The market is a central institution of modern societies. But what exactly is a market from a sociological perspective? For a long time, the analysis of markets was primarily the domain of economics. However, since the 1980s, the New Economic Sociology has emerged from criticism of the economic concept of the market. At the center was Karl Polanyi's question about the disembedding of economic markets from society. Based on this foundation, sociology has engaged in a discussion about the extent to which markets must be conceptualized as social structures. We discuss sociological market concepts from three perspectives: markets as institutions, markets as networks, and markets and performativity.
You can earn credit points in the following ways:
3 Credit Points: Presentation and Handout
6 Credit Points: Presentation, Handout and Paper
The language of discussion in the class will be English. However, you can write your paper in German as well.

The course investigates the different ways how normative ideas about gender relations and family models, including a gendered division of labour, are incorporated into welfare states and how these influence patterns of gender (in-)equality. The first part of the course focuses on seminal texts that systematically included gender relations into welfare state research and criticised well-established comparative approaches for their gender-blindness. The second part concentrates on different policy areas of the welfare state from a comparative perspective and asks on what family model and gender arrangement they are based. In particular, family, labour market, pension and long-term care policies and its effects will be investigated to understand national particularities but also commonalities of welfare states with respect to gender relations. The third part aims at assessing recent transnational influences on gender relations in European welfare states, such as Europeanisation and migration.

This course includes a comprehensive examination of educational inequality which combines theoretical and empirical eivdence while 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.
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Dieser Kurs beinhaltet eine umfassende Diskussion 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.

Today’s world is marked by stark inequality. According to the latest World Inequality Report, the richest 10 percent of the world population own 76 percent of all wealth, while the bottom 50 percent of the world population owns 2 percent. In this seminar, we will investigate these and other recent dynamics of inequality from a global perspective. We will start by surveying of the long-term evolution of socio-economic inequalities and then look more closely at recent developments at the turn to the 21st century. In doing so, we will discuss contrasting perspectives on the development of global inequality, look at gender disparities, and consider the political and environmental implications of global economic inequality. To bridge the gap between teaching and research, the seminar incorporates thematically relevant sessions of the Social Science Lecture Series into its program.

In order to act socially sustainably in organisations, people are obliged to be dealing with a growingly complex role set in competent ways. Key competences such as social, methodical, and process-related skills play a vital role in coping with the complexity in the wake of the acceleration, globalisation, and digital transformation of work life. In this training seminar, we will explore topics of the participant’s interests in 7 workshops of 3 full hours: Scientific approaches and methods on chosen topics are explored, allowing for personal reflection as well as practice transfer. Participants are invited to explore chosen subject matters interactively with theory, in exchange of thoughts, by exercises, and in light of entering work life in their near future. Participants are challenged to read into their topic, transfer scientific key aspects into an interactive workshop setting, and to perform as a team. Requirements for 3 CP/ECTS encompass the development and conduct of an interactive workshop incl. photo documentary in a team. For support, students will receive methodological training, counsel, and feedback.

Framework: Social sustainability is one of three global goals noted in the Rio Convention 1992 by the UN World Commission of Environment and Development. While economic sustainability is a booster of change in modern organisations, ecological sustainability remains an acknowledged task (political pressure), while social sustainability is often neglected. Therefore, it is interesting to understand how organisational structures, groups, and the individual’s processing and coping are interlinked. This General Studies series, based on sociological and psychological knowledge, is focussing on theories and praxis concepts that allow participants to gather an understanding on how organisations and their role actors can shape a workplace “socially sustainably”. All parts of the training seminar series can be studied separately, or as a row.

This seminar uses English as a lingua franca. Coping with the effects of this setting should be part of the reflection within the course. Students are encouraged to express themselves. Participants in the training seminar should be open to participate constructively and reliably in interaction and reflection.

Open for 1st semester students and above, recommended for Bachelor students before their internship and thesis, as well as for Master students. Open to Erasmus students and to students of other faculties. Please note: this course is limited to 20 participants – apply (and withdraw) reliably, please!

2 SWS: Fortnightly, starting in the 2nd week of the term, Tuesdays 4 –7.30 pm; 3,5 hours (s.t.!). Please only register reliably via Stud.IP for participation; all materials there.

References
Meyerhuber, Sylke. 2020. 'Active Listening' as a Key Competence in Intercultural Communication Education. An academic classroom example with conceptual and theoretical embedding. In: Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education JoLie 2019(2), pp. 91-114; open access ISSN: 2065-6599.
Meyerhuber, Sylke. 2020. Deconstructing impoliteness in professional discourse: The social psychology of workplace mobbing. A cross-disciplinary contribution with conclusions for the intercultural workplace. In Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, Special Issue on (in)tolerance and (in)civility in public discourse from interdisciplinary perspectives. 16/2, pp. 235-264. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/lpp-2020-0011 Download bei DeGruyter: https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/LPP/16/2/html

Performance requirement for ECTS points
Preparation of an interactive workshop incl. photo-documentary, in small groups (3 CP).

After two decades of democratization, some states in Europe have seen a decline in the democratic quality of their political systems. This seminar deals with these processes of democratic backsliding. The research papers to be read will empirically map processes of democratic backsliding and account for these with theories emphasizing different explanatory factors. In addition to research focusing on domestic factors, we will also discuss research that investigates the EU (in-)ability to stop processes of democratic backsliding in EU member states. After having actively attended the seminar, you will be familiar with empirical trends and specific cases of democratic backsliding and with theories that political scientists use to explain these. With the knowledge acquired in the seminar, you should be able to conduct your own research on the topic, for example in your term paper.