Università Roma Tre

The sociology of the arts course offers a broad view of the arts, artists and artists (literature, music, figurative arts) in their educational, cognitive function of different social realities and their change over time. Sometimes a predictive function of what can actually happen. It is a theoretical and empirical-experiential study of different artistic forms: literature, music, figurative arts (from museums to street art), with particular attention to the history and social role of the artists. The arts are privileged bridges for the knowledge of social identity, of the world, for education to empathy, for the development of critical and autonomous capacity, against prejudice and gender stereotypes, promoting the civil awareness of living in a community. Sociologists in the past have used examples artistic as demonstrative of some collective social and mental processes, today the sociology of the arts puts into discussion the relationship between science (as rationality) and art (as irrationality), the admissibility of a scientific study of art and social representativeness of a single person who tells the motions of the soul, observes and describes what he sees and what he hears of human existence. For example, reading novels provides a social framework in the first instance, but it is also a way to get to an idea of justice and its application in society. Literature can, through a particular form, as Aristotle argued, induce compassion in readers by placing them in the condition of people intensely participating in the sufferings and bad luck of others, because they identify in ways that highlight possibilities for themselves. An excellent example comes from Dickens' story "Difficult times": the little Grandgrinds are not taught to love, but only to make calculations. Repression of emotions leads them from adults to destructive and irrational emotions. Adam Smith, initiator of modern economics, did not believe that rationality was emotionless and dedicated himself to elaborating a theory of emotional rationality using the condition of the reader. literary works, because he attached great importance to literature as a source of civil and moral guidance. It becomes more and more noun and aware, in the sociological field, that the construction of reality, and therefore of different identities, both individual and collective, takes place from childhood through artistic experiences (from reading fairy tales, etc.) and in the role of creator of a work that of the user, which "provinces finite with meanings", summarize collective ideas of what was, is, and can become. During the lectures, some exponents of the artistic world will be invited, engaged in the social field; an experiential laboratory will be proposed on research methodologies (qualitative and quantitative) and the analysis of the arts and the development of one's own and others' creativity as an instrument of social relationship and development of the 'empathy.


- With the study of sociology of the arts, the students will be able to achieve the following educational objectives.
- In terms of knowledge and understanding of social reality, social relations between artists, works and civil society, development of empathy
- In terms of the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of one's social construction of reality through literary narration and artistic works, the social criticism of the past and the contemporary, the identification of gender stereotypes in artistic works.
- In terms of autonomy of judgment for the criticism and evaluation of the artistic works and the life of the artists most useful for the educational paths of the children.
- In terms of communication skills, the enrichment of the expressive and demonstrative abilities of social realities and emotional states through the arts.
- In terms of learning ability, knowledge, memorization, critical reflection in the choice of fables and artistic works, stimulating cultural trips for girls, research methodology and proposal of artistic workshops in the classroom.