Sociology and Demography

Presentation

This programme provides the student with the necessary theoretical and methodological knowledge to conduct high quality empirical research aimed at analysing the lives of individuals in crucial areas of wellbeing, such as access to the job market, social mobility and the formation of families.

The subjects imparted give students the capacity to analyse the evolution of the welfare of individuals throughout their life as a result of the interaction between changes in the job market, family dynamics and social policies.

With this aim in mind, the course offers thorough training in the dynamic analysis of social inequalities to allow students to make international comparisons between social stratification patterns.

Objectives

This master provides students with throughout training so that they can understand and compare empirically alternative theories to explain socio-demographic changes and social inequalities in advance contemporary societies.

The focus of the problems is analytical, compare and empirically based. It combines sociology and demography, especially concerning family and migrations, from an empirical approach using the most appropriate advanced statistical techniques.

The programme gives students the capacity of analysis, both from a micro perspective, analysing strategies of individuals and homes, and from a macro perspective, taking into account the institutional restrictions placed on individual decisions.

The priority objective of this master is to combine sociological analysis with demographic analysis in order to study better important questions that affect the socioeconomic conditions of individuals and homes: their demographic dynamics, the job decisions of individuals and the interrelations between the two in different phases of the life cycle.

Skills acquired in this programme

Students will acquire the necessary skills to:

• Recognize the structure and the socio-demographic logic of post-industrial societies.
• Identify the basic theoretical tenets of the analysis of:
  • Social stratification, social mobility and inequalities.
  • The life cycle, family formation processes and migratory processes.
  • Individual decisions in the reconciliation of housework and remunerated employment.
• Apply adequate statistical techniques in order to analyse the lives of individuals and the structure of inequality.

In addition, students will be able to:

• Analyse and synthesize the state of the matter in a research subject.
• Identify and know the possibilities of the available data sources, both national and international.
• Determine the variables that will permit compared research and construct reliable indicators.
• Organize and plan research.
• Use quantitative methods and techniques of social research.
• Express their ideas in oral and written communication in their native language and in English.
• Work in interdisciplinary teams.
• Carry out independent learning and adapt to new research subjects.
• Contribute to the design of public policies aimed at dealing with social problems.
• Evaluate the projects for public policies and social intervention measures, and their results.
• Identify and measure factors of social vulnerability and conflictive processes.

Contents

CORE SUBJECTS (30 ECTS credits)

• Social Policy and the Welfare State (5 ECTS credits)
• Techniques of Statistical Analysis I (5 ECTS credits)
• Techniques of Statistical Analysis II (5 ECTS credits)
• Social Stratification Analysis (5 ECTS credits)
• Demographic Changes and Social Dynamics (5 ECTS credits)
• Family and Society (5 ECTS credits)
• Qualitative Research Methods (5 ECTS credits)

OPTATIVE COURSES (10 ECTS credits)

• Migration and Society (5 ECTS credits)
• Labour Economics (5 ECTS credits)
• Design, Evaluation and Analysis of Questionnaires for Survey Research (5 ECTS credits)
• Fundamentals of Political and Social Research (5 ECTS credits)
• Qualitative research methods (5 ECTS credits)

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER (20 ECTS credits)

Career prospects

The multidisciplinary training offered by this research master and its emphasis on quantitative research methodology prepare students for access to the doctorate, and to practise as social researchers and in professional activities in the following areas:

• Higher education
• International organizations
• Public and private social studies centres and services
• Socio-labour audits
• Institutional analysis and advising
• Demographic study centres
• Social scientific criticism, analysis and journalism

The training offered constitutes a sound base for those students who wish to do doctorate studies. Some of our doctorate students have commenced a brilliant career which has taken them to universities with international prestige, such as Princeton and Yale.

It is also very useful for students choosing to pursue a career based on empirical research, in demand by international organization, public authorities and private entities interested in the analysis of socio-demographic changes and the challenges they represent for social policy.

Professions for which this master's degree qualifies the holder:

• Specialist in family sociology
• Specialist in migrations sociology
• Specialist in social welfare
• Specialist in the assessment of social needs and of the effects of social policies
• Specialist in analysis of job markets
• Specialist in general administration
• Adviser to politicians and parliamentary groups