UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BOHEMIA IN ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE
Study programmes & Course catalogue
for academic year 2025/2026
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BOHEMIA IN ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE
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Course: Rural Sociology

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Course title Rural Sociology
Course code KRM/YRUS
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Lesson
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 5
Language of instruction English
Status of course unspecified
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Course availability The course is available to visiting students
Lecturer(s)
  • Lapka Miloslav, prof. PhDr. CSc.
Course content
Topic areas: 1. Definition of rural area and rurality, urban - rural culture 2. Towards Sociology - when I talk about sociology 3. Space for rural area / landscape as nature-culture continuum 4. Problem of conceptualization of landscape in rural area 5. Cultural roots of the landscape concept 6. Limits of understanding rural landscape in sociology and bio-ecology 7. Concept of cultural landscape 8. Neo - ruralism - limits and perspectives 9. Contemporary landscape changes and their rural - urban interpretations 10. Main driving forces in rural European areas, history and perspective 11. The main typology of European landscapes / focus on the Central Europe region 12. Coefficient of ecological stability, construction and practical use 13. Towards challenges for rural area - sustainability, new experts, suburbanization, environmentalism, globalization, global climate changes. 14. Excursion to rural landscape - how to read rural landscape (one day trip)

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming)
Learning outcomes
The aim of course is to inform students about rural landscape, actors, groups and social needs and potential conflicts in changing social and environmental reality. This is based on case studies and their analysis, including short excursions to learn the landscape typology and rural development. The objective of this course is to extend student?s knowledge about the possibilities of sociology on the regional level for development of rural areas. The purpose of this course is to help students understand the problems of rural landscape, construction of cultural landscape by social groups. The lectures should show the students the importance of rural area in social and cultural consequences including actual as well as potential role of this area for both rural and urban social groups.
Thinking about rural sociology in the relationships to society and nature.
Prerequisites
General knowledge.

Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examination, Test, Seminar work

Conditions of the credit: Final written test on basic knowledge, student's presentation during the course. Two absences on seminars are allowed without any confirmation. Credits will be awarded not earlier than 14 days before the end of the semester in accordance with the measure of Dean No. 124/2017 Article 15. Type of examination: Oral examination The examinations will be written 3 weeks before the beginning of the examination period in accordance with the measure of Dean No. 124/2017 Article 15. Percentage 30% presentation of the rural topic 30% written part 40% oral part
Recommended literature
  • http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology.
  • http://chla.library.cornell.edu/c/chla/browse/title/3074959.html.
  • http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~bailelc/Smith.2011.pdf.
  • http://www.polity.co.uk/giddens7/resources.asp.
  • BERGER, P. L. AND T. LUCKMANN. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books., 1966.
  • FRIEDLAND, W. H. The End of Rural Society and the Future of Rural Sociology. Rural Sociology, 1982.
  • GIDDENS, A. , SUTTON W., P. Sociology,. The 7th edition, Cambridge, Polity., 2013.
  • LAPKA, M., CUDLÍNOVÁ, E. Úvod do krajinné ekologie pro rozvoj venkova. Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Ekonomická fakulta, 2008. ISBN 978-80-7394-077-5.
  • LAPKA, M., RIKOON, J.S.,CUDLÍNOVÁ, E. Private Farmers and Contemporary Conservation Subsidy Programs in the Czech Republic. In: Napier et al. Soil and Water Conservation Policies and Programs: Successes and Failures . Boca R, 1999.
  • LAPKA M., SOKOLÍČKOVÁ Zdenka a Jan VÁVRA. Cultural ecology: Contemporary understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment.. Journal of Lndscape Ecology, 2012.
  • NELSON, L. Rural Sociology: Its Origins and Growth in the United States.. University of Minnesota Press., 2012.
  • Smith. The Institutional and Intellectual Origins of Rural Sociology (Paper for 2011 Rural Sociology Assn. meeting). 2011.
  • TURNBULL, R. TURNBULL, A., SHANK, M., SMITH, S., & LEAL, D. Exceptional lives:. Special education in today's schools (kapitoly 5 a 6). New Jersey, Merrill Prentice Hall, 2002..
  • Vávra, J., Lapka M., Cudlínová, E. Current Challenges of Central Europe: Society and Environment.. Varia, UK Praha, 2014. ISBN 976-80-7308-551-3.
  • WILLIAM I., T, AND FLORIAN ZNANIECKI, F. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. 2 vol. 1918; classic sociological study.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BOHEMIA IN ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE, date of update: 30.10.2025 23:50. Data created for academic year 2025/2026