We analyze in a first part the civilizations preceding modernity: civilization of hunter-gatherers and the so-called agrarian civilization. We study then more in detail the significance of the advent of modernity (individualization, functional differentiation and the relative domination of technical and scientific rationality). The second part aims to provide basic knowledge elements to understand the original phenomenon of human social relationship through various theories on the generative dynamics and the analysis, in particular, of the perspective rooted in the concept of gift and in the category of love, as expressed in the contemporary sociological debate.
Suggested readings:
ARAÙJO V., CATALDI S., IORIO G., Culture of Peace. The social dimension of love, Torino-Parigi L’Harmattan Italia, 2016.
BECK U., Risikogesellschaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne, Frankfurt/Main 1986. [trad. ital.] La società del rischio. Verso una seconda modernità, Rorna 2007.
BRUCE S., Sociology. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 2000.
CAILLÉ A., Il Terzo Paradigma. Antropologia filosofica del dono, Torino 1998.
COSER L., I classici del pensiero sociologico, Bologna 2006.
DONATI P., Relational Sociology: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences, London and New YorK 2010.
ELLUL J., La Technique ou l’enjeu du siècle, Paris 1954, nouv. édition: 2008; trad. it. La tecnica, rischio del secolo, Milano 1969.
FULCHER J.– SCOTT J., Sociology, Oxford, 2011⁴.
GELLNER E., Plough, Sword and Book. The Structure of Human History, London 1988.
GIDDENS A., Fondamenti di sociologia, Bologna 2006.
IZZO A., Storia del pensiero sociologico, Bologna 2005.
LUHMANN N., The Differentiation of Society, New York 1982.
MANN M., The Sources of Social Power. Volume I: A history of power from the beginning to A.D. 1760, Cambridge 1986.
WEBER M., Sociologia delle religioni, 2 voll., Torino 2008.
