SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

The course will focus on the role of social institutions in local development. We will try to understand what an institution is, what institutions do, and how institutions work with other social actors in the pursuit of their individual and collective goals.

The course is both analytical and reflexive in scope. From an analytical point of view, we aim at building a rock-solid set of concepts for interpreting actual practices and social relationships. From a reflexive point of view, since students are studying to become “experts of local development” themselves, the course is designed in order to encourage and foster reflexivity about one’s role, duties, and power.

The main theme of the course for the academic year 2019-2020 will be the role of the development expert, the development of his tacit knowledge, using a series of updated case studies