The course exists of different parts:

1. The course starts from explaining supply and demand on a perfect labour market, while continuing by explaining that the perfect labour market does not exist, especially not in the context of European welfare states. The labour market is not a market like any other where the usual laws of supply and demand apply. It is a domain of extensive government intervention. There are different institutions that make the labour market “imperfect”. The theoretical workings of different labour market institutions, as well as their outcomes in terms of efficiency and equity, will be explained. Attention will be paid to a set of specific and important labour market institutions, while ways of measuring and comparing them will be presented. The most important institutions include: a. Wage setting mechanisms b. Unemployment benefits c. Employment protection legislation d. Minimum wage e. Active labour market policies f. Working hours regulation g. Education and training h. Pensions and retirement It will also be shown that there are interactions and complementarities between these institutions that shape labour market outcomes and that one can identify labour market regimes, just like there are welfare state regimes.

2. In the second part of the course, the focus will shift to different threats to economic growth, employment and the welfare state, and the role that labour market policies play in the debates addressing these threats. Ageing populations, globalization, technological change, individualisation, and the current financial and economic crisis all have an impact on how countries organise their labour markets. Moreover, governments have used these threats as arguments for introducing reforms. The course will pay attention to the different ways these threats can impact labour markets and the types of policy responses that have been launched in different countries.

3. Reforming labour market institutions is often slow and complicated. This partly has to do with different groups in society that are well-organised and that have an interest in upholding the status quo. These groups include labour market organisations such as trade unions and employer representatives, but also for example middle-class voters and pensioners’ organisations. When policy-makers initiate reforms, they often have to take into account the interest of such parties, depending of course on how policy processes are organised in a specific country.

The course will pay attention to how decision-making processes are organised in different countries and what roles various interest organisations can play in these. The course will consist of a series of seminars where lectures will be combined with discussions on the basis of the literature that the students are required to read in preparation. Apart from reading some articles that serve as a theoretical background, the main focus will be placed on critically reading policy-oriented reports and publications. These include recent publications of the OECD (e.g. the Employment Outlook), the European Commission and other international organisations, as well as national governments. In this way, the students can familiarize themselves with current debates and different ways of conducting policy-oriented research.

Preliminary schedule of the course (topics):

1. Introduction & practicalities. What are labour market policies/institutions? What do they do and why do they matter in the welfare state?
2. Wage-setting: the state, employers and unions. Minimum wage
3. Job and income protection: employment protection legislation and unemployment benefits
4. Smoothening transitions I: Active labour market policies, education and training.
5. Smoothening transitions II: Retirement
6. Challenges of post-industrialism. Labour markets during the crisis
7. The political economy of labour market reforms. Instructions for final assignment
8. How to write a policy report?

Classes on Mondays from 14:00 to 16:00 in Linna K109, except for November 3 in Linna 4013

Course introduction:

The course is based on a comparative study between Finland and France, within EU context. The study compares essentially young women's situation, but also reflects upon youth transition to adulthood in general. The course introduces students to research conducted in advanced societies on youth transition to adulthood and the supposed prolongation of youth. In the different lectures, the actual patterns and markers of transition to the stage of adulthood are examined, based on up-to-date studies. The lectures analyse the current phenomenon of youth extension and changes within the stage of transition itself. The course enlarges towards contemporary socio-economic restructuring and highlights the influence it bears upon young people's routes of integration within the wider social sphere.

Teaching methods:

Lectures on Mondays; time: 14-16, room 5026 (Linna building)

Seminars on Fridays; time: 12-14 (or 12-15), room 5026 (Linna building)

Exception: the seminar on Friday 17th April will be hold in room K110 (Linnan building, ground floor)

The teaching occurs via lectures (12 hours) and seminars (12 to 16 hours). The lectures provide theoretical knowledge on particular themes related to youth transition to adulthood. In the seminars, the themes are explored deeper during group discussions based on questions and/or reading material, and students will give presentations on a small project (and project results) they are required to carry out.

Attention! Depending on the number of students taking part in the course, on some Fridays, the seminars will last longer (3 hours instead of 2 hours), so that all students get the chance to present their project.

The very last seminar should take place on Thursday 30th April, as Friday 1st of May is a bank holiday. However, if most students cannot attend on 30.4 due to their participation in other courses, the date will be changed to Monday 4th of May.

Course assessment:

The final grade is based on the scale 1-5, on the following requirements:

- Attendance and participation: Lectures and seminars attendance, active participation in the discussions: 2 op. (Students can miss up to two classes maximum).

- Project + project presentation: 2 op.

- Project report: 1 op.

Project + project presentation: Students in groups of 2 to 4 are required to carry out a small project based on issues related to the course – some topics are provided, but students can also choose their own topic (as long as the theme is related to the course). Students are expected to investigate a particular question (linked to the lecture themes) and answer to it concretely, for instance by putting in practice some research methods, such as: short interviews (eg. interviewing fellow students, siblings, parents and/or grand-parents, etc…); making small questionnaires; comparing some statistics or an issue related to youth between one’s home country and another country; visual research methods (using photography and filming). It is also possible, for instance, to examine documentaries related to youth and show the key parts to the class (that implies, for instance: what does the documentary shows? What can we learn about the youth? How young people are portrayed?). Each group of students is free to explore the methods they want. Each group will then give a presentation (max. 30 min long) about their project and explain how they proceeded and show their results to the class.

Project report: Each group is required to write a 10-page long report on the development of their project, as a group (one report per group). They must explain why they chose a particular topic, which methods (and why) they used to enquire the question, the results they obtained, how the whole process developed, and what they learned. The report should also be connected to the reading material (provided in the course and/or own literature sources) so as to offer a richer analysis.

Length: 10-12 pages long.

Course content:

-Lecture 1:

Introduction to youth transition to adulthood and the phenomenon of the prolongation of youth, information about the course in general and the course assessment (conducting a small project based on the course, with the help of the course reading material & writing a report about it).

-Seminar 1:

Discussing existing theories on youth transition and course assessment.

-Lecture 2:

Youth extension in figures (what the statistics show) (figures based on European sources of data, and Finland and France); contextualising today's youth transition to adulthood (what are the societal conditions within which young people become adult today); discussion about the present socio-economic situation and socio-structural changes that affect youth transition to adulthood.

Invited speaker: Laura Neuvonen – discussing the case of Spain

-Seminar 2:

Presentations (based on small project); discussion on issues raised during the lecture

-Lecture 3:

1) Doing comparative research; general information about Finland and France (socio-economic and historical backgrounds)

2) Looking at the process of school-to-work transition, differences between university systems, and how this can affect integration into the labour market.

-Seminar 3:

Project presentations; discussing cross-country research and the process of school-to-work transition in different countries.

-Lecture 4:

Integrating the labour market (illustrated with the youth situation in Finland and France); young people's current expectations from working life; dilemmas regarding integration into working life, with a focus on young women (issue of discrimination).

-Seminar 4:

Project presentations; discussing young people's strategies of integration in the labour market and value given to work.

-Lecture 5:

1) Leaving the parental home; becoming independent (financially and residentially); possibilities and difficulties to reach a fully autonomous status; plans for family formation; women’s additional dilemmas when both willing to work and to have children.

2) Becoming an adult today; re-conceptualising concepts (youth and adulthood); young people's new perspectives on transition to adulthood and on being an adult; new pathways to adulthood.

-Seminar 5:

Project presentations; discussing today's young people's possibilities and attitudes towards living arrangements and settling down, and starting a family.

-Lecture 6:

An example of research-into-practice based on a new project that attempts to develop cooperation between youth researchers and youth workers. Bridges are indeed lacking between researchers and practitioners working on the field.

Invited speaker: Annina Kurki – the youth workers’ perspective on youth transition to adulthood

-Seminar 6:

Project presentations; discussing new patterns of transition and changes among social concepts; course conclusion.

Maximum 25 students.

Transnational Islam in the West

Globalization of Islam and the growth of transnational Muslim communities in the West have become heated political issues with consequences that challenge in multiple ways Western societies. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and the Western states feel increasing challenges as they attempt to monitor and direct the construction of Islam in the transnational minority contexts.

The course is constructed around the following questions: what kinds of social and political developments explain the increasing public debate on Islam in the West? What kinds of perceptions on Islam dominate this debate? What can be said of the historical developments that explain Islam’s increasing presence in the West  from the cold war to the cyber age?

Before the beginning of the course the selected students are expected to view a BBC documentary on the life of Prophet Muhammad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8kQw1gtyQQ
and answer the following question (approximately 400 words in English or Finnish)
How did the documentary shape your perception on the early history of Islam?
The assignments should be handed in via e-mail to marko.juntunen@uta.fi before the first lecture.