Research subjects

Sociology is the scientific study of the origin, development, organization, and functions of human societies. It helps to understand how individual lives are affected by for example gender, social background and ethnicity. Demography is an interdisciplinary science that focuses on the study of the population, its size, composition and change.

Below are our research subjects for sociology and demography. Find out more by clicking on each of the research subjects below.

Research

Our research areas

Demography

Demografi är en tvärvetenskaplig disciplin som fokuserar på studier av befolkningen, dess storlek, sammansättning och förändring.

Sociology

Research subjects

Punk rockers at Sergels torg, Stockholm.

Cultural Sociology

The research area focuses on the cultural dimensions of social life with diverse points of departure: both cultural perspectives on the social in general and sociological perspectives on cultural objects and institutions. Studying different lifestyles is often of particular interest.

Person compares two piles of money, symbolizing wage gap

Economic Sociology

Economic sociologists analyze economic phenomena with sociological theories and perspectives. Sociologists have always been interested in understanding and explaining economic phenomena, from the household’s economy to the modern market society.

Social inclusion concept image - coloured figurines standing in group.

Ethnicity and Social Inclusion

Ethnicity and social inclusion focus on questions about how symbolic constructions of "us" and "others" take shape in relation to migration, ethnic diversity, and racialization.

Family Dynamics and Fertility

Fertility and processes related to childbearing are at the core of social demography. Fertility patterns shape population age structures as new cohorts of people add to the populations. Childbearing decisions are influenced by many factors related to the social environment in which people live.

Icon featuring adult person with baby stroller

Family Sociology

The research area focuses on the relationship between family and work and the gender dimensions of family life, as well as social, economic and cultural aspects of family life. Changes in family organization and behavior in Sweden and other Western societies are a particular focus.

Illustration featuring diverse cultures in society

Formal Demography

Formal demography is the field in demographic research that is devoted to the development and application of new methods for the analyses of demographic data.

Abstract image of different layers in different nuances

Inequality, Social Stratification and Mobility

Social stratification has been a central research area in Sociology ever since the discipline was established. The research area focuses on theories of inequality and social stratification in modern societies.

Migration and Integration

Migration is a key factor in contributing to population change, with different impacts on population structures in situations with more outmigrants than in-migrants and when the opposite holds.

Mortality, Health and Ageing

Mortality is at the core of topics in demography, and many of the methods that demographers rely on have been developed in research on longevity and mortality.

Political Sociology

Political sociology can be understood as the study of how “society” engages in political processes. Another way of approaching this relationship is to consider how political power is contested by, distributed among, and impacting different social groups.

Threads in different colours in a complicated network

Social Networks

The research area Social networks aims at analyzing the structure in relationships among various social actors, as well as how that structure changes over time.

Gender equality concept - gender symbols

Sociological Perspectives on Gender and Equality

This is a large research area within sociology. Central is the social construction of gender, and how this relates to other social identities such as gender, race, class, sexuality among others and how these social forces relate to the overall social structure and power relations in society.

Sociology of Education

Sociology of Education explores formation, education, teaching and learning in relation to other parts of society and to radical social processes, such as globalization and changes taking place in the world of work.

Sociology of Punishment, Law and Crime

This research subject examines the relationship between punishment, law, crime and society and complements Law and Criminology.