Sociology

This course sheds light on how markets emerge and the actions needed to create a market. It also explains the role of institutions, networks, and culture in shaping markets. Lastly, Third, it shows the way in which markets are organized and has distributive effects. Understanding that specific actions are needed to create a market and the different ways in which markets can be shaped counters an understanding that takes markets as granted and market competition and the ensuing consequences as something natural. The course covers the various challenges associated with creating a market: challenge of cooperation, challenge of competition and challenge of establishing value, ability to explain how different mechanisms contribute to solving these challenges, and applying the concepts discussed in class to current issues in concrete markets.

This course offers an overview of sociological approaches to law as social relationships and social institution. It gives an overview of theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues discussed in the Sociology of Law as a sub-discipline. The themes of the course include questions of justice, law enforcement, legal professionalism, everyday 'life' of law, social norms, and social change. These topics are scrutinised through both socio-legal and sociological methods. Drawing on theoretical approaches in legal studies, the course offers a variety of definitions of law that are then critically assessed with sociological tools. Hence, the broader question of the course is: What is law? What forms does the law take in our societies? How does law constitute the societies and do societies constitute the law? In other words, during the classes, we look at social, political, and historical aspects of the formation of justice as we know it.

The course covers literature in the Sociology of Law from classic authors (Marx, Durkheim, and Weber) to contemporary debates (feminist jurisprudence, queer criminology, etc.).

The course examines the history of Chile from its foundation until present times. It focuses on the history from the social angle and with a feminist, intersectional and decolonial approaches. It identifies three historical periods: Creation of Chile, Welfare and Neoliberal states. The course proposes students to reflect on the role of the social worker in relation to the history of Chile and the importance of knowing this history for working in this profession.

This advanced course guides students through key contemporary sociological debates, presenting major theoretical and analytical paradigms and exploring how these are developed and tested through empirical research. The course tackles complex questions about inequality, justice, emotion, creativity, violence and belief, highlighting the tension between micro-, meso- and macro-level explanations. Students also discover how sociology is practiced across different countries and intellectual traditions, gaining comparative insights and deeper reflexivity about their own place in society.

This course offers an in-depth critical analysis of right-wing populism, emphasizing its theoretical foundations, historical evolution, and contemporary empirical manifestations. Students explore the ideological underpinnings of right-wing populism, its intersections with nationalism and authoritarian tendencies, and its broader implications for democratic governance. Through interdisciplinary scholarly literature, critical media analyses, and collaborative discussions, the course examines how right-wing populist movements emerge, sustain, and transform within diverse political systems and cultural contexts, focusing particularly on case studies from Europe and North America. Special attention is also given to the relationship between right-wing populism and pressing global issues such as climate change, fostering awareness of how environmental concerns are framed, instrumentalized, or denied within populist rhetoric. Upon completion of this course, students can clearly define and differentiate between key concepts including right-wing populism, radical right, and extreme right. They are capable of analyzing and critiquing the core ideological dimensions of populism and identifying the underlying factors that drive the emergence and rise of right-wing populist movements. Additionally, students evaluate the impact of digital communication technologies on populist rhetoric and political mobilization. They are also equipped to conduct comparative analyses of right-wing populist phenomena across different national contexts and critically assess the consequences of right-wing populism on democratic institutions, civil society, civic norms, and environmental discourse.

This course gives students the tools to analyze, research and respond to real world issues such as globalization, crime, social justice, community breakdown, and racial, sexual and indigenous inequality.

This course covers the politics of immigration in Europe. Students engage with key debates and empirical findings related to public opinion on immigration, including how perceptions of cultural, economic, and security-related threats shape attitudes toward immigrants. The course explores how immigration influences voting behavior and electoral outcomes, particularly in the context of the rise of anti-immigration parties across Europe. Students investigate the causes and consequences of these parties' success, as well as the strategic responses of mainstream political actors. In addition, the course places emphasis on the experiences of immigrants themselves, including political discrimination, integration, and the pathways to political incorporation. The phenomenon of anti-immigrant violence is also addressed. Basic knowledge of quantitative research methods (multivariate regression, causal inference, and experimental design) is desirable but not required.

This course introduces students to the range and scope of social policy analysis by showing how the subject has developed over time. It covers the history and development of Irish social policy and examines how social change has influenced and has been influenced by social policy developments since the nineteenth century.

Migration is at the forefront of contemporary debates globally, and has been a centerpiece of electoral and political discourses in the Global North since the 1990s. From the so-called “migration crisis” of 2015 in Europe to the Brexit debates on keeping migrants out and to the current anti-immigrant mobilizations in Ireland, the UK, the USA, and elsewhere, migration remains a contentious issue. Often entangled with racism, discourses on migration show us how societies categorize themselves and others, and how they deal with otherness through policies and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. In this module, students learn to disentangle the terms used in public, media, and political discourses on migration and race by using concepts and theories from the sociology of migration and race.

This course examines the housing crisis as a central social justice challenge in contemporary cities. Focusing on issues of supply, affordability, and homelessness, with particular attention to Ireland, the course explores the economic and political dynamics of housing markets and the reasons these markets often fail to meet social needs. Drawing on social scientific concepts and empirical evidence, the course analyzes how governments and societies value, regulate, and provide housing. Emphasizing housing as a fundamental human need, the course adopts a social justice perspective to critically assess current conditions and develop creative, realistic solutions aimed at building more equitable and socially just cities.