SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMY & POLITICS

The general aim of this course is to explore housing questions from the perspective of the social sciences taking in account the main debates and giving the essential elements for a practical work in a local  housing plan.

Sociology of Housing: There is a long tradition in analyzing the housing practice in society and in the developing of the theories of housing, from more than a century with authors like Merton or Kemeney. They develop different aspects from the production process to the explanation of the ways of tenure.

Housing Economy: Housing production has a significant proportion in the national GDP and the economic tools like financing or taxation have an special relevance in housing policies. To advance in the knowledge of housing is needed to understand the role of the mortgage and all the types of taxation that suffer any home. The prices of housing and their evolution is also important to evaluate the effort of the households to access as homeowner or renting. The proportion of the public budget used to implement a housing policy and its composition is also an element to be analysed.

The right to the home. Little by little the right to dispose a home is becoming more accepted in many countries as a fundamental right. It is in many Constitutions but to implement it there are needed some difficult conditions like a considerable stock of social housing. The different laws which are needed to regulate the use and possession of a home are also considered.

Housing policy. The Policy of housing is an important element of the welfare system in any country. There are a series of instruments to be used by housing policy at the different administrative levels and oriented to different type of social groups. One of the principal output of housing policy is social housing which play an important role in housing policy and in urban policy, its location, design and social content is very important to understand the housing system. Housing policies could have a significant continuity in each country .

Methodological and research design review: Final summary of the methodological aspects and methodological design central to the approach of the aspects contained in the syllabus, and also oriented to the preparation of the academic works.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of the course is to enrich the student´s analysis of housing, considering the housing provision and the ways of its use, taking into account the different welfare regimens and its local constitution in daily life, focusing in Southern Europe as a particular case.

It is also examined the impact of globalization and trans nationalization of the housing policies, in this direction, questions such as the configuration of a housing regime of "transnational familism" in Southern Europe are analyzed.

The provision and access to housing is also considered, analyzing the inequality of different social groups in this matter, such as foreign migrants, or young or old people, and the characteristics and trajectories of the different types of households composed of these social groups. It is also examined the main problems and challenges related to the local governance in relation with specific social spaces and neighborhoods, combing quantitative and qualitative methods, and using different technical tools.

METHODS

-Lectures and class debates and presentations.

-Reading provided texts.

-Field trips.

-Analysing statistics and qualitative research (fieldwork, observation, interviews).

EVALUATION MODALITIES

Students will produce two types of works.

A theoretical individual essay (between 1500.and 2.000 words) about housing similar focusing attention on the comments generated from the readings proposed. Evaluation criteria for the reports will include: clarity of the central question, coherence of the general structure of the paper and depth of the theoretical and conceptual issues.

Second  activity, a resarch in groups about a practical case in a selected area where will be applied the methodological issues in the course.

CONTENT OUTLINE AND PARTICIPANT'S WORKLOAD

The course is composed by 13 lectures of 1,5 hours on analysing and discussing the theoretical, conceptual and methodological topics on housing from the social science view.