The course consists of the following lectures:

Pekka Räsänen (UTU): Consumption from the perspective of economic sociology

Taru Lindblom(UTU): Food consumption, status struggle and  economic inequality

Atte Oksanen (UTA): Debt problems and life-course transitions

Mette Ranta(JYU): Towards youth financial independence: Psychological and societal factors

Minna Autio(HU): Sustainability in consumption: goods, services and innovations

Semi Purhonen(UTA): Cultural stratification: Starting points and recent debates

Terhi-Anna Wilska(JYU): Consumption, necessities and excess

Turo-Kimmo Lehtonen & Olli Pyyhtinen(UTA): Consumption and waste

In addition, thematic readings will be suggested for each lecture. All the lecture videos and course readings are available for students in the Moodle platform. 

Students from university of Tampere, Turku or Jyväskylä may enrol via email (anu.sirola[at]uta.fi) to get the access to the course?s Moodle platform.

This online course can be started and accomplished during the periods I and II. Due date for the course assignments is 12th December.

The course consists of the following lectures:

Pekka Räsänen (UTU): Consumption from the perspective of economic sociology

Taru Lindblom(UTU): Food consumption, status struggle and  economic inequality

Atte Oksanen (UTA): Debt problems and life-course transitions

Mette Ranta(JYU): Towards youth financial independence: Psychological and societal factors

Minna Autio(HU): Sustainability in consumption: goods, services and innovations

Semi Purhonen(UTA): Cultural stratification: Starting points and recent debates

Terhi-Anna Wilska(JYU): Consumption, necessities and excess

Turo-Kimmo Lehtonen & Olli Pyyhtinen(UTA): Consumption and waste

In addition, thematic readings will be suggested for each lecture. All the lecture videos and course readings are available for students in the Moodle platform. 

Students from university of Tampere, Turku or Jyväskylä may enrol via email (anu.sirola[at]uta.fi) to get the access to the course?s Moodle platform.

This online course can be started and accomplished during the periods I and II. Due date for the course assignments is 12th December.

The course builds on lectures and readings on the dimensions of urban marginalization, and ethnographic fieldwork carried out by the students. The fieldwork will be located in a neighbourhood of Tampere.

The course requirements include reading assignments as well as ca. 300 word reflections on the reading each time; conducting the assigned fieldwork as well as ca. 600 edited field notes each time; and a presentation at the final conference, composed on the basis of the previously mentioned writing tasks. Presence in all course sessions is necessary.

Programme (venue TBA)

Jan 11 Introduction: Social Dimensions of Urban Marginalization: Lotta Junnilainen           

Jan 18 Visit to the fieldsite + Introduction to Tampere City Marginalization Indicators: Lotta Junnilainen, Liisa Häikiö, Eeva Luhtakallio, Jenni Mäki (City of Tampere)

Jan 25 Urban ethnography in practice + Planning the fieldwork: Lotta Junnilainen

Feb 1 Political Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Eeva Luhtakallio

Reading Period + Getting in to the field (3 weeks)

Feb 22 Reading workshop + How to proceed?: Lotta Junnilainen  

Fieldwork Period I (2 weeks)

March 8 Fieldwork Clinic I: Lotta Junnilainen

March 15 Economic Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Liisa Häiki

Fieldwork Period II (3 weeks)

April 5 Fieldwork Clinic II: Lotta Junnilainen 

April 12 Final Conference

Max 20 students. Acceptance on the course depends on previous studies in social sciences.

The class focuses on the crucial interface between theory-building and concept formation on the one hand and (comparative) empirical inquiry on the other. It addresses the following questions: What is the rationale of theory building, concept-formation and empirical inquiry in different variants of comparative research? How do comparative welfare state researchers produce theoretical and empirical knowledge about the various welfare states? How do they arrive at generalization about welfare state development, and, how do they make the connection between theoretical arguments and empirical case studies?
Major topics:
1. Comparative analysis as a research program: Its role in the study of social policy
2. Typologies: Identifying "regimes", "varieties", and "patterns" as major approach to cross-sectional comparison
3. Comparative research design and in-depth inquiry of institutional and political dynamics in case study research
4. Inter-temporal analysis as challenge to the comparison? Major concepts in the study of institutional change in the welfare state
5. The Single Case Study and research below the nation state: Comparisons across policy fields, regions, or instances of major social reform
Class discussion and lectures during the Intensive Program at the beginning of the semester give an introduction to these themes; further readings and a set of smaller exercises during the semester offer more detailed insights and provide students with an opportunity to apply some of that conceptual knowledge in evaluating select examples of comparative social policy and trying to define and design their own projects.

Introductory lectures during the intensive programme in Tampere in the beginning of February 2019. Afterwards the course continues in the on-line learning environment Moodle.

This course is aimed for the degree students of the COSOPO programme. In addition, 8 Master level Social Policy students can be accepted to the course.

The class first discusses core values of modern welfare states and key concepts facilitating descriptive comparisons. It then looks at the institutional manifestations of these different principles and briefly revisits welfare state typologies as major approach in comparative welfare state analysis, their promise, underlying theoretical ideas, and the potential hazards of this kind of theorizing. Then it turns to explanations of welfare state development and differences among modern welfare regimes.
Explanatory theories in the comparative welfare state literature:
1. Functionalism and explanations in terms of the great socio-economic trends (Modernization, Industrialization and Deindustrialization, Globalization, Demographic Change)
2. Interests and conflicts: Power Resource approaches and theories about partisan public policy
3. Institutionalism and its various strands: Institutional self-interest and top-down social policy-making, veto points and veto players, varieties of welfare capitalism, retrenchment and path dependency
4. Ideational analysis in welfare state studies: The role of ideas, culture, religion, and ideology
5. "Varieties of Welfare Capitalism" as modern Political-Economy approach in the comparative welfare state literature
6. The role of the state in the welfare state, and social policy as a tool for social discipline

Introductory lectures during the intensive programme in Tampere in the beginning of February 2019. Afterwards the course continues in the on-line learning environment Moodle.

This course is aimed for the degree students of the COSOPO programme. In addition, 8 Master level Social Policy students can be accepted to the course.

The course builds on lectures and readings on the dimensions of urban marginalization, and ethnographic fieldwork carried out by the students. The fieldwork will be located in a neighbourhood of Tampere.

The course requirements include reading assignments as well as ca. 300 word reflections on the reading each time; conducting the assigned fieldwork as well as ca. 600 edited field notes each time; and a presentation at the final conference, composed on the basis of the previously mentioned writing tasks. Presence in all course sessions is necessary.

Programme (venue TBA)

Jan 11 Introduction: Social Dimensions of Urban Marginalization: Lotta Junnilainen           

Jan 18 Visit to the fieldsite + Introduction to Tampere City Marginalization Indicators: Lotta Junnilainen, Liisa Häikiö, Eeva Luhtakallio, Jenni Mäki (City of Tampere)

Jan 25 Urban ethnography in practice + Planning the fieldwork: Lotta Junnilainen

Feb 1 Political Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Eeva Luhtakallio

Reading Period + Getting in to the field (3 weeks)

Feb 22 Reading workshop + How to proceed?: Lotta Junnilainen  

Fieldwork Period I (2 weeks)

March 8 Fieldwork Clinic I: Lotta Junnilainen

March 15 Economic Dimensions of Urban Marginalization (Reading workshop and lecture): Liisa Häiki

Fieldwork Period II (3 weeks)

April 5 Fieldwork Clinic II: Lotta Junnilainen 

April 12 Final Conference

Max 20 students. Acceptance on the course depends on previous studies in social sciences.

The class focuses on the crucial interface between theory-building and concept formation on the one hand and (comparative) empirical inquiry on the other. It addresses the following questions: What is the rationale of theory building, concept-formation and empirical inquiry in different variants of comparative research? How do comparative welfare state researchers produce theoretical and empirical knowledge about the various welfare states? How do they arrive at generalization about welfare state development, and, how do they make the connection between theoretical arguments and empirical case studies?
Major topics:
1. Comparative analysis as a research program: Its role in the study of social policy
2. Typologies: Identifying "regimes", "varieties", and "patterns" as major approach to cross-sectional comparison
3. Comparative research design and in-depth inquiry of institutional and political dynamics in case study research
4. Inter-temporal analysis as challenge to the comparison? Major concepts in the study of institutional change in the welfare state
5. The Single Case Study and research below the nation state: Comparisons across policy fields, regions, or instances of major social reform
Class discussion and lectures during the Intensive Program at the beginning of the semester give an introduction to these themes; further readings and a set of smaller exercises during the semester offer more detailed insights and provide students with an opportunity to apply some of that conceptual knowledge in evaluating select examples of comparative social policy and trying to define and design their own projects.

Introductory lectures during the intensive programme in Tampere in the beginning of February 2019. Afterwards the course continues in the on-line learning environment Moodle.

This course is aimed for the degree students of the COSOPO programme. In addition, 8 Master level Social Policy students can be accepted to the course.

The class first discusses core values of modern welfare states and key concepts facilitating descriptive comparisons. It then looks at the institutional manifestations of these different principles and briefly revisits welfare state typologies as major approach in comparative welfare state analysis, their promise, underlying theoretical ideas, and the potential hazards of this kind of theorizing. Then it turns to explanations of welfare state development and differences among modern welfare regimes.
Explanatory theories in the comparative welfare state literature:
1. Functionalism and explanations in terms of the great socio-economic trends (Modernization, Industrialization and Deindustrialization, Globalization, Demographic Change)
2. Interests and conflicts: Power Resource approaches and theories about partisan public policy
3. Institutionalism and its various strands: Institutional self-interest and top-down social policy-making, veto points and veto players, varieties of welfare capitalism, retrenchment and path dependency
4. Ideational analysis in welfare state studies: The role of ideas, culture, religion, and ideology
5. "Varieties of Welfare Capitalism" as modern Political-Economy approach in the comparative welfare state literature
6. The role of the state in the welfare state, and social policy as a tool for social discipline

Introductory lectures during the intensive programme in Tampere in the beginning of February 2019. Afterwards the course continues in the on-line learning environment Moodle.

This course is aimed for the degree students of the COSOPO programme. In addition, 8 Master level Social Policy students can be accepted to the course.