in public matters will be discussed, with the role of key and secondary actors specified. The course program is structured in four thematic modules:
Module 1 - Public affairs in a sociological perspective (public affairs as a category organizing public activities and an analytical category, between policies and politics);
Module 2 - Collective order in the public sphere and mechanisms for its maintenance (types of collective orders - sociological perspective, solving social problems, public discourse , social legitimization);
Module 3 - Management of public affairs (decision-making processes in public matters, public policies, strategies and programs, agenda setting);
Module 4 - Expert knowledge in programming and implementing public activities (cooperation of experts with decision-makers, the role of objective diagnosis, evidence-based policies). In each of the modules, the considerations are illustra
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge | The graduate knows and understands:
WG_02 - the main development trends in the disciplines of the social sciences in which the education is provided
Skills | The graduate is able to:
UW_01 – make use of knowledge from various fields of science, in particular the social sciences in order to creatively identify, formulate and innovatively solve complex problems or perform tasks of a research nature, and in particular to: define the purpose and object of scientific research in the field of the social sciences, formulate a research hypothesis; develop research methods, techniques and tools and apply them creatively; make inferences based on scientific findings
UK_04 - participating in scientific discourse in the field of the social sciences
Social competences | The graduate is ready to
KK_01 - critically evaluating achievements within a given scientific discipline in
the field of the social sciences
Assessment criteria
Description of requirements related to participation in classes, including the permitted number of explained absences: Classes organized in four thematic modules, absence from one module class is allowed.
Principles for passing the classes and the subject (including resit session): Active participation, including work in groups and preparing a homework.
Methods for the verification of learning outcomes: Discussion of group work, checking homework
Evaluation criteria: Pass without a grade
Bibliography
Berger P., Neuhaus R., To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., 1997. Blum S., Schubert K., Policy Analysis in Geramany, Policy Press, Bristol 2013. Colebatch H.K., Policy, Open University Press, Buckingham 2000. Etzioni A., The Active Society. A Theory of Societal and Political Processes, The Free Press, New York 1968. Evers, A-M. Guillemard (red.), Social Policy and Citizenship. The Changing Landscape, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013. Frysztacki K., Socjologia problemów społecznych, Scholar, Warszawa 2009. Gadowska K., Rymsza M., O socjologii transformacji do socjologii sfery publicznej. Nowe możliwości syntezy wiedzy o zmianie systemowej, „Studia Socjologiczne” 2017, nr 4, s. 19-47 .George, V., P. Wilding, Ideology and Social Welfare, Routledge, London 1992. Ginsebrg L., Understanding Social Problems, Policies, and Programs, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1994. Habermas J., The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, The MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1992. Kwaśniewski J. (red.), Nauki o polityce publicznej, IPSiR UW, Warszawa 2018. Lipsky, M., Street-Level Bureaucracy. Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services, Russel Sage, New York 1980. Mills, C.W., The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000. Mitchel A., Westminster Man. A Tribal Anthropology of the Commons People, Thames Methuen, London 1982. Osborne S.P., Brown L. (eds), Handbook of Innovation in Public Services, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2013. Rymsza M., Aktywizacja w polityce społecznej. W stronę rekonstrukcji europejskich welfare states?, Wydawnictwo IFiS PAN, Warszawa 2013. Rymsza M., From a social issue to an ecological issue. A glance at the ongoing transformation of the energy model in Europe from a sociological perspective, in: Solidarity as a Communion and Brotherhood of Working People, w: Zuziak, A. Pala (eds), The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Kraków 2024, pp. 83-106. Sennett R., The Fall of Public Man, W.W. Norton, New York & London 2017. Szatur-Jaworska B. (red.), Polityki publiczne. Wybrane zagadnienia teoretyczne i metodologiczne, Wydawnictwa UW, Warszawa 2018. Weber M., Economy and Society, (edited and translated by K. Tribe), Harvard University Press Cambridge, M.A. 2021. Wnuk-Lipiński E., Socjologia życia publicznego, Scholar, Warszawa 2008. Zybała A., Polityki publiczne. Doświadczenia w tworzeniu i wykonywaniu programów publicznych w Polsce i w innych krajach, Difin, Warszawa 2013.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: