Master 2022/2023

Approaches to Comparative Social Research

Type: Compulsory course (Comparative Social Research)

Area of studies: Sociology

Delivered by: School of Sociology

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 2, 3 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Christian Fröhlich

Master’s programme: Comparative Soсial Research

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The ability to compare effectively involves the ability to be clearheaded about what is to be compared. Questions regarding the “unit of analysis/comparison” are therefore at the center of any comparative endeavor in sociology and the social sciences more generally. These questions are approached in this course primarily from a meta-theoretical vantage point. Accordingly, we will focus not so much on “what is compared” as on “what sort of thing is compared” and on “how to go about comparing it.” This course is designed to be a broad orientation to the different concepts and approaches of comparing in social sciences, but also introduces classical texts and issues of comparative social research.