Courses in Political Science are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Political Science and for exchange students at the School of Social Sciences (Sociology, Psychology). Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in political science and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-pol@uni-mannheim.de.
Courses in Sociology are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Sociology and for exchange students at the School of Social Sciences (Political Science, Psychology). Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in sociology and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-soc@uni-mannheim.de.
The reading list will be provided in the first session. |
This lecture introduces incoming students to the fundamental principles of (social) science and empirical-analytical sociological research on social mechanisms. Our guiding question is: what is a reasonable (causal) explanation of social phenomena and how can it be verified?
We start with an introduction into the epistemological foundations of social sciences, addressing key insights of the philosophy of sciences, sociological theory, and analytical sociology. Guided by the macro-micro-macro model, we discuss key topics of the three building blocks of sociological explanations. Starting with theories of action, we first discuss both merits and challenges of rational choice theory and related approaches. Connecting individual actions with social structure, second, we discuss how social contexts shape human behavior by affecting both their opportunities and beliefs. Going back to the macro-level, third, we discuss different ways of aggregating the individual actions of interdependent actors.
Courses in Psychology are usually only open for incoming exchange students majoring in Psychology. Nominated exchange students will be contacted by their departmental exchange coordinator via e-mail at the end of November/
Exchange students from other schools and departments may only attend classes if (a) places are left for other students (b) they have basic knowledge in psychology and statistics (c) the departmental exchange coordinator explicitly approves their participation. In case of further questions, please contact: int-psy@uni-mannheim.de.