Department of Political and Social Sciences

The Department of Political and Social Sciences includes the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science, the Institute of Sociology, the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies, and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology.

The department's political and social science research examines the phenomena of social coexistence in a variety of ways. This includes questions of the political design of globally and nationally networked processes, both in relation to international relations and in the context of transregional policies within and outside Europe.

Important research focuses on the cultural and social aspects of migration processes in today's world, which are examined in both European and non-European contexts. Global processes also play a role in studies of environmental policies, natural disasters, and the conditions, structures, content, and effects of media communications.

Questions about the role of emotions in social interactions and movements, as well as the social and cultural conditions of health and illness, are also becoming increasingly important in the department. Other important pillars of research are social inequalities in the European and non-European context, which also includes the examination of gender relations.

The department is one of the most research-intensive political and social science institutions in Germany. This includes a special research area and a research group in the areas of international relations and European studies, as well as participation in research associations such as the clusters "TOPOI" and "Languages ​​of Emotion", which were successful in the Excellence Competition, and in the graduate schools "Muslim Cultures and Societies" and "East Asian Studies".