Doctoral Programme Sociology

Graduates are qualified junior academics. They have mastered the theories and methods applied in sociological research and are capable of critically discussing, analysing, and further developing them. As they have contributed to the knowledge in the field, they possess the competence to develop and conduct substantial research projects with scientific integrity, and they are qualified to reflect on these processes scientifically and theoretically.

Their acquired key competences include the ability to work independently and to communicate about their area of expertise within the scientific community and in society. They are therefore capable of making innovative contributions in scientific and professional contexts.

The Doctor of Philosophy Programme Sociology is grouped among the social and economic science study programmes.

As a reflexive discipline, sociology continually validates its issues and approaches in the light of the present day. As an empirical discipline, it constantly subjects its results to the test of experienced reality. Both aspects are reflected in the curriculum.

In accordance with the structure of the study programme, the central work on the dissertation will be accompanied by intensive mentoring by the faculty’s instructors as well as by corresponding courses (for example on questions of theoretical and methodological reflection of one’s own research). In addition, modules are offered that offer a preview of future occupational activities and that go beyond subject-specific aspects toward the development of generic competences and toward participation in the scientific community.

The Doctor of Philosophy Programme Sociology is the highest level of the scientific education and enables its graduates to theoretically structure sociological questions at the current level of the discipline, to methodically process them adequately, to present their own research results and to enter into interdisciplinary dialogue. In the modern knowledge society, graduates of the doctoral programme are equally equipped for academic careers as they are for planning and decision-making tasks at the intersections of science and practice.

In the society of the 21st century that is increasingly characterised by conflicting patterns of interpretation, there is a growing need for sociological explanations. In key positions of the knowledge society (research institutes, education, public administration, economy, associations, media), but also in the political public, the consideration of sociological knowledge is important for the further development of the society.

Moreover, the graduates are provided with the opportunity to participate first-hand in professional changes by acquiring social science core competences with regard to the performance demands of the rapidly changing professional world.

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