Thematic units

Ethnicity, migration, nationalism and minorities

One branch where the School has developed a special programme is on matters related to Ethnicity. This interdisciplinary field has its centre of gravity within the Sociology programme, but many other subjects, such as Social Psychology, Social Policy and Social Work, Legal Studies and Journalism are also active within the field. The programme is open to all students with Sociology as their main or minor subject, but also to other students who have taken Social Psychology or Law as their minor.

Students have the opportunity to specialize within a programme centered around ethnicity, where the courses are given mainly within the discipline of Sociology, but also in cooperation with other subjects. The programme is strongly supported by CEREN, the research centre on Ethnic Relations, Racism and Nationalism, which is a special body within the research institute of the School.

The research connected to CEREN covers many topical fields, such are racism in the media, questions related to migration, especially immigrants in the labour market, and migrant organisations, as well as questions related to minority issues, such as the Swedish- speaking population in Finland, especially in relation to education. In many ways, this research supports the teaching in the ethnicity programme. CEREN is also involved in research on cross-cultural relations between Finland and Sweden internally and externally. This relates to the Nation State and studies on nationalism, but also to trends of globalisation and transnationalism. To sum up, the research activities, as well as the teaching programme, relate topics on migration, integration, racism and xenophobia to nation building, minorites and multiculturalism.

The programme is also supported by international scholars in the field who visit the school as International Readers or by other arrangements.

Communication and Opinion

The thematic study unit of Communication and Opinion combines the teaching and research resources of the School in Political Science and Communication. The study unit covers the communication of politics and the processes of political opinion formation and administration as in the interaction between political actors, institutions, organisations and citizens through the media and other means of communication. The growing use of new information technologies whithin these processes of political communication constitutes a challenge for this interdisciplinary field of research in Political Science, Administration, Communication and Media Studies.

The teaching of the study unit is based on the research interests of its key representatives at the School. In Political Science the teaching is related to research projects covering political parties, organisations and administration as well as the political and democratic dimensions of communication and information technologies. In Communication and Media Studies, the School is involved in various relevant projects ranging from studies of political issues and dialogues in the media to investigations of media power. The study unit is directed towards future decision-makers within the public as well as the private sector, who are increasingly dependent on the understanding and analysis of the dynamics between communication, opinion, media, and new means of information as a major part of the political process.

Social Studies

Environmental social studies and questions of rural-urban relationship ("rurban relations") in late modern societies have for a long time been one of the core areas of studies and research at the Swedish School of Social Science. Students within the academic fields of Political and Administrative Science, Sociology, and Public Law can choose a number of courses in environmental social studies, including courses in rural-urban relations and regional development. Though Swedish is the language of teaching in most courses, some courses are taught in English.

The teaching in the field of environmental social studies and rural-urban relations draws its strength from a broad scale of research projects. Some of the projects have a comparative European perspective and are based on networks of European research institutions. Other research projects are focused on the transformation of bilingual coastal communities in Finland, including coastal and archipelago communities and regions where there may be competing interests between leisure, environmental, and economic actors. These projects are coordinated at a research platform called FO-RUM, where research on local administration and planning also has a strong position. In addition, there is close cooperation between the School's academic staff and visiting International Readers linked to the School, adding important opportunities for cross-national comparisons and academic exchange.