Contents & Aims
The Master’s program “Sociology – European Societies” is a research-oriented program. It reflects current debates in theory-driven and problem-oriented research and students learn to develop their own empirical research project in the third semester. The curriculum offers a range of approaches to theory and (mostly quantitative) methods – spanning fields of culture, social structure, politics, European integration and transformation. Furthermore, it encourages active participation in research, from the identification of relevant questions to delivering sound results. The program has a strong focus on quantitative methods for the social sciences.
The program emphasizes the comparative sociological study of European societies in a globalized and transnational world. It aims to enable students to apply theoretical and empirical tools of sociology to:
- describe and explain social structural, economic, and cultural differences across European countries;
- understand the ways in which European societies are transformed by processes of regional integration;
- investigate Europe in the context of globalization and in contrast and connection to other world regions.
All lectures and most seminars are taught in English, some seminars are offered in German.
The following research groups are involved in the teaching of the Master’s program:
- Macrosociology (Céline Teney)
- Methods of Empirical Social Research (Dieter Ohr)
- Empirical Methods (Bruno Castanho Silva)
- Sociology of Emotions (Christian von Scheve)
- Political Sociology (Swen Hutter)
- Sociology with a focus on Gender Studies (Kathrin Zippel)
- Empirical Social Structure and Survey Methodology (Stefan Liebig)
- Senior Professor (Jürgen Gerhards)
Our Program Network
The Master’s program benefits from the involvement of renowned research centers and institutes:
- Three institutes for Area Studies at Freie Universität, the Institute for East-European Studies (OEI), the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies (JFK), and the Institute for Latin American Studies (LAI), offer institutional and historical comparative perspectives on European societies in a global context.
- Two world-leading research centers of the social sciences, the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) offer rich and in-depth perspectives on current sociological research and provide access to valuable data.