This theory class is an "accompanying seminary" to the lecture "Gesellschaftstheorie", but is open for General Studies students and Erasmus students as well. It will be held in English and German.

In the first part, we start with basic literature on modernization theory. In the second part, we study the process of secularization that has shaped modern societies in the past decades. In the third part, we look at global religious dynamics in order to better understand why religion still thrives in some places, but not in many others.

Credit Points: 3 or 6

Exam: Thesis paper (in English or German)

Literature:

Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2011). Sacred and secular: Religion and politics worldwide. Cambridge University Press.

Bruce, S. (2011): Secularization. In Defence of an Unfashionable Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pollack, D., & Rosta, G. (2017): Religion and Modernity. An International Comparison.Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Es handelt sich um ein Begleitseminar zur Vorlesung "Gesellschaftstheorie". Das Seminar wird auf Deutsch und Englisch gehalten. Die Kurzhausarbeit kann auf Deutsch geschrieben werden. Wir beginnen im ersten Teil mit Grundlagenliteratur zum Thema "Modernisierungstheorien". Im zweiten Teil untersuchen wir den Prozess der Säkularisierung, der moderne Gesellschaften in den letzten Jahrzehnten geprägt hat. Im dritten Teil untersuchen wir religiöse Dynamiken in globaler Perspektive.

This course is a seminar that introduces students to the study of Sociology. Sociology is the study of the way institutions structure how individuals live as well as the way individuals structure those same institutions. It seeks to ask and examine questions like: What is a society? How have societies developed over time? How and why are different societies more or less equal? This course seeks to examine these questions in ways that provide an introduction to the field of sociology. It focuses on a broad range of theory and research showing how sociologists think about and study these questions.

We have four goals for this course. The first is to provide you with a general overview of the discipline of Sociology. We will explore various social phenomena and discuss the explanations and interpretations of these phenomena offered by sociologists. The second goal is to understand how to look at the social world with a sociological thinking. We will explore what makes sociology different from other types of sciences and how sociologists seek to understand the world. The third goal is to improve your ability to discuss scientific ideas in the common international language of modern scientific publication and discussion, which is English. Finally, the course will help you to navigate, prioritize and choose between different learning, divulgation and scientific materials.

This course includes a comprehensive examination of educational inequality that combines theoretical and empirical evidence in this regard, taking a global perspective. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the systemic and individual causes, consequences, and possible solutions to educational inequality. The course will analyze and discuss various factors that contribute to unequal educational opportunities such as socioeconomic status, origin, gender, and geographic location. Through discussion of empirical evidence and the application of systems thinking, students will develop a holistic understanding of the complex nature of educational inequality.

Over the course of the semester, theories and empirical findings related to inequality in educational opportunity and outcomes will be discussed. Students will then conduct their own small theoretical studies of educational inequality in different countries, present the results, and write a policy brief as their final paper.

Students will learn to look at educational inequality from different perspectives, critically evaluate empirical analyses, conduct their own research on the topic, and argue for possible solutions based on what they have learned.

[Dieser Kurs beinhaltet eine umfassende Untersuchung der Ungleichheit im Bildungswesen, die theoretische und empirische Erkenntnisse diesbezüglich kombiniert und dabei eine globale Perspektive einnimmt. Die Studierenden erlangen ein vertieftes Verständnis der systemischen und individuellen Ursachen, Folgen und möglichen Lösungen für Bildungsungleichheit. Im Kurs werden verschiedene Faktoren die zu ungleichen Bildungschancen beitragen wie sozioökonomischer Status, Herkunft, Geschlecht und geografische Lage analysiert und diskutiert. Durch die Diskussion empirischer Belege und die Anwendung eines systemischen Denkens werden die Studierenden ein ganzheitliches Verständnis für die komplexe Natur von Bildungsungleichheit entwickeln.

Im Laufe des Semesters werden Theorien und empirische Ergebnisse zur Ungleichheit von Bildungschancen und -ergebnissen erörtert. Die Studierenden werden anschließend ihre eigenen kleinen theoretischen Studien zur Bildungsungleichheit in verschiedenen Ländern durchführen, die Ergebnisse präsentieren und als Abschlussarbeit einen Policy-brief verfassen.

Die Studierenden werden dadurch lernen Bildungsungleichheit von verschieden Perspektiven zu betrachten, empirische Analysen kritisch zu beurteilen, eigene Recherchen zum Thema durchzuführen und auf Basis des Gelernten für mögliche Lösungen zu argumentieren.]

The goal of the seminar is to introduce students into comparative welfare state research, thereby focusing on welfare states in Europe. In the seminar we will discuss selected texts e.g. on typologies of welfare states, theories on welfare state development, comparative methods and different fields of social policy (e.g. old age security, unemployment security, family policy) in European welfare states.
Perfect English skills are not required to participate in the course. However, students should be willing to read texts in English and to practice their English skills. At the end of the seminar students should know about the development of welfare policies in European welfare states, its (theoretical) background and the application of comparative methods.