Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences · Political Science and International Relations (English) · Undergraduate
Course Objective
This course is designed to introduce the students to different roles religion plays in contemporary social and political life.
Course Content
Does religion still matter today? Does it still play an important role in contemporary social and political life? What are the ways in which religion affects the issues of youth, democracy, civil society, political parties, gender, immigration, integration and so on? Secularization theory (or theories) traditionally claimed that the importance of religion in social and political life would decline in time, and then eventually disappear. While some argue that history proved the theory wrong since the importance of religion for social and political life did not decline, and in some parts of the world, it even increased, others claim that secularization theory still holds true today. Motivated with this background, this course is designed to introduce the students to different roles religion plays in contemporary social and political life. We will do this by dividing the course into three parts. First, we will devote some weeks to the theoretical readings on secularization, their critiques, and debates on post-secularization. Secondly, we will spare a few weeks focusing on Turkey as a case study. Finally, students will conduct their own research in groups and present their findings in the classroom at the end of the course.
Course Learning Outcomes
- Know the distinction between secularism as a political doctrine and secularism as a sociological theory.
- Know traditional (classical) secularization theories, their critiques, new secularization theories and post-secularization debates.
- Know the distinction between Islamism and post-Islamism, secularism and post-secularism.
- Develop an ability to use the concepts and theories learned at class in analyzing the roles religion the role of religion on contemporary social and political life by conducting a field research on such issues, youth, democracy, civil society, political parties, diversity, globalization, gender, immigration, and integration.
- Ability to work well with people from diverse backgrounds, work effectively within a group.
- Develop an ability to communicate ideas to others in a clear and concise manner.
- Design, plan, organize and implement tasks within an allotted timeframe.