Comparative Study of Everyday Life: Current Theoretical Paradigms, Methodological Orientations and Teaching Practices

HESP Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching
Comparative Sociology Chair, St. Petersburg State University
Chair of General Sociology, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Sociology Department, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

invites the Social Sciences and Humanities junior faculty members from the Universities of the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union countries to participate in the sessions of its Project

Comparative Study of Everyday Life: Current Theoretical Paradigms, Methodological Orientations and Teaching Practices

The Project deals with the problems of a new paradigmatic turn in sociological scholarship and teaching that is a turn to a study of everyday life, a turn to the “third sociology”. The development of such a Project aims to explore the strengths and limitations of theoretical and empirical analyses of the so-called “first sociology” (sociology of social organisms and big systems) and “second sociology” (sociology of actors and behavior) for the social sciences in the region. The new focus is on social existence manifested by social events of various scales. This sociology of social existence provides a new angle of vision, which promises to advance considerably our
understanding of real life of the region.

This is a two foci Project. The course will introduce participants to sociology of everyday life as a new paradigmatic shift in sociology, as a way of asking and answering questions, as a way of thinking, and as a scientific study. The course will be also oriented towards teaching practices and interactive pedagogical techniques, it will make a stress on how to bring new sociological scholarship to the classrooms.

Academic Director of the Project - Prof., Dr., Piotr Sztompka

Project Director - Prof., Dr. Andrey V. Rezaev

Core Resource Persons

• Prof., Dr. Piotr Sztompka, Professor of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
  
• Prof., Dr. Jeffrey C. Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Yale University, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles, USA (Summer Session 2010)
  
• Dr. Malgorzata Bogunia-Borowska, Associate Professor, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
  
• Prof., Dr. Apostolis Papakostas, Professor of Sociology at the School of Social Sciences and Director at the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) at Södertörn University College, Stockholm, Sweden
  
• Prof., Dr. Nico Stehr, Karl-Mannheim-Chair for Cultural Studies, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany
  
• Prof., Dr. Vladimir Il’in, Faculty of Sociology at St Petersburg State University, Russia.
  
• Prof., Dr. Nikita E. Pokrovsky, Chairperson, General Sociology, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

Interested young social scientists and faculty members with a strong command of English are encouraged to apply for the first contact summer session of the Project

From Social Systems and Structures to Everyday Life: a Definitive Turn to a New Sociology, the Sociology of Social Existence
July 13 – July 25, 2009, St. Petersburg, Russia

All activities of the Project are in English.

Application Procedure

1. Please send to everyday-sociology@yandex.ru no later than May 15, 2009:
   
   • CV (detailed).
     
   • Statement of Purpose (please specify your academic interests, relevance of the Project to your academic background and current interests, how the Project can contribute to your professional development, and how you can contribute to the Project, up to 700 words).
     
   • A letter of recommendation.
     
   • Samples of publications or applicant's course syllabus.
   
   
2. Selected applicants will be asked to fill out the Application Form.
   
3. Short listed participants will be interviewed on-line or by telephone.
   
4. The final decision will be announced no later than June 15.

Program Costs
Tuition fees, accommodation, meals, cultural program, educational materials are fully covered by the Project. Reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Project Coordinators
Ms Alina Osokina, Ms Maria Zaitseva
everyday-sociology@yandex.ru
Deadline May 15, 2009
Faculty of Sociology
Smolnogo 1/3, entrance 9
St. Petersburg 193060 Russia
E-mail: everyday-sociology@yandex.ru
Tel/Fax: +7 (812) 710 0077