Previous courses

PhD Course in Contemporary Sociological Theory (7,5 ECTS)

CAPS (Centre for Anthropological, Political and Social Theory) at University of Copenhagen is offering this course in collaboration with University of Gothenburg. The course is part of a series of theory courses, which also includes a collaboration with Lund University. The two other courses are Modern sociological theory and Classical sociological theory.

The course offers an extensive overview of currents in Contemporary Sociological theory. It also offers great opportunities for participants to develop their own theoretical interests.

The instruction language is English.

Course content

The course focuses on sociological theory after 1989. It will discuss what is considered central theoretical developments and problems. The course aims both at orienting participants in different theoretical areas and traditions, and make possible in-depth studies of particular fields. The course aims at enriching participants’ ability to relate the development of sociological theory to relevant social, cultural and political contexts. The course will be based on mandatory readings as well as on readings chosen by the participants according to their interest and in accordance with teachers.

Teaching and assessment

The course comprises a combination of lectures, including guest lectures, seminars, candidates’ presentations and the composition of an academic essay. Lectures will cover larger theoretical problems and traditions as well as present more specific perspectives and issues. Seminars are based on lectures and readings. Presentations by PhD candidates shall deal with theoretical topics that are chosen in advance and based on the participants’ own preparations. The course will comprise five days and take place in Gothenburg and Copenhagen. Assessment is based on oral and written elements. Participants are expected to attend all lectures and seminars and to contribute to these. Participants will give a substantial presentation on a theoretical topic selected with regard to relevance and interest and in accordance with the teachers. The students will write A) one “short paper” on the chosen book (appr 1000 words) on each theme as a preparation for the seminar (in total 4 OR 6 short papers) and B) one final examination paper. C) Active seminar participation will be compulsory. Required readings amounts to 1500 pages.

Course start December 2nd 2019 and deadline for application is December 1st

For application, further information and questions, please contact Mikael Carleheden mc@soc.ku.dk

PhD Course: Sociology of Emotions, Autumn 2019 (7,5 ECTS)

Aim of the course

Course content

The study of emotions is inherently multidisciplinary as it engages with biological and psychological as well as social and cultural theory and research. With this point of departure, the focus of the sociological discipline, as well as of this course, is on the social, and sociologically relevant, aspects of emotions. The course offers a broad overview of theories and research in the sociology of emotions, spanning from the classics to contemporary theories and research. Both structural and situational/interactional approaches to the role of emotions in social life are explored. Part of the course deals with the students’ research projects, through which there is opportunity to discuss project ideas in relation to the various perspectives on emotions presented. There will also be opportunity to discuss various methods employed and ways to apply and develop theory in the analysis of empirical data. All participants are required to read and relate some key texts (compulsory literature), but thereafter encouraged to focus independently on their own area of research.

The course begins with a series of lectures on sociological approaches to emotions, some current debates, and the exemplification of ongoing research projects. These lectures are followed by a series of short workshops where participant’s ideas and possible approaches are worked out with guidance from the teachers. An online midterm seminar, to discuss abstracts for exam papers, will be arranged about midterm of the course period. For the remaining part of the course students develop their papers and expand their chosen area of specialization, adding relevant emotion sociological literature. The course ends with the presentation and discussion of a working paper (optionally as a draft journal article) at the final seminar of the course.

Written and oral presentations take place throughout the course. Participants partake in at least two seminars (midterm and final) where they present their own work as well as comment on the work of other participants.

The course offers both a broad perspective on the state of the art of the sociology of emotions, as well as in-depth specialization in the chosen research area of each student.

The course is offered in collaboration between The Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University of Gothenburg and the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University.

The course runs on half-time (50%) over ten weeks.

Course teachers

Merete Monrad, monrad@socsci.aau.dk
Poul Poder, pp@soc.ku.dk
Åsa Wettergren, asa.wettergren@socav.gu.se

Guest teachers

Jack Barbalet, Australian Catholic University, Australia jack.barbalet@acu.edu.au

Course language

The teaching language of the course is English.

Target group

This PhD course addresses both PhD students unfamiliar with the sociology of emotions and PhD students who are more experienced with the field. The first group will obtain knowledge about the key concepts, theoretical traditions and methodological discussions in the field. The second group will obtain new perspectives on their own work through the attentiveness to theoretical development, methodological concerns and discussions of how to apply theories and concepts in specific analyses.

Location

The introductory series of lectures, seminar and workshops is located at the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, the final seminar and guest lecture by Jack Barbalet is located at the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University of Gothenburg. The midterm seminars will take place online via Adobe Connect (please make sure you have access to it via your university). The course has no fee but travel and accommodation costs as well as all meals need to be covered by each student’s home department.

Seminars

The purpose of the online midterm seminars is to develop one’s research with emotion sociological perspectives in a synopsis of the course paper (1500-2000 words), which will be commented and discussed at the seminar. Students will read and comment on each other’s synopsis. See further information below.

The final seminar is a paper seminar with two appointed student commentators on each paper.

Course teachers will be participating in the seminars and commenting on the papers too.

Registration for the course

The course is only open for doctoral students. Send registration via e-mail to one of the two addresses below; Swedish students register with Anna-Karin and Danish students register with Lene. In your e-mail state that you are registering for the PhD-course sociology of emotions, including name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, affiliation and supervisor. Moreover, include a ½ page statement of the expected relevance of the course for your doctoral research, as an attachment to your e-mail. If more than 18 students register for the course, we will use these descriptions as a basis for deciding who will be enrolled in the course. Once you know that you are accepted for the course you will be asked to submit an extended paper describing your project (max 2000 words) no later than June 30. See deadlines below.

Registration is sent before deadline June 15, 2019, to:
Anna-karin.wiberg@gu.se
Or
Lene El Mongy, phd@soc.ku.dk

Examination

Learning outcomes will be examined through an individually written working paper (see below). It is also possible to participate without paper. Participants without paper are required to participate in the introductory days and the mid-term seminar and will receive 3,5 ECTS for the course. We recommend participation with a paper.

The paper will be presented and discussed in a paper seminar. For their paper, students are required to engage with and refer to some mandatory parts of the literature and to a relevant amount of extra literature of their own choice pertinent to their paper topics (for suggestions see e.g. Reference literature in the literature). Students choose their own specialization, preferably in line with their topic of doctoral research.

Papers can be written either in the form of a scientific article or as a chapter for their dissertation, or as a standard academic paper. 10.000 words (maximum) including abstract and references.

Some useful advice on how to write a social scientific article is found in the links below:

https://www.una.edu/writingcenter/docs/Writing-Resources/Writing%20in%20the%20Social%20Science%20Format.pdf

http://neoacademic.com/2014/07/16/how-to-write-a-publishable-social-scientific-research-article-exploring-your-process/

http://pages.ucsd.edu/~keferree/Writing%20a%20Good%20Social%20Science%20Paper.htm

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course the doctoral student shall be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

Present and discuss a broad overview of the different approaches in the sociology of emotions in general and of theoretical assumptions within the chosen areas of specialization in particular
State and analyze the main empirical results within the chosen area of specialization
Present and discuss current areas of conflict within the chosen area of specialization

Skills and abilities

Orally and in writing present, explain and problematize research within the sociology of emotions in a format that meets international standards.
In a more elaborate paper synthesize the theories and research within the chosen area of specialization and construct a theoretical framework and methodological approach to a specific research problem in the student’s own ongoing or planned project.

Judgment and approach

Critically discuss theoretical assumptions and empirical results within the sociology of emotions in general and the chosen area of specialization in particular.
Critically discuss methods used within the chosen area of specialization.
Critically discuss trends and future development of the chosen area of specialization.

Grading and criteria

The grading scale encompasses the grades Fail (U), and Pass (G).

Pass = the student demonstrates satisfactory fulfillment of the learning outcomes through active participation in all the parts of the course, and by the submission of an exam paper.

Course evaluation

Course evaluation is organized by the teachers on the paper seminars.

Important dates:

August 28–30: Course introduction, lectures (Copenhagen)

October 2 (13-16): Midterm seminar, online

November 21-22: Guest lecture, Paper seminars (Gothenburg)

Deadlines:

15 June: Registration

30 June: 2000 words (maximum) description of the students’ doctoral research (research questions, context, methods, theoretical framework) and the role of the sociology of emotions in the project. These short papers will form the basis of the workshops in Copenhagen.

25 September 5 pm: Synopsis of course paper, 1500-2000 words, to Åsa, Merete and Poul and peers to discuss in the online seminar.

6 November 11 pm: Full paper draft sent to Lene El Mongy, phd@soc.ku.dk

7 October: Commentators list is circulated. Each student will be the primary commentator on one paper and the secondary commentator on one more (but preferably read all).

7 December 11 pm: Final papers sent to Lene El Mongy

Contact the organizers if you have any queries!

Developing your research design

PhD Course: Sociological Analysis in Progress

Course details

The course takes place January 15-17, 2020 at the Department of Sociology.

Course content

Are you looking for an opportunity to try out some of your ideas about how to do your empirical analysis in your sociological phd-project? Then consider taking this course.

This is a research-project oriented doctoral course with focus on practicing and reflecting upon sociological procedures and arguments concerning theoretically informed empirical analysis. The aim is to support the participants in establishing high quality sociological analysis in their own research projects. The content of the course will cover issues such as varieties in connections between theory, state-of-art, data and research questions; questions of research quality of analysis; debates about empirical openness and systematics; and debates about heuristics and theorisation. The course addresses both quantitative and qualitative methodological perspectives.

The form consists of a combination of the following: There will be two master class senior presentations, where you will be invited into the workshop of experienced sociological researchers. There will be phd-fellow presentations of drafts for analysis and feedback, and furthermore, plenary discussions, and an exercise in analysis.

In order to participate, phd-fellows write a 10 page draft about one possible analysis of data in their own research project. On the course, the participants will present the procedures and arguments of this draft for a bit of analysis and receive feedback from the course organisers as well as the other participants (for further information, see detailed course program).

The course lasts 3 days and gives 4 ects points (it is not possible to participate without paper). The course is mandatory for phd-fellows enrolled at Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.

Master class presenters

Claire Maxwell, professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen
Merlin Schaeffer, associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Organisers

Jakob Demant, associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen
Bente Halkier, professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Registration

PhD Course: French Pragmatic Sociology: Developments in Laurent Thévenot's Sociology of Engagements and Commonalities

Course details

The course takes place on June 3-4, 2019 at CSS room 33.1.18 with keynotes by Laurent Thévenot, Eeva Luhtakallio, and Laura Centemeri.

Course content

The course/seminar focuses on the work of Laurent Thévenot, particularly his sociology of engagement regimes and commonalities. Thévenot’s pragmatic sociology is gaining significance in European (and worldwide) sociology. Recently (Spring 2018), it has been the topic of a special issue of the European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, edited by Eeva Luhtakallio. The aim of the present PhD seminar is to gather social scientist from a range of different topic areas and traditions, who all work (or want to work) with the sociology of engagement regimes, and to conduct conversations on the relevance and further development of the theory, with each other, with key researchers in the field, and with Thévenot himself.

Laurent Thévenot’s early work on categorization, classification, and coordination lay the ground for the book On Justification, co-authored with Luc Boltanski, a principal work in political and moral sociology. In On Justification, the authors identify a limited plurality of orders of worth as a framework for analyzing situations of critique and justification. In his later work, Thévenot has developed this theoretical framework further, to analyze different forms of engagement and the various dimensions of social life ‘below’ the level of public debate and dispute.

Eeva Luhtakallio is Associate Professor in sociology at the School of Social Sciences at the University of Tampere. Her work is in the field of political sociology, focusing in particular on civic society mobilization. She is editor of the European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology.

Laura Centemeri is Research Fellow at Centre d’etude des mouvements sociaux at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris. She works on environmental sociology, the sociology of valuation, and dynamics of conflict around places and infrastructures.

The seminar is for PhD students and other scholars interested in the theme. The PhD course is a two-day seminar, where students and scholars read each other’s texts and discuss these. Time for discussions of the texts are prioritized instead of lectures. The participants will be expected to read each other’s texts beforehand. A part the course will also be international guest lectures open to everyone.

Registration

We encourage applicants from all traditions and topic areas with an interest in the pragmatic sociology of Thévenot to apply for participation. By submitting papers (maximum 10 pages before May 1st), students attending the course will have the unique opportunity to present their own work-in-progress and receive feedback from key researchers. The PhD-course is hosted by the Department of Sociology, Associate Professor Anders Blok and PhD student Marie Leth Meilvang.

Register with Lene El Mongy before April 14^th2019, providing a short description of your academic profile and current research.

Developing your Research Design

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design within sociology and related areas such as social work, political sociology, or cultural studies.
Time: 26 and 27 August 2019
Venue: Aalborg University, Aalborg
Organizers and teachers: Professor Annick Prieur and professor Lars Skov Henriksen, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University
Registration: deadline July 4, 2019. Applicants write a short description of their project (5 – 10 lines) upon application. Notification about admission will follow shortly after.
Please send your application to secretary Anne Brauner Mikkelsen: abm@socsci.aau.dk
Please provide full name and full contact information, institutional affiliation, time for start of Ph.D.-study, and a short description of Ph.D.-project.

AIM OF THE COURSE

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design within sociology and related areas such as social work, political sociology, or cultural studies. We do this in sessions where course participants present and reflect upon their research plan, while receiving feedback from other Ph.D.-students and from experienced Ph.D.-supervisors. Another aim of the course is to discuss general topics such as thesis form (monograph or articles), thesis quality demands, and writing and publication of articles.
The course targets Ph.D.-students in the first phase of their thesis work (within their first year).
Dependent on participants, the course language is Danish or English.

COURSE FORMAT

This is a two days’ course focusing on participants’ projects. Based on the logic of the course and the reading list, each participant writes a short paper (4 – 5 pages) about his or her project, applying the following structure:
• Imaginary (see H. Becker text, reading list, for this particular concept): what is your research question and main approach in the study?
• Sampling and what is your object of inquiry? (What parts of the empirical reality do you focus on and why?)
• Concepts: what are your main theories and concepts?
•Logic: what are your methods and analytical strategies?
All participants make short presentations after which follows a 30 minutes’ discussion of each Ph.D.-project.
Besides paper discussions, the course features short presentations and discussions of central topics related to Ph.D.-projects: thesis form, writing and publishing articles, where to publish, challenges in the Ph.D.-project, etc.
A detailed program will follow. Short papers are due 19 August 2019, in order to circulate and prepare comments.
Practical information
ECTS: 2
Because of the feedback format of the course there is a maximum of 12 participants.
Developed in cooperation with the Department of Sociology, Copenhagen University and offered alternately by the department at Copenhagen Univ. and the department at Aalborg Univ. Students from these institutions are given priority to the course, but applications from other students are welcome.

Preliminary reading list

Part 1: Good research is good thinking.
Abend, G. (2008). The Meaning of ’Theory’. Sociological Theory 26(2): 173-199.
Abbott, A. (2004). Methods of Discovery. Heuristics for the Social Sciences. NY & London: Norton & co. Chapter 3 “Introduction to heuristics”, pp. 80-110.
Becker, H. (1992). Cases, causes, conjunctures, stories, and imagery. In: C. Ragin & H. Becker (eds.) What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 205-217.
Swedberg, R. (2016). Before Theory Comes Theorizing or How to Make Social Science More Interesting. British Journal of Sociology 67(1): 5-22.
Alvesson, M. & J. Sandberg (2014). Problematization Meets Mystery Creation. Generating New Ideas and Findings Through Assumption- Challenging Research. In E. Jeanes & T. Huzzard (eds.) Critical Management Research: Reflections from the Field. London: SAGE. Pp. 23-40. (tilgængelig som e-bog på AUB)

Part 2: Some thinking and writing tools.
De Vaus, D. (2001) Research Design in Social Research. London: SAGE. Pp. 17-21 (about different kinds of research questions).
Knopf, J. W. (2006) Doing a Literature Review. Political Science and Politics 39 (1): 127-132.
Martin, E. (2014). How to Write a Good Article. Current Sociology 62(7): 949-955.
The Sociological Review: Dos and don’ts for authors. Informal advice from Michaela Benson, Managing Editor
https://thesociologicalreview.org/

ECTS
3 points - includes mandatory reading list (approximately 10 articles/chapters), a submitted paper, and giving feedback on two other papers.

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design within sociology and related areas such as social work, political sociology, or cultural studies.
Time: 26 and 27 August 2019
Venue: Aalborg University, Aalborg
Organizers and teachers: Professor Annick Prieur and professor Lars Skov Henriksen, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University
Registration: deadline July 4, 2019. Applicants write a short description of their project (5 – 10 lines) upon application. Notification about admission will follow shortly after.
Please send your application to secretary Anne Brauner Mikkelsen: abm@socsci.aau.dk
Please provide full name and full contact information, institutional affiliation, time for start of Ph.D.-study, and a short description of Ph.D.-project.

AIM OF THE COURSE

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design within sociology and related areas such as social work, political sociology, or cultural studies. We do this in sessions where course participants present and reflect upon their research plan, while receiving feedback from other Ph.D.-students and from experienced Ph.D.-supervisors. Another aim of the course is to discuss general topics such as thesis form (monograph or articles), thesis quality demands, and writing and publication of articles.
The course targets Ph.D.-students in the first phase of their thesis work (within their first year).
Dependent on participants, the course language is Danish or English.

COURSE FORMAT

Preliminary reading list

Intimacy and Abuse in the Digital Age

Digital exchange of intimate images is an everyday, pleasurable practice. However, it can also be harmful and subject to criminal abuse. Therefore, it has become an international cause for concern in media, policy and practice. At the same time it has become the object of study for an emerging field of interdisciplinary research. In this 2-day PhD course, several leading scholars within the field will present state-of-the-art research and discuss future perspectives of sexting and digital intimacies. The course will contextualize the sharing of intimate images within the field of sociology, communication, criminology and gender studies and welcomes participants from across the humanities and social sciences interested in the study of social media, online youth culture and digital crime. The course will examine the role of the digital in sexual and romantic relations from flirting and dating to abuse and violations. Keynotes will analyze the differences in perceptions of risk according to gender and the developments of ethical and caring relations in online interaction. Discussions will point towards the ways in which research can assist in regulating/intervening to prevent image-based abuse while also countering and avoiding victim-blaming in harm-reduction campaigns.

With: Michel Walrave (University of Antwerp), Kath Albury (Swinburne University of Technology), and Signe Ravn (University of Melbourne).
Date: May 15-16, 2019.

Modern Sociological Theory

The course is offered in cooperation by the Departments of Sociology in Copenhagen, Lund, and Gothenburg. The course focuses on sociological theory during the period between roughly 1945 and 2000. It will discuss what is considered to be central theoretical developments and problems and also open up for discussions on what has been seen as more peripheral theoretical perspectives. The course aims both at orienting participants in different theoretical areas and traditions, and make possible in-depth studies of particular fields. The course aims at enriching participants ability to relate the development of sociological theory to relevant social, cultural and political contexts. The course will be based on mandatory readings and discussion seminars as well as on readings chosen by the participants according to their interest and in accordance with teachers.

With: Mikael Carleheden, Poul Poder, Bo Isenberg (Lund), Anders Hylmö (Lund), and Carl-Göran Heidegren (Lund).
Date: November 5, 2018 - January 9, 2019.

Innovative Methods for Digital Sociology

This workshop is directed at introducing participants to innovative methods of researching aspects of digital society. The workshop will begin with an overview of various methods that can be used in social research generally, and more specifically for digital sociology. Some of these methods draw on arts-based or design-based approaches, which seek to inspire creative responses from participants that can begin to surface the more-than-representational and more-than-digital elements of people’s entanglements with digital technologies. Then five methods will be introduced in more detail: 1) storyboarding; 2) story completion; 3) love/breakup letters; 4) memory writing; and 5) mapping. Following this introduction, workshop participants will break into small groups for hands-on explorations of some of these new methods. They will work together to choose a topic and a method from the choices offered them, and will then apply the method in the group. The workshop will end with each group presenting to the wider participant group, reflecting on their experiences of using the method and what it might offer for a sociocultural analysis of the technologies involved.

With: Professor Deborah Lupton, University of Canberra, Australia.
Date: November 15, 2018.

Visual Social Sciences and Digital Media Politics

This PhD course addresses students interested in conducting empirical research in the fields of visual social science, anthropology, and digital and complex media publics. Visual images have been studied by art historians and by students of culture, gender, media, and communication, anthropology, and postcolonial studies. Only lately have social and political scientists started to conduct visual analysis. Connecting the interdisciplinary fields of visual and social science methods, cultural theory, media, anthropology, sociology, and international relations, this course discusses theoretical concepts and concrete empirical tools for PhD students and researchers to investigate visual forms of communication in digital publics and print media, among policy makers and in globalized arenas of politics and protest. Keynote speakers and invited guests debate a number of important questions: How do images construct and shape people’s capacity to communicate and popularize their message in digital publics and toward national and transnational audiences involving allied political parties and institutions? How is authenticity and popularity constructed in visual icons of popular protest or in antagonist and increasingly populist election campaigns? How do current forms of digital and visual communication and social media affordances restrict and enable political communication between media actors, institutions, and radical political and social movements? Which cultural and gendered representations of ‘everyone’ shape the historic emergence of liberal democratic communication and the rise of populist political communication? Under what conditions do activists and civil society groups succeed to express public dissent as well as create and spread images of protest through digital and complex media publics?

With: Professors Anna Schober and Alice Mattoni.
Date: October 11-12, 2018.

Race/Ethnicity, Contentious Politics, and Social Movements — A Comparative Perspective

This PhD course is organized around lectures, discussions, and international research exchange in all areas of contentious mobilization, civic participation, and social movements. Our thematic starting point is the current moment of uncertainty and contentious mobilizations in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We explore both right wing mobilizations on race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and progressive movements and civil society networks trying to build effective coalitions including migrants, minorities, refugees, disenfranchised workers and those affected by environmental disaster. PhD students and researchers are invited to present draft research papers, get feedback, and present their interests/projects on all aspects and theories of research on civic participation, mobilization, and social movements. Lectures will engage in an interdisciplinary and comparative research exchange with invited scholars working on the United States, China, Europe, and the Middle East.

With: Professor Doug McAdam, Stanford University.
Date: September 6-7, 2018.

Sociology of Emotions

The aim of the course it to familiarize students with classical and contemporary perspectives in the sociology of emotions, to enable students to critically discuss theoretical assumptions, methodological approaches and empirical results within the sociology of emotions and to construct a theoretical framework and methodological approach to a specific research problem in the student’s own ongoing or planned project. The study of emotions is inherently multidisciplinary as it engages with biological and psychological as well as social and cultural theory and research. With this point of departure, the focus of the sociological discipline, as well as of this course, is on the social, and sociologically relevant, aspects of emotions. The course offers a broad overview of theories and research in the sociology of emotions, spanning from the classics to contemporary theories and research. Both structural and situational/interactional approaches to the role of emotions in social life are explored. Part of the course deals with the students research projects, through which there is opportunity to discuss project ideas in relation to the various perspectives on emotions presented. There will also be opportunity to discuss various methods employed and ways to apply and develop theory in the analysis of empirical data. All participants are required to read and relate some key texts (compulsory literature), but thereafter encouraged to focus independently on their own area of research.

With: Merete Monrad, Poul Poder, Åsa Wettergren, and guest teacher Deborah Gould, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Date: February 20 - May 14, 2018.

Developing your research design

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design. We do this in sessions where course participants present and reflect upon their research plan, while receiving feedback from other Ph.D.-students and from an experienced Ph.D.-supervisor. Another aim of the course is to discuss general topics such as thesis form (monograph or articles), thesis quality demands, and writing and publication of articles.

With: Professor Margaretha Järvinen, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.
Date: August 21-22, 2018.

Governance, participation and the role of knowledge in the Anthropocene

Our societies are facing fundamental social changes in the coming decades as they will have to transform from fossil dependent and resource consuming economies to fossil-free and recycling/circular economies. On the one hand societies will have to adapt to inevitable climate changes, depletion of resources and the derived consequences of this (droughts, flooding, mass migration, etc.), and on the other hand mitigate these changes through taking innovations in many types of technology (energy, water, biochemistry, etc.), and in societal and infrastructure systems to new levels. Challenges for the social sciences are abundant and touches upon both the individual (new patterns of consumption, new lifestyles, change of values and beliefs, etc.), communities (new forms of production, transportation, dwelling, personal relations, etc.), nations (regulation of resources, questions of equality, measures of wealth, etc.), and transnational and global relations and institutions (transfer of knowledge and technology, building lasting regulatory regimes, (non-) compliance to international norms and treaties, etc.) While these challenges raise important questions about changes in power relations, justice, democracy and politics at different scales, they also fundamentally question whether our traditional, discipline-oriented ways of understanding these phenomena are adequate, and even more fundamentally how policy-relevant knowledge in this field is produced and whether it meets the challenges that decision-makers are confronted with?

With: Anders Blok, Quentin Gausset, and internal and external commentators.
Date: June 6-7, 2018.

Classical Sociological Theory

The aim of the course is to provide knowledge about key contributions to sociological theory, defined as ”sociological classics” (i.e. Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Simmel, Tönnies and the Chicago-school); to problematize the ”classics discourse” and to present examples of ”alternative classics”, i. e. scholars/texts (particularly focusing on gender and race/ethnicity) that have been influential without having been awarded the status of ”classics” (e.g. Du Bois, de Beauvoir and Fanon), and to provide the students with ability to discuss and evaluate the significance and usefulness of ”the classics” in relation to contemporary sociological theory and empirical research.

With: Håkan Thörn (Göteborg), Bo Isenberg (Lund), and multiple guest lecturers.
Date: October-December 2017.

Democratic Resistances in the Times of Rightwing Mobilization: From Deliberation to Protest

This PhD course addresses students interested in theories of democracy, political participation and resistance studies drawing on an interdisciplinary field of methods in sociology, anthropology, and political science. Our starting point is activists’ search for effective models of cooperation and collective action allowing people from different backgrounds to dialogue and take democratic decisions together in a shifting political environment of backlash, surveillance and repression. This gives rise to a number of important questions: How and to what extend do the current radical movements succeed to multiply and connect to build coalitions to support minorities, migrants and refugees combining identity and resistance in everyday politics? What political, cultural, and epistemic translating practices do heterogeneous coalitions use to work together, and to what degree do they become "spaces of radical openness" in response to the binary and antagonistic discourses of neo-right populism? Under what conditions do activists succeed to express public dissent as well as organize deliberation and collective action involving allied political parties and institutions? Keynote lecturers and the reading materials in this course will explore the relationship between theories and practices of deliberation, prefigurative democracy, and non-violent resistance focusing on case studies including the refugee solidarity movements in Europe and the anti-Trump protests as well as the Arab Spring, Occupy and Indignados movements.

With: Professor Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University, and Professor Jeffrey Juris, North Eastern University.
Date: May 18-19, 2017.

Developing your research design

The aim of this course is to offer participants an opportunity to qualify their Ph.D.-project design. We do this in sessions where course participants present and reflect upon their research plan, while receiving feedback from other Ph.D.-students and from an experienced Ph.D.-supervisor. Another aim of the course is to discuss general topics such as thesis form (monograph or articles), writing and publication of articles, co-authoring, research ethics etc.

With: Professor Margaretha Järvinen, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.
Date: August 22-23, 2017.

PhD Course in Modern Sociological Theory

The course is a result of a collaboration between the sociology departments at University of Copenhagen and Lund University. The course is planned to become part of a series of theory courses which also includes a collaboration with the sociology department at Gothenburg University.
The course offers an extensive overview of currents in Sociological theory from 1945 to 1989. It also offers great opportunities for participants to develop their own theoretical interests.

With: Multiple lectures.

The City and the Pragmatic Turn

The international conference and PhD seminar entitled ‘The City and the Pragmatic Turn’ will be held in Copenhagen. The aim of the conference is to assemble researchers that in recent years have been engaged in the encounter between urban studies and pragmatism (mainly the sociology of engagements and ANT/AIME) in order to take stock of the overall results until now: the conceptions of cities and urbanities involved; the ways of investigating the design and planning of architectures, urbanities and urban landscapes; the interrogations of activism and cosmopolitics; the question of ecological crisis and urban change.

With: keynote speakers professor Albena Yaneva, Manchester University and professor Laurent Thévenot, EHESS, Paris.
Dates: November 5-6.

Videnskabsteori og forskningsdesign – et kursus for første års ph.d. studerende

Formålet med kurset er, at give ph.d. studerende muligheden for at diskutere og udvikle designet af deres ph.d. afhandling og at tage stilling til deres videnskabsteoretiske ståsted. Videnskabsteori ses ikke isoleret, men i tæt sammenhæng med forskningsdesign og metode. Kurset giver en målrettet overblik over aktuelle videnskabsteoretiske positioner og fremhæver videnskabsteoriens teoretiske og praktiske konsekvenser for forskningsdesignet og metoden. More information coming soon.

Date: August 23-24, 2016.

Advanced Social Movements Studies

The study of social movements and contentious politics are more relevant than ever. Movements have in recent decades mobilized in relation to issues of climate and environment, globalization, gender and sexuality and the economic and financial policies. These mobilizations have vigorously been challenging powerholders. Lately, the large influx of refugees from the Middle East has spurred the mobilization of both pro- and anti-refugee movements across Europe. In the US, waves of protest against discriminatory practices against people of color dominates the agenda together with rising tensions over the immigration issue. In the wake of the financial crisis, also within established politics the role of movements have been growing as protest movements have organized as independent parties or as factions in established parties and have gained significant popular backing with Syriza seizing power in Greece as the climax so far.

With: Professor Douglas McAdam, Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Associate Professor Nicole Doerr, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Senior researcher Flemming Mikkelsen, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen.
Date: September 20-21, 2016.

Causes of Coorporation: Theory and Evidence

The conditions under which individuals come to cooperate in groups so as to promote the corporate welfare – rather than acting as free riders, cheaters or, worse, predators -- is one of the central issues in the social and biological sciences. Cooperation lies at the heart of the problems of collective action and social order, and it is responsible for solutions to social dilemmas, such as the overexploitation of common-pool resources. In this Ph.D. course we will survey key theories of cooperation in humans and discuss exemplary empirical studies attempting to assess these theories.

With: Michael Norman Hechtor.
Date: October 10 - November 22, 2016.

Contemporary Sociological Theory

The course focuses on sociological theory after 1989. It will discuss what is considered to be central theoretical developments and problems. The course aims both at orienting participants in different theoretical areas and traditions, and make possible in-depth studies of particular fields. The course aims at enriching participants ability to relate the development of sociological theory to relevant social, cultural and political contexts. The course will be based on mandatory readings as well as on readings chosen by the participants according to their interest and in accordance with teachers.

With: Mikael Carleheden, Bengt Larsson, Helen Peterson, Kerstin Jacobsson, Petri Ylikoski, Bjørn Schiermer, Mitchell Dean.
Date: October 10 - December 2, 2016.