Entry requirements

90 credits in Political Science (A+B+C) or equivalent and 30 credits in Social Science, or 90 credits in Social and Political Studies (A+B+C) and 60 credits in Political Science. Proof of skills in Swedish to a level corresponding to Swedish B in the Swedish secondary school. Proof of skills in English to a level corresponding to English B in the Swedish secondary school. Students within the Master Programme in Politics and International Studies, the Master Programme in Development Studies or the Master Programme in Political Science are required to have obtained at least 15 credits within the programme.

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to the latest research trying to describe and explain the formation, change and nature of political attitudes and political behaviour. How do we acquire our fundamental political attitudes, such as prejudice or tolerance towards minorities, and how do these in turn affect related behaviours like ethnic discrimination? What factors influence changes in these attitudes and behaviours? What role do personality, situation, socialisation and institutional settings play in these processes? And how do citizens mobilise politically; how and why do social movements, for example on the radical right, arise and

become successful? The course forms an advanced, cumulative step in relation to the knowledge gained in these fields of research already at lower levels.

The objective is to familiarise the students with the latest research in these fields, but also to place this new research into a retrospective perspective, by explaining the research traditions of political psychology and political sociology. Each teacher presents literature on which they themselves are doing research; many in fact include a research article of their own.

The course presents various methodological approaches, and contains literature from political science, (social and political) psychology, and political sociology. Our goal is to bring in examples from contemporary politics, such as the rise of far-right movements and anti-immigrant populism.

After having completed the course, the students are expected to possess the following skills and abilities:

• An adequate understanding of the present standing of research into political attitudes and behaviour
• An ability to summarise and critically evaluate research at an advanced level in this field
• A capacity to formulate independently generated and theoretically based research questions within this field of research

Content

How and when are political attitudes acquired, and can they ever change? How can we explain political behaviour and attitudes with regards to nature (e.g. genetics) and nurture (e.g. socialisation); and are such explanations compatible? Why does equal treatment of and tolerance towards different groups seem to be so hard to achieve; in other words, what are the roots of ethnic discrimination? What is the role of the group versus the individual in explaining violence, aggression and racism, according to research in political psychology? Under what conditions and for what purposes are radical social movements created; and what role do networks and social capital play for the outcomes in political life?

These are the major questions addressed in this course. The bulk of the course is devoted to these topics, with one week, involving one lecture and a seminar, per theme.

The last weeks are reserved for the writing of a final paper of approximately 4000- 4500 words concerning a theme addressed during the course. The paper should discuss a theoretical or empirical question in political sociology. Students are expected to make

extensive use of the course literature; and if necessary, the use of additional literature (data, articles, books) is also welcomed. The paper should have an analytical focus; a pure review would not receive the highest grade.

This is an advanced level and highly research-oriented course. The literature consists of scientific articles. This implies that the students attending this course will develop their abilities to understand, and assess, scientific arguments and conclusions. The intention is to further strengthen the capacity to judge critically and be able to identify how choices made by the researcher or author about definitions, theories, research design and methods affect the conclusions that can be drawn. In relation to that, the course also aims at developing the student’s capacity to identify alternative methodological ways to investigate a given topic. In

contrast to lower levels, some more emphasis is put on oral skills. The capacity to write comprehensively yet analytically is trained throughout the course, with weekly reading reports and a longer final paper.

Instruction

Lectures and seminars are the major forms of teaching. The course will take place exclusively in English, and this goes both for the lectures, seminars, written and oral presentations.

Assessment

The course is examined by oral presentations and by written products. The students are supposed to participate actively in the seminar discussions. The written examination consists of two parts – reading reports and a longer final paper. First, short reading reports to every seminar; and, secondly, a longer final paper (4000-4500 words), which addresses a topic of the course and makes extensive analytical use of the relevant literature. The papers will be discussed in a final seminar, where each student also acts as the discussant on someone else’s paper. This final seminar usually lasts an entire day and gives plenty of opportunity to ponder how the different approaches discussed in the course can be used in practice, i.e. in the present and future research of the students themselves.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Grading

Grades awarded: Fail (U) - Pass (G) - Pass with Distinction (VG).