The School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) has four departments of Sociology, Politics and International Relations, Anthropology as well as Gender Studies.

The Department of Sociology  undertakes teaching and research and it sees a strong link between high quality teaching and research. Undergraduate level teaching has been rated as excellent and as concerns postgraduate studies, the Department has been recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (United Kingdom) as an outlet for research training and supervision of postgraduate students (MRes and PhD). It has been placed in the top third of British university outlets and the one of the top two departments of sociology in Scotland.

While the Department is mainstream, it is internationally known for its research in the areas of sociology of religion; global change and historical/ comparative studies; life course, transitions and bodies as well as sociology of culture and social identities

It is a medium-sized department with sixteen permanent members of staff, which provides the benefits of scale – in terms of the range of teaching and research interests – while making it a sufficiently small to sustain an intimate and friendly atmosphere.

Contact Details 

Address:

Department of Sociology
The School of Social Science
Edward Wright Building
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3QY
UNITED KINGDOM 

Tel.:

+44 (0)1224-272726

Fax.:

+44 (0)1224-272552

E-mail:

socsci@abdn.ac.uk

Web-page:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/socsci/
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/sociology/

About Claire Wallace

from University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom)

Professor Claire Wallace, Dr., has recently moved to the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) from the Institute of Higher Studies in Vienna (Austria). She has been at the University of Lancaster (United Kingdom), the Central European University in Prague (Czech Republic), the Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Aberdeen.  She is Editor of European Societies, the official journal of the European Sociological Association.

Claire Wallace addresses social transformations in Central and Eastern Europe, her main interest being youth studies and in particular youth and social participation. She drafted the European Commission report entitled The Situation of Young People and Youth Policy in Europe, which formed the background to the White Paper A New Impetus for Youth. She has co-ordinated the project Household, Welfare and Family and has participated in various projects, one of which was on Youth, Citizenship and European Identity.  In recent years, Claire Wallace has published on citizenship and social capital.

About Christian Haerpfer

from University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom)

Professor Christian Haerpfer, Dr., Ms.c, is Head of the Centre for Strategic Development in Vienna (Austria) and he is Reader at the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom). Among others, he has been Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde and at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom as well as Head of the Centre for Strategic Development in Vienna (Austria).

His main interest lies in the fields of transformations in Post Communist Europe, Central and East European Politics, Political and Economic Sociology of Transformation, Democratisation, the Enlargement of the European Union, Living Conditions and Quality of Life of Europeans. Since the 1980s, Christian Haerpfer has addressed questions of state-building, democracy and democratization processes in post communist societies, with emphasis on participation. In recent years, he has among others co-authored publications on electoral politics; social capital and economic development as well as the enlargement of Europe.