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Sociology as a major field of study for BIDS
students
AXEL FREDHOLM, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Presentation overview
• A quick description to what sociology is (according to
some of us in any case)
• The courses we offer that are expressly designed for
Development Studies students
• Writing a thesis in sociology with a focus on development
studies
What is sociology?
• The traditional answer: “The scientific study of society”
 Revolves around two classical questions: What is society and how is society possible?
 Early sociologists (e.g. Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx, George Herbert Mead,
Georg Simmel and others) focused on these questions and established a foundation for the
scientific study of society
 Their questions were often concerned with the transformation from premodern to modern
(industrialized) society, e.g.
 How could society be maintained when the cohesive life in small-scale communities
changed into abstract and anonymous relationships in, for example, modern cities?
 What is capitalism and why did it have such a strong impact on the processes of
modernization?
 What happens with society when industrialization and capitalism lead to unequal distribution
of resources and power?
 But they were also concerned with the microcosm of society, e.g.
 What is the inner dynamics of social life and how does social interaction reflect the bigger
structure of society?
• The research on these topics gradually turned into different directions within sociology, e.g.
social psychology, structural functionalism, or conflict-oriented (Marxist) perspectives
What is sociology?
•
The contemporary answer: “Sociology is a multi-level approach to studying just about anything that has
to do with society”
 Why? Because society is constantly changing and sociologists still have the ambition to understand what
society is
 Thus, ‘the more complex society becomes, the more complex becomes sociology’
 This means that the sociological toolbox (e.g. theories, perspectives and methods) constantly is evolving
along with the development of new directions and areas of interest
•
At the same time, there is often a link to classical topics such as the impact of inequality, social
transformation, and the ways in which social interaction produces new configurations of society
 Such topics are borderless – they are studied at all levels of society, and concern both global and national
contexts as well as non-western locations. That is why sociology is interconnected with ‘development’
•
Contemporary sociology is also a discipline with a double activity
 This means that sociology investigates concrete situations, contexts, circumstances; while at the same
time actively investigating the premises for its own impact and knowledge production
 Why and how do we understand things the way we do? And do others do so in similar circumstances? And
what are the consequences of this understanding in contexts that differ from our own?
 This is what it means to be critical and reflexive discipline – contemporary sociologists takes a critical
position to everything – including our own role in terms of knowledge production and our own role in
society
Courses Fall 2017
• The fall semester offers two courses designed for BIDS
students:
• SOCB27: Sociology: International Migration &
Development, 15 credits (half-speed)
• SOCB28: Sociology: Development and Social Welfare
Policies, 15 credits (half-speed)
• The courses run in parallel (amount to a full-time course)
Courses Spring 2018
• The spring semester offers two courses designed for
BIDS students:
• SOC B29: Sociology: Managing Sustainability, 15
credits (half-speed)
• SOC B26: Sociology: The Sociology of Human
Development, 15 credits (half-speed)
• The courses run in parallel (amount to a full-time course)
SOCB26 The Sociology of Human
Development (Spring)
• The course initially gives a review of classical sociological
theory and a historical analysis of various development
philosophies and paradigms
• Emphasis is then given to contemporary sociological
theory and research areas:
Economic sociology
Institutional theory
Sociology of organizations
Human development
• The course ends with country case studies with relevance
for the research areas
SOCB29 Managing Sustainability, Society
and Collective Behaviour (Spring term)
• The course introduces basic terms, concepts and theories that are necessary to
understand sustainable development
• Sustainable development and sustainability has increasingly become used in various
ways in within-disciplines as well as cross-disciplinary which has also expanded /
eroded the meaning of the term
• Based on this understanding the course focuses on:
 Theories on the nature-society relationship, e.g. the role of nature in relation to socioeconomic development
 The constructivist approach to environmental problems, e.g. are environmental
problems ‘real’ or are they ‘socially created’?
 The rise of ‘green politics’, e.g. the history of ideas and concepts related to
sustainability
 Capitalism and sustainable development, e.g. are they compatible?
 Social organization and sustainability, e.g. are collective efforts possible at a global
scale?
SOCB27 International Migration and
Development (Fall term)
• The course examines the link between migration and development
especially from “periphery” to “core” states in the terminology of global
systems theory
• The objective is to identify the causes of migration and how migration
affects both sending countries and receiving countries. Core questions
are:
 What are the causes of migration to wealthier states and what policies do
they have regarding migration?
 How does migration affect the sending countries, and emigrant regions?
 How do the unequal relations between the countries in the world influence
migration?
• Migration is studied at the micro-level, as an individual decision to move
to another country, at the group level as a family strategy in sending
regions to increase income; and in terms of the macro-level effects of
remittances, brain drain, brain gain, and brain circulation
SOCB28 Development and Social
Welfare Policies (Fall term)
• The course is divided into two interrelated parts – one
more theoretical and the other case study oriented
In Part 1, students analyze classic typologies of welfare
capitalism before moving into social welfare policies in
developing contexts
In part 2, students analyze social policy trends in different
regions
• All teaching, assignments and exams are directly related
to ongoing events and processes in developing contexts
SOCB24 Fieldwork, Internship and
Research Overview (Spring term)
• 15 credits spring (final semester)
• Three options or tracks:
Desk study
Fieldwork (MFS 8 internal; 2 external, or ‘free mover’)
Internship
• Examination: Diaries and final report
UTVK03: Bachelor Thesis
• 15 credits – final semester
• Independent thesis based on scientific principles
• Various aspects and processes of development studies
from a sociological point of view
• Supervisors from sociology
• Individual supervision
• Group supervision – peer reviewing
• Thesis defense (and opposition)
Welcome to the Department of
Sociology!
• Study advisor: Christian Landgren / Britt-Marie Rönn
[email protected]
• Director of Studies: Chris Mathieu:
[email protected]