Solidarity and social justice in contemporary societies

Course goals

• To be able to recognize and describe patterns of social problems and inequalities as they relate to solidarity and social justice, for instance on topics of gender, wealth, and intergenerational issues across European countries in an independent and scientific manner.
• To be able to recognize and describe variation in public and social policy responses to these social problems and inequalities across European countries in an independent and scientific manner.
• To be able to recognize, describe and differentiate multiple theoretical approaches for understanding social inequalities in relation to solidarity and social justice, including sociological, psychological and political philosophical approaches.
• To be able to apply these theoretical approaches to European examples of social problems and inequalities, for instance related to gender, wealth, and intergenerational inequality in an interdisciplinary manner.
• To be able to explain the ways in which public and social policy approaches shape and are shaped by social inequalities and differing perspectives on solidarity and social justice.

Content

Social inequality is evident throughout Europe and beyond. Societies continue to face persistent structural inequalities arising from differences in, for instance, ethnicity, class, gender, age, and sexual orientation. In fact, in recent years the class divide has become even stronger in many societies, with rising inequality between the haves and the have-nots. And despite important progress in previous decades, significant gender inequalities, such as unequal divisions of work and care, remain. At the same time, European societies are confronted with emerging inequalities in other contexts such as sexuality, migration, climate and health. These emerging inequalities are often related to more structural forms of inequality along the lines of ethnicity, class, age and gender. As a result, European countries face complex social problems that require sufficient social policy responses. However, these social policy responses can only be successful if deemed acceptable by the general public.
 
In this course, you will become familiar with some of the most pressing social inequality issues as they relate to welfare and well-being. By focusing on European societies, you will learn to compare and contrast social inequality patterns, as well as societal and policy responses to social inequality. How do various societies respond to enduring, growing or changing inequalities? Do these challenges lead to an erosion of solidarity, in an 'us versus them' rhetoric? When and why do people stand up for social justice (or not)? And to what extent are we accepting of social inequality? Taking a sociological, psychological and (to some degree) political philosophical approach to these topics, this course offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social inequality and the societal as well as social policy responses in contemporary Europe.
 
This course is offered within the minor Social Policy and Public Health and is an elective course within Sociology. This course offers students the opportunity to study questions about social inequality, solidarity and social justice from an interdisciplinary perspective, linking these issues to socially relevant themes and debates. Therefore the course fits well within the bachelors Interdisciplinary Social Science or Sociology.

Academic Skills
The ability to develop and defend a theoretically-informed standpoint about social inequality, solidarity and social justice in written form and in group discussions. The ability to compare and contrast national developments in social inequality (for instance related to gender, wealth, and intergenerational inequality) in an interdisciplinary manner and to report on this in written form and in group discussions.