Societal issues and problems are highly complex, and shaped by a multitude of influences and developments. Accordingly, their study must involve a broad range of perspectives, with research based on diverse theories and employing methodological approaches from various disciplines. The master’s program in Changing Societies at the University of Basel meets these requirements. It offers an open, interdisciplinary study program that examines social change from the perspective of various social science disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, political science, gender studies and related subjects. Students benefit both from the broad analytical scope of an interdisciplinary social science program as well as from a sound methodological education in empirical social research.

The MA in Changing Societies is taught by lecturers from various disciplines within the social sciences:

• Social Anthropology
• Gender studies
• Cultural anthropology
• Sustainability research
• Near & Middle Eastern studies
• Political science
• Sociology

These disciplinary perspectives provide the foundation for an exploration of the following analytical focal areas:

1. Bodies, Objects, Circulation:
How do bodies and objects move, connect, and come to matter in an increasingly global and unequal world? Focusing on “circulation” as mobility and movement but also as moments of negotiation and contestation, students examine both the transnational and local flows of human and non-human bodies, objects, ideas, and capital across borders, institutions, and everyday settings. Courses within this module provide a clear conceptual and methodological foundation for critically studying mobility, materialization, and power.

2. Sustainable Societies: Inequality, Power, Conflict:
Courses in this module bring together theoretical approaches and current research on the key topics of inequality, resources, and conflict. They teach theories and approaches from political science, international relations, and sustainability studies on the one hand, and empirical social science methods on the other. The focus is on questions of political and social inequality, political representation, the functioning of political institutions, as well as intra- and inter-state conflicts and peacebuilding. Additional questions addressed concern the equitable distribution of resources, sustainable political and economic processes, and the consequences of climate change.

3. Global Modernity and Difference:
This module deals with the global dimensions of modernity and focuses on the interplay between integration and difference. Courses within this module teach central theories of modernity and modernization as well as their critique and current developments. The module covers both historical and contemporary processes of social (de)differentiation, different paths of modernization, and the importance of culture, gender, class, and ethnicity for the structuring of global inequalities. The aim is to shed light on the global diversity of manifestations of modernity and to critically reflect on how modernity and difference are interwoven.