Meet the students at bsc soc
Click on the students to learn more about what it is like to be a student at BSc SOC.
Follow on Instagram
Stay tuned for an insight to our programmes - told by our students. Start following now!
Join us at CBS
If you want to learn more about the content of the programmes, student life or admission, you are welcome to:
Which is the right programme for you?
Compare different bachelor programmes and find out:
- How much economics or languages a programme contains
- How many men and women there are
- How old the students are
- Much more
Chatbot Coby
Coby can help you with your questions about admission to our bachelor's programmes, e.g. questions about application deadlines and admission requirements.
BSc in Business Administration and Sociology
About the programme
In the BSc SOC you will learn how social dynamics shape business culture – and how cultural and social factors along with economic considerations affect the decision-making processes in companies and other types of private and public organisations.
Integrating business and sociology
Business classes and sociology classes are rarely taught separately. Students work with traditional business topics and sociology together – and apply tools from both fields.
Business administration gives you an understanding of how companies and other types of organisations are structured and how they make decisions based on numbers and economic thinking. Sociology provides you with tools and concepts to understand how social dimensions also affect the conditions under which business decisions must be made. In other words, you will learn how to work with business administration with focus on society – and at the same time you learn to use a sociological perspective in a business context.
Making sense of complexity
Imagine two companies or other types of complex organisations that want to work together. Perhaps they even want to merge into one company. They need to understand each other’s financial positions and ways of economic planning, products, production, strategy, and market position. However, it is also important to learn about each other’s external as well as internal contexts. External factors could for example be competitors, partners, economic and social trends and conditions affecting the industry. Equally important internal factors of the companies include an understanding of each other’s management traditions, business culture and organisational framework.
Combining all these perspectives is essential for planning the collaboration between the two organisations – in order to make sense financially but also to gain from cooperation and to enhance the business of the new merged company. In other words, you need to understand how both economic and social factors shape business conditions and how traditional economic thinking can sometimes clash with social trends and behaviour and external conditions that may be hard to control or predict.
Building analytical skills
When companies plan strategies and make decisions, they need to understand the social context in which they operate. This relates to how the employees interact and see themselves and the company, how changing norms and values affect consumers and business partners and how economic and technological development change existing markets and helps create new ones. The BSc SOC aims to teach you how to create new knowledge by asking the right questions. To do this you will acquire a wide range of sociological and economic tools and methods that help companies make decisions based on a thorough analysis of the social and economic business context. This also makes the programme very methodological in order for students to build strong analytical skills.
The methods are both quantitative (e.g. statistical analysis) and qualitative (e.g. interviews, focus groups). You will not only learn how to use these tools but also to combine them – and most importantly to select which ones are best suited for the problem that needs to be solved. This gives you a broad and strong analytical foundation for understanding how knowledge is created – and to create new knowledge yourself – and to differentiate between what we think that we know and what we know that we know to make useful and responsible business decisions.
Hear students share insights about BSc SOC
Hear students at BSc SOC share some experiences and their thoughts about the programme.
To study BSc SOC successfully and be happy with the programme it would be useful to be interested in:
- how companies and organisations operate and make decisions.
- how social and cultural changes and conditions impact business processes and the realities companies must adapt to.
- enjoy working in an analytical way. Figuring out which questions are important for a company to ask in a given situation – and figuring out how to arrive at the answers to those questions.
- the world around you in general and social and cultural trends and phenomena in particular. This also means an interest in people – not so much on the individual, psychological level as on how human behaviour is shaped by its social context.
BSc SOC has some particular challenges that are important to think about before you choose the programme. How well do these challenges correspond to the sort of person you are, how you like to work and the things you are good at?
Working analytically:
For many students the biggest challenge of BSc SOC is learning to work in a very analytical way where the discussion of how you can best arrive at results is just as important as the results themselves. This is something that you need to be comfortable with and if you are looking for a programme that will primarily provide you with practical business skills then BSc SOC is probably not ideal for you.
Interdisciplinary and integrated courses:
Most of the courses are highly interdisciplinary and integrated. This can be challenging because it means that you need to think in a complex way where you juggle business and sociology topics at the same time. Also, it means that it takes time before you fully understand how the different courses and topics relate to one another. Often it is not until the second or third year that everything comes together in your head and you get a clear picture of all the aspects of the programme’s scope.
Maths as a tool:
In about a third of the mandatory courses in BSc SOC you will use maths as a tool. You will not use maths that is complicated beyond the entry requirement for the programme, but you need to be comfortable having courses where you use maths and do calculations at a practical level.
Studying in English
If you are not used to studying in English or if you are not a native speaker, we recommend that you read more about what to consider before applying for an English-taught programme.
See Studying in English on Student Life
Hear a student guidance councellor share some challenges and considerations you should be aware of before applying to SOC
Listen to students share some thoughts on how their fellow students contribute to the social and academic environment at BSc SOC.
- an understanding of the social context of business and business decision making
- strong methodological and analytical skills.
Find more information about what you learn on the programme in the Competence profile for BSc Soc
Mater's programmes after BSc SOC
The clear majority of students from BSc SOC continue to a two-years master’s programme for a total of five years of study. It is very much the master’s rather than the bachelor programme that determines which career paths that lay open to you.
BSc SOC graduates end up in companies or organisations where they work within many different fields of business administration. Read more about master’s programmes and career options.
Hear a student guidance counsellor give insights to how you can create your own profile as well as share thoughts on career options and master's programmes.
| English - language requirement | A |
| English - specific entry requirement | B with min. 6.0 grade average (Danish scale) |
| Mathematics | B with min. 6.0 grade average (Danish scale) |
| Social Studies OR International Economics OR History of Ideas OR Contemporary History | B |
| Motivational essay | Yes - see Selection quotas |
Read about entry requirements and how to apply at bachelor admission.
| Grade point average | 10.0 |
| Number of enrolled students | 92 |
| Quota 1 / Quota 2 | 60% / 40% |
| Applicants (quota 2) | 973 (858) |
| Foreign students | 59% |
| Gender distribution - men / women | 35% / 65% |
| Average age | 21,8 year |
Overview of courses
Introduction to Economic Sociology
The objective of this course is to introduce to key concepts of Economic Sociology. We study markets and firms in changing environments and societies: How do markets work? What do firms do and how are they organised? How do firms and markets interact with each other?
We ask these questions because markets are constructed by firms and other actors such as the state. They are embedded within social and political structures. Such relations as well as interactions within and between firms are of interest to Economic Sociology and are at the centre of the course.
We deepen the understanding of concepts and theories by applying them to contemporary and historical cases and challenges in order to better understand complex phenomena and the effects of business decisions, and to discuss posisble solutions to such challenges. During the workshops and in the exam (together with FST) we focus on „big“ social, economic, human, and environmental challenges and analyse the role that companies play.
We work together in groups in class and at home to take advantage of different educational backgrounds and previous experience.
This course also introduces students to different types of academic texts, and how to read and understand them, and includes academic writing exercises (finding literature and referencing, structuring an argumentation).
Learning Objectives
On completion of the two courses Fundamentals of Social Theory and Introduction to Economic Sociology, the student should be able
- to understand different concepts from classical social theory and economic sociology
- to identify essential similarities and differences between theoretical positions from social theory and economic sociology and chose appropriate concepts for discussing a problem
- to analyse corporate, social, environmental and political problems by employing and combining concepts from social theory and economic sociology with the aim of developing ideas for solutions
- to reflect upon the reach and relevance of theoretical positions for understanding present and future challenges
- to write an argumentative paper with a clear structure that conforms to academic writing standards, in particular correctly quoting, citing, and referencing of the literature
ECTS
7.5
Research Design and Quantitative Methods 1
This course is the first in our multi-course research methods sequence for undergraduate students. The aim of the course is to introduce students to research design and methods for analyzing and visualizing quantitative data.
Included in the course is the 1st year project. Drawing on learnings from the course, students will be asked to formulate a research question, operationalize theoretical concepts from the 1st year Bsc Soc syllabus, select appropriate data, apply relevant quantitative methods, and reflect critically on their findings.
Readings and practical exercises will introduce students to the research process and quantitative data analysis. The first part of the course focuses on developing a research question and an appropriate quantitative research design to answer the question. Students are also introduced to the basics of the R statistical language and how to use R to collect, clean, reshape, and aggregate data, and describe relationships between variables.
In the second part of the course, students will (1) obtain an understanding of basic statistical methods, (2) learn how to use quantitative research designs to evaluate economic and social processes in organizations and society, and (3) be enabled to apply quantitative research methods for their own research projects.
The topics that we will cover in this course include selecting research questions and appropriate quantitative research designs, the data-generating process, and its implications for analyses and answering the research question. Moreover, the course will cover the operationalization of concepts, measurement, sampling and probability distributions, descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency, uncertainty, hypothesis testing and inference, bivariate, and multivariate linear regression analysis, how to differentiate correlation from causation, and sampling bias.
The approach throughout the course is hands-on and data-driven. Students learn how to analyze data using practical exercises with real-world data in R, the statistical programming language that will be used for exercises and assignments. Finally, the course will guide students on how to document the research process and report results from quantitative analysis in an accessible and transparent manner.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- Use the statistical programming language R to collect, clean, manage, visualize, and analyse quantitative data
- Use theory introduced during the first or second semesters, as specified by the first-year project coordinator, to formulate a research question relevant to organisations and society that can be answered with quantitative methods
- Discuss and argue for the relevance of the methods, data, and research design used in the project
- Critically reflect upon the chosen research question, methods, data, sampling, and data-generating process, and how their limitations affect conclusions and implications of the project
- Structure a research paper and present the material meeting standards of academic writing, particularly correct citations, referencing of literature, and formatting of tables and figures
ECTS
15
Business, Politics and Society
Aim of the course:
This course provides students with the analytical tools and empirical knowledge to understand and analyze interactions between business, politics and society across social settings and levels of governance.
Description of the course:
The course combines political sociology and political economy to explore the relationship between business, governments, and civil society in different social and societal settings. It places business knowledge in a broader societal context. Students are introduced to basic concepts, analytical tools, and empirical knowledge from the fields of political sociology and political economy to identify and analyze the interaction between business, politics and society. The course is structured in four streams: state & market (I); authority & governance (II); regulation & governance (III); and transnational governance (IV). Each stream interrogates how conflict and cohesion condition the governance of the political economy. The course draws on case studies of current issues, including populism, race and racism, economic crises, science and innovation, and global health.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a strong and comprehensive knowledge of the course curriculum and to identify, describe, and analyze current problems and corporate challenges at the intersection of the economy, politics, and society.
- The particular objectives of the Business, Politics and Society course are to
- understand basic concepts used in the fields of political economy and political sociology
- identify, explain and critically assess the relationship between political institutions, public policy and the economy in different social and societal settings
- assess the ways in which business, governments, and civil society respond to current societal challenges
- identify the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches introduced in the course.
ECTS
7.5
Consumer Culture and Marketing
Course Content and Aims
This course will introduce undergraduate students to the principles of marketing management, to socio-theoretical perspectives on the consumption process, and to how marketing management can successfully create solutions to the various challenges of the consumption process (NN3 and 4).
The course starts with a block of meetings that will show how managerial marketing strategy identifies and attempts to shape consumer attitudes and behaviours in order to create goods and services in a manner that is both financially, socially and environmentally sustainable (NN 7). A key aspect of the course will be the discussion of various sociological and cultural approaches to the understanding of consumer markets, consumer behaviour and the active role of consumers in co-creating contemporary markets, which is what marketing management needs to take into consideration (NN4).
In the following block, the managerial views will thus be juxtaposed with socio-theoretical approaches to consumption, namely consumer culture theory (CCT), critical theory and consumers as active co-creators of value, Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical approach to taste and symbolic consumption, and approaches associated with the Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) tradition that interprets markets as performed by theory and by agencements of human and non-human actors (NN1).
The final block introduces basic principles of qualitative consumer research as a key managerial method that helps develop responses to changes in society and culture. In this block, students will leave the classroom and conduct a field trip to observe a daily consumption practice in situ. This exercise is designed to enhance students’ problem-solving capacity by helping them put into practice the theoretical insights they gained during the previous meetings. Further, the exercise enables students to develop skills that lead to the creation of more sustainable business solutions in a competitive market environment. After the field observation, students will meet for an additional studio-based workshop to discuss their insights, interpretations, and proposals, as well as their understanding of the quality of the data they gathered (NN2).
Learning Objectives
Having successfully completed the course, students should be able to:
- demonstrate firm knowledge of marketing management processes, in particular the Marketing Mix (4 Ps) --- segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) --- consumer behaviour models --- marketing communications mix --- product management and branding --- pricing --- channel marketing and retail concepts --- competitive strategies --- basic elements of qualitative consumer research methods
- discuss some limitations of the managerial view of marketing processes
- explain how consumer culture theory (CCT) challenges managerial views of consumer behaviour
- apply concepts from social theory presented in the course to examine the relationship between consumers, markets, products and cultural intermediaries
- explain and exemplify how marketing theories perform markets, especially in relation to the role of equipment, objects and calculative practices in consumer marketing
ECTS
7.5
Electives / Exchange / Internship (30 ECTS)
In the 5th semester, you can take electives at CBS or other universities, go on exchange or do an internship in a company.
Bachelor Project
The bachelor project is the final and major independent piece of work on the BSc Soc programme, in which students demonstrate the capabilities they have developed over three years of undergraduate study, based on cross-disciplinary teaching in business economics, sociology, and social theory, as well as recurring interdisciplinary projects.
The objectives and requirements of the bachelor project extend those of the first and second year projects. The requirements are more rigorous than for the earlier projects particularly with regard to the definition of the research question, the use of academic literature, theory, methods and empirical data. Students are expected to engage with relevant issues in business and society, to improve the understanding of organisational or societal challenges and to reflect on solutions to the defined problems.
The project work culminates in a thesis that demonstrates the student’s ability to formulate a relevant problem, to conduct a systematic and valid analysis supported by a theoretical and methodological framework related to the broad field of Business Administration and Sociology, and critically reflect on the empirical data, theories and methods used, and the results of the thesis.
The overarching theme of the bachelor project is Business Administration and Sociology.
The project should be designed as a research project based on empirical data (which may also be literature). The problem formulation and research question should be relevant to central themes of the BSc Soc programme.
For more information see the Bachelor Project Manual
Guided by the research question, the project can draw on knowledge from all three years of study.
Learning Objectives
The student should be able to:
- conduct inquiries at the intersection of Sociology and Business Administration as represented by the topics and approaches covered in the BSc SOC program
- independently identify a relevant problem and formulate a relevant research question, provide a comprehensive analysis and give an answer to the chosen research question
- identify, select, and use concepts, theories and methods relevant to the project
- provide comprehensive knowledge and make use of research literature
- develop a research strategy that allows for giving an answer to the research question including relevant quantitative and/or qualitative methods
- identify, collect, and analyze relevant empirical material
- demonstrate awareness of implications of the chosen theories and methods, assess the quality of data, and critically reflect upon the research strategy used as well as the results produced
- provide a clearly formulated Bachelor thesis that meets the standards of academic writing and is accessible in terms language and content.
ECTS
15
Fundamentals of Social Theory
Aim
The course is the first in a series of three courses on Social Theory. It will introduce to key concepts and ideas of social theory. It will primarily do so by outlining the processes that have shaped modern societies and how they were analyzed by the first generation of sociologists. At the center are fundamental dichotomies, problems, and key concepts developed by classical social theorists that continue to inform contemporary social science. The course will explore in more detail social phenomena such as civilization, urbanization, capitalism, industrialization, new technology and democratization with a view to deepening the understanding of ‘modernity’ in a Western context.
Objectives
Students who complete this course will have a broad grasp of main ideas and concepts of social theory and an overall historical perspective on the landmarks and mechanisms of social transformations. They will have developed and practiced the skills of learning, analyzing and evaluating evidence and arguments by way of reading, discussing and writing. The course should provide them with a firm background and framework for the study of more specific areas of sociology taught in the subsequent parts of the Degree.
Learning Objectives
On completion of the two courses Fundamentals of Social Theory and Introduction to Economic Sociology, the student should be able
- to present different concepts from classical social theory and economic sociology
- to identify and understand essential similarities and differences between theoretical positions from social theory and economic sociology
- to analyse corporate, social, environmental and political problems by employing and combining concepts from social theory and economic sociology with the aim of specifying a problem and developing ideas for solutions
- to reflect upon the relevance of theoretical positions for understanding present and future challenges
- to write an argumentative paper with a clear structure that corresponds to academic writing standards, particularly correct citation and referencing of literature
ECTS
7.5
Financial Accounting and Reporting and its Institutional Context
This course offers a comprehensive introduction to financial accounting and reporting. Students will learn how to prepare, read and interpret corporate financial statements. They will also gain a solid understanding of the theories and practices behind these statements. The course is focused principally on IFRS accounting techniques but supplemented with a social and institutional understanding of accounting and financial reporting.
Throughout the different sessions, students acquire general business knowledge by analyzing the financial statements of diverse companies. The course focuses on companies with different institutional backgrounds, ensuring broader economic context coverage. Analyzing financial data and assessing its quality aims to stimulate students' curiosity about ambiguities in accounting and develop a high degree of analytical and critical thinking. A part of the course covers ethical dilemmas and the role of business in solving such humanity challenges as environmental threats, social problems, and sustainable development.
We apply an inclusive view on the role of business, going beyond a mere focus on profit maximization and considering the ESG impact going from local communities to the global.
Nordic Nine
Accounting is the language of business that measures, summarizes and communicates business information to various stakeholders. The objective of financial accounting is to provide information that is useful to decision making of existing and potential investors, creditors and other stakeholders. Given that the practice of accounting is supported by several qualitative characteristics such as relevance, faithful representation, comparability, verifiability, timeliness, and understandability with the overall purpose of producing useful information to the users of reporting, this course will develop your skills in the domain of several Nordic Nines (NN1, NN2, NN5, NN6 and NN7).
#1 You have deep business knowledge placed in a broad context
#2 You are analytical with data and curious about ambiguity
#5 You understand ethical dilemmas and have the leadership values to overcome them
#6 You are critical when thinking and constructive when collaborating
#7 You produce prosperity and protect the prosperity of next generations
Learning Objectives
On completion of this course, students should have acquired a basic understanding of core theory and practices in accounting. Specifically, students should be able to:
- Understand and apply the accounting equation and double-entry bookkeeping.
- Prepare financial statements based on accounting transactions.
- Calculate financial ratios and analyze the information content of these measures.
- Discuss and reflect upon social, institutional, and ethical aspects of accounting and financial reporting.
- Understand emerging trends in non-financial reporting.
ECTS
7.5
Qualitative Methods
Generally speaking, when you want to know something about human beings, the university sorts researchers into two big piles – those who count and do math (quantitative researchers), and those who talk and care about meaning (qualitative researchers). This split, however, is a harmful fiction. There aren’t any “counting” methods that don’t make some sort of assessment of significance; and there are no meaning methods that don’t enumerate as part of their argument for validity. More to the point, there are no good questions you can ask about humans that wouldn’t require both counting and assertions of meaning.
So, if the quantitative/qualitative split is more a bureaucratic convenience than any sort of real comment on the operation of the human science, what are we left with? The very short answer is “specific objects of analysis.” That is to say, specific things that researchers assume exist out in the world and then allow them to do research. Sociologists tend to assume that there is some sort of thing like society out there in the world that they can know about. Similarly, anthropologists tend to act like there is something out there in the world like culture that they can know about. Each discipline has a sort of presupposition about the world, and then has developed methods that allow them to know about it.
This course will take culture and society as it’s starting points and introduce you to a few methods (interviewing methods, observational methods, library research) that allow you to answer questions human culture and human society. In addition to these methods, this course will teach you about designing research, analyzing data, and reporting on what you have learned.
Each class session will be divided in half and will start with a workshop on the previous week’s topic, and then a lecture on a new topic.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course the student should be able to:
- situate specific qualitative methodologies in relation to the theoretical tradition
- formulate and operationalise a research problem that is suitable for treatment by means of basic qualitative methods, and account for the relationship between theory and methods in the process
- use basic qualitative methods such as ethnographic analysis, text analysis and interviews to research problems within organizational sociology and business administration
- critically assess strengths and weaknesses of the applied methods in relation to concrete research problems.
- use different qualitative methods and analytical strategies within organizational sociology and business administration
- reflect upon approaches, methods and research design used the empirical work for the assigments
- Demonstrate the ability to convey rigorous, analytic arguments in writing, in one's own voice and in accordance with the conventions of academic writing in the social sciences.
ECTS
7.5
Advanced Economic Sociology
The objective of this course is to provide the student with (1) knowledge about how the organising of different activities in both the private and the public sectors is viewed and analysed from an economic sociology perspective and how economic sociology can help us understand and deal with big societal challenges in conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity, and (2) skills to analyse the contextual factors that influence different kinds of market interactions and economic actions, which result in differences in the relations between social groups, companies and political actors.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- understand approaches of economic sociology examining the relations between markets, organisations and networks;
- identify the types of interactions within and across markets, organisations and networks that are important for understanding complex phenomena and discuss solutions based on real-world cases;
- demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast competing theoretical approaches and to discuss their strengths and limitations;
- select and apply adequate perspectives from the AES curriculum in a chosen research project;
- structure and present the material and the findings in a form that meets the standards of academic writing.
ECTS
7.5
Quantitative Methods 2
The course introduces students to quantitative methods at an intermediate level. An initial focus of the course is to introduce students to the theoretical concepts behind causal inference. Next, the course focuses on how to design research to identify the causal effects of policy choices as well as impact / program evaluations (both public and private). The course includes a more advanced treatment of regression analysis and introductions to more advanced research methods. Students will learn how to design research and analyze data to better make evidence based decisions (NN2 & NN3).
The course consists of a mix of lectures and applied statistical analysis and exercises in lab sessions. Students are expected to participate actively during lectures and exercises. For the exercises, students will be given short assignments, similar to case studies. In these assignments, the students will work in groups to apply one of the covered methods and estimate the causal effect of a policy or other treatment. The group work will help students to practice critical thinking and collaborating constructively (NN6). In the exercise classes, students are expected to discuss their approaches to each problem. We will then go over the solution together. This will allow students to receive feedback on their own work, while also seeing the correct solution.
The aim of this course is to provide students with both theoretical and practical knowledge about quantitative methods such as multivariate OLS, panel data methods, and other identification strategies for causal inference at an intermediate and advanced level. The course will enable the student to be analytical with data (NN2) and further develop the knowledge and skills achieved in the RDQM course.
Students will learn to understand the fundamental principles behind each of the statistical tools covered in the course and will be able to apply these to specific research problems.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to
- Formulate and operationalize research problems for which one or more of the methods introduced in the course is suitable
- Select the appropriate methods to best identify possible causal effects in a given research question
- After identifying the appropriate approach, conduct quantitative, empirical analysis using R and correctly interpret the results
- Discuss and account for the underlying principles behind the applied method(s), and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses
- Discuss the implications of the analytical results, possible modifications, and develop recommendations for potential policymakers, program directors, and organizations
ECTS
7.5
Introduction to Organisational Sociology
The study of organizations is an interdisciplinary field drawing upon disciplines such as sociology, economics, psychology, management studies and political science. This reflects the role organizations play in modern societies. Organizations such as trade unions, companies, universities or public administration permeate all aspects of public and private life and shape our everyday life. The primary focus of this course is on the sociological dimension of organizational analysis. We will examine and discuss the development, relevance and impact of organizations. In order to do so, we draw upon classical and contemporary organizational sociology. The main objectives of this course are therefore to first provide the student with a basic sociological knowledge about organizational structure, purpose and functioning. We secondly will examine specific organizational phenomena such as power, conflict or organizational change, and the ways in which organizations handle their everyday operations by attending to these. Based on this knowledge and drawing upon case studies of different types of organizations, students will thirdly acquire the skills to identify and analyse how various types of activities are organized in the private and the public sector.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- Evaluate how organizations are viewed and analyzed from a sociological perspective based on relevant theories of organizational sociology
- Reflect on the organizational structure, purpose, and functions of organizations when analyzed through different perspectives in organizational sociology
- Describe, explain, compare, and assess organizational circumstances and identify models for how organizations handle their everyday operations
- Discuss and understand the implications of different models of organization for actual organizational practices
- Write an argumentative essay with a clear structure that conforms to academic standards of writing, in particular correct citation and referencing
ECTS
7.5
Digital Sociology
As contemporary society is increasingly relying on digital devices, apps, platforms, infrastructures, and AI algorithms, there is hardly a domain of organizational and societal living that is not impacted by digitalization.
Digital technology is shaped by commercial, political, and cultural conditions that give rise to novel forms of interaction, agency, and organization. At the same time, existing societal and corporate power structures and divides may be reproduced or overturned.
In this course, students will critically engage with digitalization as a sociological phenomenon. Sociological concepts are applied to enable the investigation, management, and transformation of digital society with business. For this purpose, in the course, we will discuss important challenges of digitalization for sociological inquiry and organisational practice within the context of key social domains, including social roles and gender, organization and platform strategy, surveillance capitalism and public discourse, to name but only a few examples.
Learning Objectives
- Demonstrate understanding of sociological concepts, insights, and perspectives
- Apply sociological concepts, insights, and perspectives to explain digitalization as pertaining to organization
- Evaluate the strategic, political, or ecological implications of digitalization
- Critically reflect on the limitations, opportunities and ethical responsibilities of societal actors in the context of the digitalization of society.
- Write an argumentative essay with a clear structure that conforms to academic standards of writing, in particular correct citation and referencing
ECTS
7.5
Theories of Modern Society
Modern society presents a complex environment for private, public, and third sector organisations. Increasingly, established social hierarchies are challenged, leading to new forms of freedom and domination, just as earlier power relations continue to be in effect under new conditions. Simultaneously, different spheres in society – science, politics, art, education, religion – seem to become increasingly autonomous and increasingly intertwined.
Unlike many other disciplines, sociology has not established a dominant paradigm for understanding these developments and the social, human, and other challenges they raise. Instead, the most influential sociological theorists rely on different basic assumptions and methodological approaches for understanding modern society.
This course introduces five key sociological theorists that have had lasting influence on sociology and its many sub-disciplines. During the course, we will uncover the basic assumptions, key concepts, and central arguments of the theorists. We will focus on ways that these perspectives have been applied to fields relevant to private, public, and third sector organisations, and more broadly examine how the theories shed important light on changing constellations of economic, political, and social actors as well as on the social, human, and environmental consequences of their activities.
Students will have the opportunity to apply the theoretical perspectives to contemporary cases in a collaborative manner.
The course builds on the theories that were introduced during Fundamentals of Social Theory.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of modern sociological theory based on a careful reading of course material.
- Apply key concepts of the course material in order to identify, analyse and reflect on central developments in modern society and the prospects and challenges they pose for public, private and/or civil society organisations.
- Show and evaluate the analytical implications of applying different theoretical perspectives with different assumptions about modern society.
- Write an analytical essay with a clear structure and argument, including correct citation and referencing of literature.
ECTS
7.5
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of knowledge is the backbone of all scholarly work because it is critically concerned with the conditions for saying that some statements are more correct than others. In other words, it provides the basis for calling some knowledge 'scientific,' 'true,' or 'correct' because the philosophy of knowledge offers the fundamental rules by which to judge and evaluate so-called knowledge claims and to work analytically with your data. Hence, by taking this course, students will be equipped to analytically identify how different ideas about the world and about knowledge lead to different ways of understanding what true knowledge is and how it relates to business knowledge. This allows students to become curious about the ambiguity involved when establishing scholarly arguments, improving their ability to understand and criticize other knowledge claims. This is relevant not only in academic work but also in knowledge-intensive work contexts where business knowledge is placed in a broad context, and different kinds of statements must be dissected. The course is an introduction to the philosophy of science. It will provide knowledge and tools to identify the general paradigms that have informed the social sciences and their consequences for handling social issues. As such, it relates to the other courses in the program to provide the meta-theories for the courses and the 2nd year project. Students will not only engage with meta-theoretical assumptions but also with how to identify these assumptions in their own and others' work. The course will critically assess how different perceptions of the world affect how we describe and explain it. The course will show how the different perspectives are informed by meta-theoretical assumptions and a different understanding of what science is. While the course should be seen in relation to all the courses in the program, the exam is specifically related to the '2nd-year project'. During the lectures and class work, we will discuss themes related to other business and society courses in the program. Still, the overall thrust of the course is aimed toward a general introduction to the philosophy of social science.
This course aims to provide the student with (1) a general insight into the different conceptions of science that have informed social sciences to this day and their historical embeddedness; (2) knowledge about different perceptions of the society and the individual, rooted in the ontological and epistemological assumptions of different philosophy of science traditions; (3) knowledge about the conceptual and methodological consequences of applying different philosophy of science traditions in project work and the ability to integrate it into one's own project work.
|
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
- give an account of the basic ontological and epistemological assumptions within the different philosophy of science traditions presented in the syllabus and their consequences for applying and combining methods and theories from the other courses in the program
- situate the theoretical positions and key concepts in a broader philosophy of science context
- identify and evaluate the central similarities and differences between the main ideas and concepts within the different philosophy of science traditions presented in the syllabus
- Identify, discuss and critically reflect upon the theoretical and methodological considerations in the interdisciplinary 2nd year project work against the background of different philosophy of science traditions
- Write a paper meeting academic writing standards, particularly correct quotation, citation and referencing of literature
ECTS
7.5
Theories of Contemporary Society
Aim of the course
The aim of this course is that the student acquires knowledge of the most important ways to conceptualise and examine the interactions between individuals, organisations and society, which are currently developing in social theory.
Course description
It is widely acknowledged that modern society has undergone a series of profound transformations since World War II. The media landscape has changed, so have production patterns, modes of organization, networks of communication etc. pp. While most sociologists would agree that much has changed, there is little agreement as to how to theorise these transformations and their implications. The aim of this course is to make students acquainted with a range of influential positions that analyse how modern society has changed throughout the twentieth century, and how it is developing at the beginning of the twenty-first.
While the course builds on Theories of Modern Society (TMS), the theoretical perspectives it presents tend to aim more at a diagnosis of the present than at formulating grand theories of modern society and all its spheres, systems or institutions. Although the theoretical ambitions of the perspectives under scrutiny here may thus be lower than was the case in TMS, their analytical capacities may well be higher. The more targeted observations of specific societal trends and dynamics allow for more thorough discussions of key societal processes and their social, political and economic implications.
The diagnostic emphasis entails that the course is preoccupied with a processual view, i.e. with the changes that have taken place and that are taking place in the structure and the ongoing ordering and disordering of modern or ‘late modern’ society. These societal processes will be discussed with respect to their social, political and economic implications. The course is organized thematically.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- Identify, analyse and assess at an advanced level the central assumptions as well as the core similarities and differences of the theories covered in the curriculum.
- Make use of these theories to observe, analyse and critique phenomena of everyday life
- Understand complex social, human and environmental phenomena of contemporary societies on a local and global scale and develop the skills to assess possible implications for organizations and societies to address these.
- Write an argumentative essay with a clear structure that conforms to academic standards of writing, in particular correct citation and referencing.
ECTS
7.5
Managerial Economics
The student is given a basic introduction and understanding of the Managerial Economics subject area. Managerial Economics refers to the application of economic theory, data analysis and decision science to examine, how an organization can achieve its objectives most efficiently.
The application of economic theory and approaches in businesses is placed in a broader context during the course. This is both within a certain market structure and in a broader societal context, where various factors that affect organizations’ economics and their related decision-making are included.
Finishing the course, the students should be able to apply economic theory using the Managerial Economics method for decision-making in organizations. Emphasis is among other placed on the students' understanding of the Managerial Economics method and training in the application of economic theory, their selective use of data as well as the understanding of necessary assumptions that form the basis for a possible solution, interpretation and conclusion.
Thus, the course also emphasizes the use of data and in turn elevates the student’s analytical skills. In that way, the course also creates an emerging curiosity regarding the ambiguity and the limitations and possibilities of economic modelling.
During the course’s exercises, the students are encouraged to collaborate to support their own and fellow students’ learning.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of this course, the student will have acquired a basic understanding of economic theories seen from a managerial economics perspective, focusing on the individual organization. The student should be able to:
- account for business economic processes and assumptions within Managerial Economics,
- account for rationality assumptions and optimising strategies at the level of the individual and the firm,
- identify and delimit business economics problems, as well as relate them to business economics models and calculate possible solutions
- apply the business economics method to solve business economics problems
- extract a reasonable basis for decision-making as well as be able to conclude from the calculated results
- participate in a discussion and interpretation of business economics model solutions
ECTS
7.5
Macroeconomics
This course offers an introduction to macroeconomics. Macroeconomics aims to understand the evolution of aggregate outcomes, and especially the effects of policy decisions on those outcomes. In this course, we start by defining and describing the empirical behavior of key macroeconomic outcomes (output, unemployment and inflation). Next, we develop a theoretical framework (the IS-LM and the IS-LM-PC) to understand how those macroeconomic outcomes are determined in equilibrium, both in the short and medium runs, and how they interact with each other. That will involve studying how the goods, the financial and the labor markets operate, and how they relate to each other. Last, we will study the effect of fiscal and monetary policy tools on macroeconomic outcomes. Throughout the course, we will discuss specific historical episodes to help us articulate the theoretical framework in real-world contexts, and to describe the tradeoffs faced by policymakers.
Learning Objectives
- Explain basic macroeconomic concepts in a comprehensive way.
- Articulate the IS-LM and IS-LM-PC theoretical frameworks using words, diagrams and algebra.
- Describe the conduct of fiscal and monetary policies in a closed economy, and explain how these policies are impacted by openness to trade and financial flows.
- Explain the Phillips curve, and discuss the relationship between unemployment and inflation.
- Understand macroeconomics in the context of macroeconomic policy debates.
- Apply basic time series approaches to describe the quantitative behavior of macroeconomic variables using computer software and algebra.
ECTS
7.5
Corporate Finance
This course provides a broad overview of corporate finance covering the main tools that financial managers use to analyze investment and financing decisions.
The first set of lectures will be devoted to introducing students to the goals pursued by corporations and to the financial side of their operations. Subsequently, we will be reviewing some of the accounting concepts that represent an essential background in this field, and we will introduce the concept of “time value of money”, which will be a key building block in developing our theory of asset pricing. The same paradigm will also be applied to the valuation of the streams of cash flows that firms generate through their investment projects, which will ultimately lead us to the formulation of a method for making investment decisions.
Learning Objectives
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- Identify, explain, discuss and apply the core concepts, models and methods in Corporate Finance.
- Calculate, interpret and compare financial statistics, prices, returns and costs.
- Elaborate, present and discuss solutions for financial decision problems.
ECTS
7.5