The lectures will advance on two parallel and intertwined paths - the first concerning the basic concepts of political sociology treated in the form of an interactive frontal lecture; the second providing various forms of participation on selected themes proposed by the teacher and agreed with the students. Both modalities aim to create a space for discussion and exchange of ideas and require active participation.

Firstly, the fundamental theoretical approaches for the understanding of socio-political phenomena will be explained and discussed, in the light of contemporary transformations of the European and global societies. The concepts of state, political systems, civil society, will be problematized as spaces of conflict between different interests of social groups and between ideological and cultural conceptions of the world. Secondly, the participation in the political community will be interpreted through the lens of specific political cultures creating collective identities and forms of association, reproduced in time through the process of socialization. Moreover, we speak here about socialization as constantly challenged by the new social and political actors and their re-interpretations. Thirdly, the constitution and legitimation of both political parties and social movements are considered as crucial for understanding the dynamics between the political sphere in the narrow sense, and the social sphere, in these turbulent times of transition from the ‘short century’ and its cognitive patterns to the new millennium. Fourthly, specific attention will be paid to the tension regarding the configuration of European and Western liberal democracies today, in relation, on the one hand, to the global domination of neoliberalism, and on the other to the rise of illiberal and authoritarian trends in these societies. Finally, we will analyze forms and practices of a structural political violence, typical for totalitarian and post-totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century, and at the same time intrinsic of the modern national state. The political violence re-emerges in the more visible way within discourses and practices of radical right parties and movements, while it is less transparent in the new ways in which contemporary national states exercise their power over society.

The seminars will be organized as an integral part of the course, both with the participation of the invited guest-lecturers, and as regards the reading, presentation and discussion of selected texts carried out by the students enrolled in the course. The topics of nationalism, populism, citizenship, and social inequalities, will be proposed in an intersectional perspective in regard to the specific belonging to class, gender, religion, and ethnonational identification. All topics will be addressed with a critical approach to methodological nationalism.