Social Sciences at the HWK
At the HWK, social science is understood as the science of society. Sectors, institutions and agents of modern societies are analyzed in their structures, their interactions and their effects. This includes the identification and investigation of new social and political challenges, e.g. through transnationalization or climate change as well as policy analyss of political areas such as social or economic policy.
Social science research aims at a better understanding of social processes and sometimes also at the optimization of these processes. Comparative studies of welfare state arrangements or economic policy institutions might help to avoid or at least minimize adverse side effects of future reforms in these fields.
On the level of the analysis of social action, social science can contribute to the understanding of how and under what conditions social integration will develop and, perhaps even more important, under which conditions social integration fails and alienation will prevail.
The omnipresence of social issues leads to inter- and transdisciplinary ties between social science research at the HWK and the other research areas represented at the institute. Cooperation evolvedin marine and climate research, e.g. in the field of climate change, or the neurosciences and cognitive sciences, for example studies on decision-making behavior of groups and individuals.
According to this broad understanding of Social Science, this research area at the HWK is called Social Sciences. In addition to fellows from the core disciplines sociology and political science, scientists from neighboring disciplines, such as economics, legal studies, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, ethnology and media studies, promote their projects here as well.
In the past few years, the HWK has been particularly active in the following fields:
- Comparative analysis of welfare states and social policy
- Studies on European politics and society
- Globalization, transnationalization and the transformation of the state
- Demographic development
- Social and political theory and the history of ideas
- Environmental sociology and policy
The HWK expressly encourages current and future fellows to introduce new topics into the institute and the research landscape of Northwestern Germany.
The HWK offers Fellowships for three to ten months, Junior Fellowships for up to 12 months. In addition to the Universities in Bremen and Oldenburg, regional co-operation partners are among others the following renowned institutes:
- The Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS, University of Bremen)
- The Center for Social Science Methodology
(MSW, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg) - The Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University Bremen
- The collaborative research center (SFB) 597 of the German Research Foundation (DFG) "Transformations of the State" at the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University Bremen.
For more information, please contact the e-mail address: sfuchs[ at ]h-w-k.de.