Master of Arts

The study program Society and Cultures of Modernity is a research-oriented study program of the Institute of Sociology at the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and comprises four semesters. It replaces the successful Magister and Diploma programs at the Institute and Department and follows on from these, as well as the BA Social Sciences offered jointly with the Institute of Political Science.

The Society and Cultures of Modernity course deals with sociological diagnoses of current social challenges, in which cultural issues are both the cause and object of conflicts, but also the vehicle of social transformation and solution processes. Culture is a problematic aspect of social self-organization because it simultaneously acts as a normative authority with its own logic of validity, as an object of conflict and as a resource. The corresponding dynamics and reflexive significance of culture in the articulation of social problems form the focus of the course.

The course is characterized by two main features: Its theoretical orientation and its sociological- transdisciplinary focus. The core area of the course is concerned with teaching different concepts of the relationship between culture and society, different perspectives on the concept of culture and its shift towards reflection in contemporary societies. The focus of the course is on the acquisition of sociological reflective knowledge and articulation skills in relation to the cultural dimension of social challenges. This is achieved through activating forms of teaching and learning as well as through interdisciplinary cooperation with institutes at the JLU within the framework of cooperation modules.

The Society and Cultures of Modernity degree program prepares students for a career in social science research within and outside the university, in educational and cultural institutions, in national and international institutions of conflict resolution, mediation and arbitration, in political, association and management consulting, in development cooperation and in the development and evaluation of measures and institutions of intercultural dialogue and integration.