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Sociology

City centre campus: Linna-building, 5. floor., Kalevantie 5, 33100, TAMPERE

The discipline of sociology studies social phenomena of all scales. Sociological imagination opens analytical and critical perspectives on our contemporary way of life: what we share, who and what we exclude, and what is changing right now.

Sociologists' research topics at Tampere University range from the management of European institutions to the transformations of Finnish working life and from cultural inequalities to the economic practices of households. Their studies also cover such issues as the spread and diffusion of global trends in politics and government and everyday practices in homes and various organizations, including offices and research laboratories.

Tampere University has an established tradition of educating specialists on social questions. The graduates in sociology can make insightful observations on societal transformations and are adept at conceptualizing the relationships between various contemporary phenomena because they see them from an analytic distance. Tampere University’s first professor of sociology was appointed in 1947. Today, the discipline employs 12 permanent members of teaching staff, of whom two work at the Pori Unit of Tampere University. In addition to the permanent teaching staff, the Faculty of Social Sciences also employs 14 other postdoctoral researchers in sociology.

At Tampere University, all teachers in sociology are also active researchers. The discipline educates students on three levels.

  • With five other disciplines, sociologists teach in the Bachelor’s Programme in Social Sciences; annually, between 80 to 100 students graduate.
  • In the Master’s Programme, sociology is one of the major subjects, and some 25 students begin their studies annually.
  • Sociology at Tampere University provides a vibrant and ambitious research training community that educates students for the Doctor of Social Sciences degree. The Unit of Sociology is currently educating approximately 30 postgraduate students.

Professor Juha Suoranta is the Head of the field of study.