The School’s research is primarily carried out in five thematic networks which link expertise from the School’s various fields. The six fields – journalism and communication, legal studies, social work and social policy, sociology, social psychology and political science and administration – form the basis of the research conducted in the networks.
More information about the research at the School can be found in the Research Portal.
Soc&kom also participates in research networks, research centres and other forms of cooperation, e.g. INEQ - Helsinki Inequality Initiative, and Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities HSSH.
Teaching is research-based, which means that these research areas are the foundation of all teaching at the Swedish School of Social Science.
The network analyses how politics is developed and shaped in the tension between the political engagement and participation of the citizenry and constantly changing public institutions. A particular focus is on how social and institutional changes impact the values, attitudes and participation of individuals, but also on how new public forms of organisation and management, such as policy programmes, partnerships, networks, projects and local action groups, influence the results of policymaking.
Network leader: Stefan Sjöblom
The network is maintained by The Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism, CEREN. CEREN is a lively research environment with cutting-edge research projects, active national and international networks, and intensive cooperation with authorities and civil society.
CEREN carries out research on politics of migration, belonging and citizenship; policies and practices of integration; diaspora, transnationalism and minorities; racism and antiracism; postcolonialism, decoloniality and indigeneity.
Network leader: Suvi Keskinen
The network conducts multidisciplinary research on the social living conditions of individuals, identities, various groups and societies. The research seeks to identify patterns in the behaviour of individuals, understand how groups and societies are constructed, and discover how power works in society. Gender is examined from a critical perspective in relation to other power structures and categories, such as sexuality, ethnicity, race, disability, class and age. The social and historical processes which shape Nordic concepts, practices and the structural framework for identity, gender and other systems are analysed through comparison of the Nordic and global perspectives.
Network leader: Elina Oinas
The network conducts research on the changing character of journalism, media and communication. A particular focus is on how digitalization influences the media landscape and journalistic practices, and what kinds of new skill demands and journalistic innovations come with it. The research also studies how ongoing developments impact the need and practices to shape our world through various forms of communication – in the media, in companies and organisations, and in interpersonal everyday communication.
Network leader: Jaana Hujanen
The network conducts multidisciplinary research on people’s welfare, the development and legitimacy of the Nordic welfare policy, as well as the founding values of welfare while analysing the mechanisms behind various forms of inequality as well as solution models and intervention options in the different sectors of welfare.
Network leader: Helena Blomberg-Kroll