The bachelor's program is the first step to understanding society and trends professionally, as well as carrying out analytical and research work. During four years of study, you will get acquainted with modern ideas about social problems and approaches to their solution, you will feel more confident when choosing methods of collecting and analysing social data for research, and you will get the basic knowledge about certain areas of sociological knowledge — economic, political sociology, sociology of youth, health, etc. Your study path will consist of university-wide obligatory subjects (philosophy, political science, English), professional compulsory subjects (basics of sociology, social structure of society) and elective subjects. You will be able to independently construct your learning trajectory, and choose the courses you are interested in (from those offered by the Department of Sociology and in general at the university):
Graduates of the bachelor's program work in various fields, in analytical centres or marketing, as they are prepared to perform work aimed at analytical processing of social information and, accordingly, can be involved in all stages of social research carried out by representatives of analytical centres, sociological companies, which specialize in marketing research, and teams of other public and non-governmental organizations that carry out social research. Of course, as a bachelor majoring in ‘Sociology’ you will be able to continue your studies at the university in the second cycle of higher education at the master's level in the speciality ‘Sociology’.
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Part of the professionally oriented courses are taught in English. There are also wide opportunities for academic international mobility waiting for you, which you can view by returning to the main page of the department.
In the final fourth year of the undergraduate program, you will write a research-based thesis (theoretical or empirical). You will defend your work before the Examination Board. You must also pass a comprehensive state exam to receive a bachelor's degree in sociology. The graduation requirement is the completion of a 240-credit curriculum (7,200 hours) and the successful defence of a bachelor's thesis.
The principles of student-centered learning are central to how and why students learn. It also involves self-study of students, research and scientific practice, and the application of elements of a problem-oriented approach and cases. The Academy's professors use oral and written exams, presentations, essays, scientific articles, theses, research projects, course and qualification papers, as well as their defence. In general, a student can score a maximum of 100 points for the course, of which 30-40 points are for the exam, and the remaining 60-70 points must be earned during the semester through active participation in classes, submitted homework, and designed or implemented projects.
‘Sociology is not something abstract, but rather a concrete science that combines the so-called precise and imprecise aspects. Sociology concerns our entire social life, where economics, psychology, and culture are intertwined. By studying sociology, you can learn a lot about yourself, the world, and social interactions. At school, I had a talent for mathematics and the humanities, and I wanted to choose a speciality that combines these components. I learned about sociology from acquaintances and continued to find information about this speciality. The list of courses studied by sociologists at KMA was very helpful to me. It was also valuable to read Anthony Giddens' book ‘Sociology’, which was recommended to us by sociologist buddies.’
‘I lived in a paradigm where only exact, humanitarian and natural sciences exist. Discovering the social sciences was like discovering a secret room. Of all the social sciences, sociology attracted the most attention, so I began to read more about it. But this was not enough, I really wanted to communicate with a person who studies sociology. And it so happened that I met a girl who was just studying sociology. When she told me about this science, I realized that this is my dream and mission. In my opinion, sociology will always be relevant, because as long as we exist, we need to study society.’
‘Studying society, we (students of sociology) also study ourselves. Listening to sociological courses at KMA, you can always try on different cases, and theories in your life, reflect, and better understand yourself. The professors of the Department of Sociology are actively engaged in sociological activities, it is interesting to study with them and go through this path to knowledge of society together. I used to think that sociologists were only engaged in writing books, but they are not. It's amazing that studying in this speciality you can focus on a specific field, for example, health sociology or gender studies, and further develop as a professional in the direction that interests you.’
The course aims to provide initial knowledge about the subject of sociology, its main theoretical directions, and research methods, as well as lay the foundation for a sociological understanding of culture and society, its social structures and social groups, social organizations, and social institutions, socialization and social interaction, social deviations and social control, social stratification and basic forms of social inequality, social-class and social-ethnic structures, gender and family-marital relations. Seminar classes will deepen the lecture material by discussing the material, and will also help to form the initial skills of conducting a reasoned polemic on the problems of sociology. The course includes a survey of empirical material from sociological studies of phenomena related to age and maturation, the interaction between the individual and society, economic and power relations within the group, education, and religion, as well as socio-cultural influences on the body, health and the idea of beauty.
Social anthropology explores the study of human behaviour and thought in their sociocultural context, and offers an interdisciplinary framework for the study of the relationship between the individual and culture. The course provides an overview of social anthropology as a branch of anthropological knowledge that has different development trajectories on the European continent and in the USA and Canada. The course includes an overview analysis of the development of anthropological theory and methods in modern anthropology (including observation, fieldwork, ethnography, etc.). The main topics include the study of cross-cultural variability caused by culturally specific conceptualizations of processes related to age and maturation, gender, sexuality and reproductive activity of individuals, the interaction between the individual and society, the organization of kinship relations, marriage and family life, economic and power relations within the group, religion, the formation of nations and ethnic self-identity, intergroup (intercultural) interaction and cultural dynamics.
Law for sociologists is an educational discipline for students of the ‘Sociology’ program of higher education institutions, aimed at forming modern legal awareness and legal culture, obtaining scientific ideas about the system of national and international law. The educational discipline covers the basics of legal theory, and constitutional law, as well as the main branches of Ukrainian law: civil, family, labour, administrative and criminal law. The study of theoretical provisions and implementation of practical tasks gives students the opportunity to orient themselves in the legal realities of Ukraine. The course lets students understand the cause-and-effect relationships of legal provisions to the extent sufficient to carry out practical activities in the main speciality ‘Sociology’.
The goal and task of the course are to provide knowledge of the main directions of sociological theory (conditionally from the 20s to the 70s of the 20th century). Analysis of the sociological ideas of the Chicago School, structural functionalism (T. Parsons and R. Merton), symbolic interactionism, theories of social conflict and social exchange, phenomenological sociology, ethnomethodology, constructivist and dramaturgical approaches, neo-Marxism (Frankfurt School). As part of the course, theoretical concepts and sociological problems are also systematized. Particular attention is paid to the formation of the habit of analytical and critical thinking and the application of acquired knowledge (theoretical concepts) to the analysis of current events of social life, everyday situations, empirical data, etc.
Familiarity with basic concepts and methods of quantitative data analysis of empirical social research is expected. Issues of measurement and quality of data, the definition of data structure, and the organization of their input and processing are considered. As the example of real research, students get acquainted with how data management is carried out, as well as their necessary transformations, selection, and analysis of observations, calculation, and interpretation of descriptive statistics, indicators of the relationship of variables of various types, formulation, and verification of statistical hypotheses. Special attention is paid to methods of graphical and tabular presentation of analysis results when preparing reports and presentations. Practical classes provide an opportunity to acquire the skills of independent work with the SPSS computer package for statistical data analysis. It is desirable, but not mandatory, to be familiar with an introductory course on the basics of mathematical statistics.
The course is devoted to methods of statistical analysis, which allow explaining the behaviour of a dependent variable by the influence of several independent factors and building models of its prediction. Using examples, students are introduced to multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance, logistic regression, log-linear analysis, and covariance analysis. For each of the methods, the appropriate class of tasks, conditions, and limitations of the method's use (especially data requirements) are outlined, and the issues of analysis and interpretation of the application results are considered. The SPSS statistical data analysis package is used in practical classes. The purpose of the course: to provide students with theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for 1) understanding of professional publications based on empirical data and critical evaluation of their quality; 2) independent use of statistical methods of data analysis, which are used to build prediction models of one dependent variable on the basis of several independent variables.
The course is devoted to the methods of statistical analysis, designed to study the structure of relationships of many variables (or observations). Factor analysis, multivariate scaling, and cluster analysis are considered. Students get acquainted with the theory of multidimensional data, features of planning, and data collection techniques for these methods. For each of the methods, the appropriate class of tasks, conditions, and limitations of the method's use (especially data requirements) are outlined, and the issues of analysis and interpretation of the application results are considered. Practical classes are conducted using the SPSS package.
The course involves familiarizing students with the basics of programming quantitative sociological research and methods of collecting quantitative social information. Its purpose is to form the skills of conducting quantitative sociological research, ensuring representativeness and other quality parameters (reliability, validity, etc.) of the data obtained after its completion, as well as assessing the reliability of sociological data in various publications.
The study of the main conceptual foundations of modern sociological theories, the specifics of the modern development of theoretical sociology in comparison with the classical stage, and familiarization with the content of the most influential ideas of modern sociology and social theory (conditionally from the 60s-70s of the XX century), in particular the world-system analysis, theory of communicative action, structuralism and post-structuralism (K. Lévi-Strauss, R. Barth, L. Althusser, M. Foucault), neofunctionalism, synthetic and meta-approaches, concepts of ‘postmodern’ sociology and sociology of the postmodern era. The views of representatives of logical positivism and postpositivism (K. Popper, T. Kuhn, I. Lakatos) on the methodology and development of science and theoretical knowledge are also studied during the course. Systematization of theoretical concepts and sociological issues is also carried out within the framework of the course. Students must acquire and systematize knowledge about the main theoretical assumptions of modern sociological theory and related disciplines (social philosophy, political theory, philosophy, and methodology of social sciences), and be able to use the conceptual apparatus of the latest social theories in historical-sociological and theoretical analysis.
The purpose of the course is to familiarize students with the basic concepts of qualitative methods of sociological research, to reveal their role in the study of social processes, to familiarize them with the theoretical foundations and history of the emergence and development of qualitative methods, the features of their use, and the strategy of sociological research. The significance of the course lies in the fact that it not only presents students with the historical and theoretical foundations, concepts, and approaches of qualitative sociology and its main methods, but also gives them the opportunity to try and ‘feel’ qualitative methods in action in practical classes. In this way, after completing the course, students will have the basics of practical research skills, which they will be able to independently develop further in their own research work.
Relationship between the sociology of population and demology (general theory of population), demography, statistics and geography of population, and other sciences that study population. Population structures, methods of their study. The essence of the population is the basis and subject of the functioning of society, the processes of its development, and laws. Emergence and development of basic concepts of population, the definition of goals, methods, and tools of demographic policy. Analysis of modern population problems, issues of defining goals, methods, and tools of population policy.
The course examines the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the interpretation of social structure in sociology, the constituent elements of social structure (status, roles, social organizations, institutions, groups), concepts and empirical studies of social stratification, class structure, and social mobility, as well as the structure of gender relations in society.
The aim of the course is to acquaint students with gender aspects of the social structure of society and to develop basic skills in critical analysis of social issues. The course will consider the peculiarities of gender terminology, methodological explanations of gender inequality (social constructivism as opposed to biological determinism), the results of empirical sociological and statistical studies, and interpretations of socio-cultural differences in the life activities of men and women. In addition, such issues as the emergence and development of gender studies, gender role stereotypes and gender socialization in society, sexuality as a socio-cultural phenomenon, gender relations in the family, in the field of education and employment, distribution of power, and political activity in society will be discussed; feminism as a social thought and political practice will be analysed, as well as the perspectives of gender equality in modern society, etc.
The course examines empirical materials and modern theoretical models explaining the evolution of social intelligence and social behaviour among Homo sapiens. The main topics of the course concern the human ability to establish relationships (including dominance and cooperativeness), understand the emotions and intentions of others, form hierarchies, exist in families, and distinguish between types of relationships between other individuals (kinship, enmity, friendly alliance) and to use this information in planning one's own behaviour. A special place will be occupied by topics related to human openness to socialization (the ability to internalize social norms and learn conventionalities of behaviour), as well as its role in the formation of social groups and complex societies in the process of evolution. Parallels with the social life of other groups of primates are given.
The course involves deepening knowledge of the main methodological and methodical principles of organizing and conducting focus groups. Objectives of the course: a) familiarizing students with the main methods of gathering and analysing information by the focus group method, and b) forming students' practical skills in organizing and conducting focus groups.
The purpose of the course is to acquaint students with the basic principles of social network analysis. The course consists of theoretical and practical components. The theoretical part contains a repetition of concepts key to network analysis: social structures, social capital, information flows and exchange, etc., and an introduction to the methodological principles of graph theory and sociometry as the methodological foundations of network analysis. During the seminar, students will be introduced to the concepts of ‘network’ and the procedures for analysing network structures in software (main programs: UCINET, NetDraw, additional programs: Visone, Pajek, Siena). The course also includes an overview of the main areas and examples of the application of network analysis in the social sciences, including an overview of political networks, organizational networks and ‘nodes’, migrant networks, etc.
The purpose of the course is to bring more positive attitude towards health among students, to make students more interested in the health care system in light of reforms, as well as to increase the general level of awareness of students in evidence-based approach in health. The format of the course is based on the guest lectures (and discussions with them) and online courses, co-produced by the lecturer of this course. As a result of the course, students will recognize the peculiarities of the practice and profession of medical doctors, receive interdisciplinary basic knowledge about the health care system components, principles of health care service provision and consumption, and behavioural components of the health care system, in particular about the practices of disease prevention (e.g. vaccination). The course has been developed within the Erasmus+ BIHSENA project coordinated by Maastricht university.
Researchers, scholars often receive funding for their projects via grants. For this, you need to prepare a grant application and argue, describe aspects of your research in the format of a project — grant application. Also, research can also be part of a larger project that also requires integration and understanding of how projects function. Typical project management terminology, components that compile a project (budget, team description, sustainability, monitoring and evaluation, communication, etc.) are considered in this course, aiming at graduates of the program have a basic set of knowledge and skills for project activities. Guest lectures from those who design and implement real projects, discussions, group project preparation (homework and credit assignments) are work formats. The coordinator of this course has extensive experience in initiating project ideas, preparing project applications and in project implementation (such as the Ukrainian-Swiss project 'Medical Education Development') that brings to the course the taste of practicality, real-life experience and trends.
Despite the multi-paradigm nature of sociological science, the recognition of social interactions as essential for the existence of society is common to most researchers working in its field. The course provides a detailed consideration of the evolution of social interaction as a special form of activity, its main structural elements, prerequisites for its effectiveness, and further consequences. At the same time, the focus of attention is on the complications of the institutionalization of various forms of interactions (status incompatibility, marginal statuses), the influence of individual status characteristics of an individual on his personality (master status, professional deformations), abilities and personal traits as the basis for the effectiveness of interaction (empathy, emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, anxiety, locus of control), distortion of the picture of reality during interaction (errors of causal attribution, group thinking, conformity), unexpected results of social interactions (paradoxical actions, black swan) and means of overcoming difficulties in the process of interaction.
The purpose of the political sociology course is to acquaint students with the general principles of sociological analysis of various political and organizational forms (macro level), their ideological basis, and political processes (micro level) in modern societies. The first part of the course will consider the varieties of political ideologies and social factors that influence their emergence and institutionalization in political parties (in particular, the role of leadership, mass media, latent social divisions, and varieties of self-identification of social groups). In the second half of the course, the implementation of these theoretical concepts by real political elites in Ukraine will be considered through the analysis of the modern process of seeking elite consensus at different levels. Also, the course will present modern studies of networks uniting Ukrainian elite actors, the self-identification of elite representatives, and their connection with ideological currents, and social processes in other countries will be considered.
The purpose of the educational course in economic sociology and sociology of entrepreneurship is to acquaint students with the general principles of sociological analysis of various organizational forms of the economy (macro level) and economic processes (micro level) in societies with market economies. In the first half of the course, sociological explanations of the historical development of capitalism as a system of organization of production relations (Marx, Weber, Polyanii) are considered, as well as the place of the ‘market’ as a social phenomenon in the general conceptualization of society by neoclassical economists, neoinstitutionalists, and structural functionalists. In the second half of the course, the entrepreneur will be considered as a basic social element of a market society, in particular the psychological characteristics of entrepreneurs, their social origin, their rootedness in wider social processes, and their agency in the processes of social transformations.
The main interests of psychological research include the study of the individuals’ influence on each other, the impact of a group on a person and the interaction between groups. Psychologists tend to study more closely the internal psychological-emotional, cognitive and motivational processes and their causes/antecedents in individuals, while sociologists pay more attention to the group and institutional contexts of social behaviour. Social psychology brings these two sets of phenomena together, taking them into account when explaining the nature and causes of human behaviour. In addition to building a general theoretical foundation and explaining the specifics of the methodology, this introductory course in social-psychological issues includes an overview of such basic topics as social norms, attitudes, motivation, conformity, social perception, authority, emotions, stereotypes, aggression, prosocial behaviour, sensitivity and cognitive biases.
A general theoretical course that introduces students to the basics of medical sociology and reveals critical dimensions in the interaction between social organization, medicine and human health. The course acts as an initial step in a cycle of courses, focused on the issues of factors in the interaction between society and the health, and well-being of individuals.
The course offers an interdisciplinary basis for a systematic scientific study of the connections between language, culture and society from the perspective of a cognitive approach. The current course is a practical discipline that will teach students about empirical studies of the interactions between the language of a cultural group, the worldview / thinking of its representatives and the internal organization of society. It will also provide them with skills needed for independent research activities in this area. Materials include findings from the fields of cognitive anthropology, linguistics, psychology and sociology. The methodological focus of the course is on quantitative methods, with additional involvement of qualitative strategies of data collection and analysis.
A review course focused on the concept of value and achievements of empirical research in the field of axiological hierarchies in sociology, anthropology and social psychology from the middle of the 20th century till now. The main topic will include such areas as intergenerational transmission of values, demographic and sociocultural aspects associated with different value preferences, changes in them, gender differences in value preferences, the influence of parents on the formation of a child's axiological profile, the influence of (mis)coincidence of individual and cultural values’ hierarchy on health, as well as the connection between value orientations and the psychological life of an individual. Special attention will be paid to modern methods of profiling values, main theoretical controversies and problems of cross-cultural research of value priorities. The seminar program includes the works of K. Boehnke, R. D'Andrade, C. Kluckhohn, M. Rokeach, R. Inglehart, J. Saucier, G. Hofstede, S. Schwartz, U. Schönpflug, etc., and an overview of relevant methodologies. Modern criticism of the theory of values and further directions of research of sociocultural values in social sciences are also considered.
Cognitive anthropology studies the relationship between society and its mental landscape. Cognitive anthropologists are interested in how members of different social groups understand the world around them and conceptualize what happens in it, ranging from natural things or man-made material objects (such as plants, colours, diseases, cars, food, clothing etc.) to abstract concepts (such as social justice, use of land or forests, raising children, happiness, success, etc.). The cognitive approach to culture is an important research niche that has developed intensively in North America and Europe since the 1970s as a result of the ‘cognitive turn’ that has spread throughout the social sciences. This corpus of research incorporates the achievements of various disciplines that study language and thought processes. Over several decades of its development, the cognitive theory has proposed a number of vivid theoretical models and innovative methodological developments, which have become central to modern applied research on human culture due to its interdisciplinary nature and empirical orientation. The course focuses on the main factors, related to the measurement of cultural parameters, that are important to sociologists. Methodologically, the course has a quantitative focus.
The course aims to acquaint students with scientific discussions about the public engagement of sociologists, point out the role played by leading modern sociologists in explaining and changing the society in which they live and work, and to encourage students themselves to conduct engaged sociological research. The students of the course will read and discuss classical texts that substantiate the need for public engagement of the scientist (C. W. Mills, P. Bourdieu), and will get acquainted with the origin of the very concept of ‘public sociology’ (M. Burawoy), as well as with the attempts of scientists to critically understand the existing public system and outline alternatives (the project ‘Realistic Utopias’ under the leadership of E. O. Wright). Particular attention will be paid to activist methodology. In parallel with the theoretical and methodological excursion, students will discuss the possibilities of public sociology in the post-Soviet urban space. In cooperation with social activists, artists and journalists, course participants will have the opportunity to carry out a sociological analysis of urban social movements in Kyiv and thus participate in solving social problems in the post-Soviet city (illegal construction, environmental problems, manifestations of xenophobia, urban marginality, etc.).
The sociology of childhood is a part of age sociology. The course examines the stages of socialization, starting from birth until the child reaches adulthood, the moment of personal formation. The basic social skills of an individual at different stages of life regarding the establishment of relations with the social environment, as well as the dynamics of the development of these relations, will be considered in detail. Much attention will be paid to the early stages of socialization (from birth), which, according to modern research, are of great importance for a further personality formation. An important place is given to consideration of age crises and the basic needs of each age group. The course is designed for sociologists. However, it will also be interesting for future parents. It is assumed that students will devote a significant part of their time to independent research work, the impetus for which will be knowledge gained during lectures and seminar discussions. Research work can be based on the analysis of original primary empirical data, obtained by the student during practical research (observation, survey, experiment, case study, etc.), on secondary data collected by other researchers, reviews and comparisons of theoretical sources, as well as on the analysis of texts and historical sources.
The proposed course is devoted to biography as a research strategy. Attention is focused on the fact that an adequate methodology of humanitarian knowledge and discourse is fundamentally dialogic, interactive, and acutely sensitive to personal ‘voices’ (M. Bakhtin), which is recognized through the technique of interpretive sociology. The materials of three research projects using the biographical method are analysed (A. Aleksev; D. Berto, O. Meshcherkina and V. Semenova; R. Lenchovskyi). The acquired knowledge will help the future specialist to work with cases of stigmatized individual and group identifications.
The aim of the course is to consider gender relations in the political sphere of society. The course program provides the deepening theoretical knowledge acquired by students in the process of studying the social structure of society. Mastering the course involves learning about the essence of gender equality as an integral part of the institution of politics. The main task of the course is to acquaint students with the concept of gender stratification, gender specifics of the formation and dynamics of power relations in it, the basics of gender policy and the movement for equal rights and opportunities for men and women. In addition, this course involves consideration of successful models of gender policy in Western (for example, Scandinavian) societies.
The course is aimed at revealing the peculiarities of the behaviour of a specific sociodemographic group, which is at an important stage of the formation of social and professional expectations, roles and statuses, internalization of norms and values, family and extra-family socialization, which finds its mark in specific youth forms of behaviour and consciousness, in concepts of the youth subculture, etc. During the course, students will be able to familiarize themselves with the research on youth as a social group, its place and role in the social structure, the process of personality formation, the influence of social differences on the choice of a profession and on the social advancement of young people, the professional self-determination of young people and its impact on the system of value orientations, features of young people's attitude to work, characteristics of the youth family, etc.
As A. Giddens points out, social organizations ‘not only accompany us into this world but also fix our progress on the path of life and escort us to the last path.’ Such ‘ubiquity’ of social organizations creates wide opportunities for sociological study for both means of ensuring their effective functioning (organizational structure, leadership and management in organizations, organizational culture and organizational climate, motivation of organization members to perform activities and their satisfaction with them, etc.), and the main threats that arise at various stages of the organization's life cycle (burnout, alienation, workaholic syndrome, deformations when making organizational decisions, etc.). The course is aimed at considering the main theoretical and methodological achievements of empirical investigations of this kind and discussing the possibilities of their practical application.
Social inequality has an important psychological dimension: how and why does such inequality affect the ways in which people think, feel and act? And what can theory and research tell us about the psychological factors and processes that help maintain and justify economic inequality? Social psychology is central to the study of inequality because it provides essential tools for analysing the connections between large-scale structures of inequality and individual feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. In the context of inequality, people's perceptions and reactions are influenced by a range of socio-psychological processes, including social comparison, relative deprivation, perceptions of fairness, social identity, power relations and ideological positions. How are our ideas about social statuses, class and gender differences formed? What are the main sociopsychological processes through which inequality is created, reproduced and resisted in interpersonal interaction?
Within the course, we will discuss the main approaches to advertising as a social phenomenon from the point of a sociological view. We will also talk about the connection between advertising, mass consciousness, and consumption (in particular, individual consumption of advertising); consider the main modern theories of the functioning of advertising in the social space; we will analyse advertising influences in transforming society, discuss the influences of advertising and social reality.
A general overview of the problems of the sociology of culture. Acquaintance with the main theoretical approaches and directions of empirical research in this field. Analysis of different approaches to defining culture as a special dimension of social life; research of social processes involved in the development, production and perception of culture; interaction of culture and social structure (analysis of the role of culture in the formation of class, ethnic, gender and other interactions and identities). Also, part of the course is devoted to the analysis of the features of sociocultural changes and transformations in the so-called transitive countries and in the world of globalization.
The course aims to give students an idea of the main approaches and concepts of city sociology and modern urbanism, their history and formation. Both the gap and division of specialized sociological, sociopolitical, critical and general cultural approaches to the study and analysis of the city, as well as its phenomena, as well as more radical and interdisciplinary urban approaches (the so-called urban studies) are analysed separately. The course is based on modern literature on the sociology of the city and urban studies, analysis of empirical materials and case studies.
The purpose of the course is to get acquainted with such a method of qualitative sociology as an in-depth interview, and to learn how to use this method in one's own research. In particular, the place of the in-depth interview among other sociological methods, technical support, interview stages, coding and interpretation, the combination of theory and empirical data, the role of the researcher and ethical aspects will be considered. Each student will have to conduct two in-depth interviews (narrative and semi-structured) and present the results of their mini-research to the group. As a result of the course, students should learn to scientifically interpret information obtained through in-depth interviews and consider each specific case as part of a wider social context.
The course examines theoretical foundations, as well as traditional and modern approaches to communications in the field of public health, consisting of interpersonal and mass communication activities aimed at improving the health of both individual target groups and the population in general. Special attention is given to communication program planning, development and the role of communications in health behaviour change. In addition, on the basis of cases, we will consider the (in)efficiency of communications in health care during pandemics.
The aim of the course is a general overview of the theory and methodology of policy analysis in general and public health policy in particular. The course examines the methods and tools of politics; stakeholders; stages of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policy in the field of public health and the formation of its agenda. Also, the course pays attention to the analysis of the impact of political, social and economic factors on public health policy and the response of public health policy in different countries of the world to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The purpose of the course is a general overview of the theoretical and methodological foundations of comparative sociological research; principles and theory of welfare states and their health care systems. Special attention in the course is given to the analysis of comparative sociological studies of health and health inequalities in European welfare states. Also, the course examines international comparative sociological research on health with the participation of Ukraine and the importance of practical use of the results of such comparative sociological research in public health policy.
The course examines classical and modern social theories in the field of health, illnesses and medicine. These theories are grouped and analysed by topics: gender differences in health; doctors, patients and medicine; inequalities in health; healthy lifestyle; mental health; alternative medicine, healing and public health policy. In addition, structural-functional approaches to health care systems will be discussed in the seminar classes of the course; the theory of conflict and inequality in health; symbolic interactionism and stigmatization of people with mental disorders; theories of social capital and health; intersectional theory.
The purpose of the course is to familiarize with the essence, principles and stages of change management: Individual Change, Team Change, Organizational Change, Cultural Change and Leading Change. The course also provides a general overview of the field of sociology of management research; social management and sociological support for management decision-making. Special attention is paid to the theory and approaches to change management; analysis of the process of resistance to changes; communications in the process of changes; analysis of the introduction of complex changes and evaluation of the effectiveness of their implementation.
What is sexuality? How and why can we explore it? Contrary to the popular perception of sexuality as a biological/physiological phenomenon, this course proposes to consider sexuality as a social institution, a set of subjectivities, practices, desires, identities and processes of meaning-making. The course pays special attention to the issue of power relations, analysis of sexual stratification in society, mechanisms of (re)production of normative ideas about sexuality, the intersection of sexuality, gender, class and race. Together, we will reflect on what prevailing ideas about sexuality exist in Ukraine and the world, we will connect the Ukrainian context with the global one. The course also aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between sexuality and other social processes and formations. Together, we will develop critical optics that will help us better understand such phenomena as capitalism, nationalism, and racism through the analysis of sexuality.
In this course, we will familiarize ourselves with basic texts in feminist theory and the main controversies in feminist activism. The course opposes the Western-centric translational understanding of feminism commonly known by the metaphor of ‘waves’ and instead focuses on the diversity of feminist currents and major debates that are at the heart of feminist analysis. We will focus special attention on feminist groups, initiatives and organizations that operate or have operated in Ukraine. We will work with classic theoretical texts, fiction, legislative documents, self-publishing, videos and films, journalistic articles and blog posts. The course will help develop an understanding of how feminist theory engages the categories of gender, sex, sexuality, race, nation, neoliberalism, and militarism.
Candidate of sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, Associate professor, PhD in anthropology (University of Connecticut, USA)
building 6, room 213
