Sociology is the general science of social phenomena. Its subject matter ranges from elementary social relationships, groups, networks, organizations and societies to the processes and structures of global society. Sociology examines how human action works, the unwritten laws according to which people interact with each other and the influence of structural conditions and cultural institutions on such practices. Sociology also tries to understand how mass phenomena (such as fashions) come about and which dynamics lead to conflicts. With this wide range of phenomena, Sociology is less specialized than other social sciences. It is an empirical science that records its objects with systematic observations and statistical data collection and develops and examines theories on this basis. Sociology has various research methods and theoretical approaches at its disposal in order to do justice to the particularities of its subject matter. Its internal diversity makes the program of study in Sociology exciting, but also renews the need for constant changes of perspective.
Have you ever asked yourself how good the opportunities for social advancement are in Germany and which social institutions favor or inhibit such processes? Or which institutions ensure that people are still differentiated by gender in the 21st century, for example why parenthood is only available as motherhood or fatherhood? Have you ever thought more closely about how teachers recognize good students and what observations are incorporated into the evaluation of people by educational organizations? Would you like to know why people are attracted to certain people and how they become social networks? Are you interested in how new technologies and innovations emerge, develop within social contexts and change our social reality? Do you want to find out how smartphones and social items are changing privacy and the public sphere? This is just a small selection of questions to which we will try to formulate answers together with you in the Mainz Sociology degree program.
Sociology is offered at JGU Mainz as an undergraduate bachelor’s program in core and minor subjects. This can be followed by the master’s degree program “Sociology: Research Practice and Practical Research”.
A special feature is the multi-track methodological training. Both quantitative-statistical and qualitative-interpretative methods of social research are taught on the bachelor’s program. In the Master’s degree course, students specialize in one of these areas, but it is also possible to study a combination of methods. Students also have the opportunity to learn methods of network analysis and simulation.
Sociology studies in Mainz are characterized by a wide range of attractive subject-related sociologies, which are taught in orientation and specialization modules on the bachelor’s program. There are currently eight specializations, each of which is based on one of our eight working groups.
Specialization: Sociology of education
People know and understand something; and organizations use factual and technical knowledge to process people and things. The working group researches these knowledge processes at different places in society: schools and higher education institutions, physics and robotics, defense forces, esotericism and repository research. Empirically, it uses qualitative research methods and various theoretical approaches.
Specialization: Family Sociology
Family means security, familiarity, but also support and help. It is a private social network with close ties in which several generations take care of each other and assume responsibility. The working group analyzes these social connections. What role does the family network actually play, when is it effective and how does it change over the course of life?
Specialization: Gender Studies
The working group conducts research based on interaction and practice theories on questions of human differentiation: this is the distinction between “genders”, “races”, age groups, nations, denominations, etc. These questions are examined using qualitative social research methods (ethnographic, interaction and discourse analysis) in various fields of practice – couple relationships, pregnancy and death, reading and dreaming, physical mobility, etc.
Specialization: Sociology of the body
The human body is a social object: social structures, processes and discourses inscribe themselves into the body, shape it and influence how bodies are viewed and treated. Social reality is also produced and physically experienced in bodily practices. The junior professorship examines this double “embodiment” of society.
Specialization: Cultural sociology
This working group examines the social structures and cultures of modern Western societies. Social Structure Analysis deals with the question of how valuable resources, positions and opportunities for action are (unequally) distributed in the population and embedded in personal networks. Closely linked to this, cultural analysis focuses on ethical convictions, aesthetic preferences and lifestyles in society.
Specialization: Media Sociology
This working group examines the interplay between media and social change. This may involve the consequences of social items, cultural change through artificial intelligence or the digitalization of and by organizations. In terms of social theory, we are interested in the change in communication through Technics Department, the interplay of structural and cultural differentiation and the significance of social futures.
Specialization: Sociology of Technics and Innovation
New technologies and innovations pose major challenges for institutions of social planning, control and coordination, as they are neither predictable nor available as new knowledge and action in the future. The working group analyzes and explains the social contexts surrounding the genesis, structures and consequences of technologies and innovations. The high complexity of the subject requires innovative methods.
Specialization: Economic Sociology
In teaching and research, the working group focuses on content and methodology. In terms of content, the focus is on social action in the areas of work and the economy, its forms, prerequisites and consequences as well as the interactions with other areas. Methodologically, the focus is on procedures of quantitative social research and Statistics, the basic training of which is also provided by the working group.
