Course content

This course is an introduction to the Norwegian society in a sociological perspective. The course deals with central features of Norwegian society, focusing on the normative, institutional and structural framing of people’s lives in Norway. In the course we will discuss core sociological topics, such as stability and change over time, social inequality and community, predominantly in relation to the organization and development of the Norwegian working life and welfare state. Concrete topics in the course may be changes in work and working life, technology development, immigration and diversity, welfare state institutions and welfare state politics, such as labor market policies, gender equality- and family policies. The course presents the students to a wide range of recent Norwegian sociological research, and the lectures and seminars will be based on current debates and events in the Norwegian society. A key goal in the course SOS1016, is that the students should learn to write academic text. This is reflected in the learning activities in the course. This means the lectures, seminars, the assignment and the final assessment.

Learning outcome

Knowledge - the student shall:

• be familiar with normative, institutional and structural characteristics of Norwegian society.
• be familiar with the main features of the historical and contemporary development of working life and welfare state in Norway.
• have insight in the key principles and objectives that the organization of Norwegian working life and welfare state is based on, and how the principles and objectives can stand in contrast to each other
• have insight in how internationalization and other tendencies affect the organization of Norwegian society.

Skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to:

• write academic text with correct references.
• analyze and summarize central theoretical and empirical sociological contributions that can be attached to the Norwegian society.
• use sociological perspectives to analyze trends or current phenomena in the Norwegian society.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures 4 hours a week, written assignment and tutorials 2 hours per week. The students must hand in a term paper. The compulsory activities can only be completed in the fall semester.

Compulsory assignments

• Term paper and participation in compulsory part of seminar activities

Recommended previous knowledge

None, but fits well in combination with SOS1000.

Required previous knowledge

None.

Course materials

To be decided at the start of the course.