Introducing Comparative Sociological Perspectives While Teaching Sociology: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper addresses my experience in introducing students at Universidad de Burgos to a comparative international perspective on sociology. As a sociologist, I have taught introductory sociology courses at Universidad de Burgos since 2014. Having had international experience (ERASMUS Student in the UK, 1997-1998, Doctoral Researcher in Milano, Italy in 2004-2005 and Postdoctoral researcher in Belgium in 2010-2011) and two periods of research in Latin America (Argentina, 2008 and Colombia, 2011), I introduce comparative reflections on my teaching. My students are student teachers and students for social educators in the faculty of education in Burgos. Offering them an international perspective is a challenge that I face. I use YouTube videos to exemplify sociological concepts. I use both videos explaining sociological concepts from a variety of sources and film scenes displaying examples. I draw from a long tradition (Quesada Cubo & Navarro Ardoy, 2023) of researchers and professors using YouTube to introduce students to the understanding of sociology. Under a theoretical approach starting from the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1999, 2000) and having in mind C. W. Wright Mills idea of a “sociological imagination” (Mills, 1991), I identify the opportunities and challenges of teaching sociology through videos. Videos selected comprise not only sociologically specific videos but also film scenes illustrating examples of the concepts to be discussed. Teaching through videos offers the opportunity to "ground" sociological knowledge to the day-to-day in students, and also to be able to compare "social facts" in different geographical settings.