University of Vienna (Project Lead and Coordination)
The University of Vienna leads the PUMA projects and coordinats is through the Department of Methods in the Social Sciences.
The following Faculties of the University of Vienna are participating in PUMA:
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Faculty of Economics
- Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy
Department for Methods in the Social Sciences
Social Sciences have developed a variety of entry points to study social phenomena. Established in 2007, the Department of Methods in the Social Sciences reflects this diversity of methodological approaches, ranging from using methods as tools to test specific research questions to pointing out their close entanglement and interrelation with theory building.
Our aim is to develop into an international centre of excellence by supporting theoretical and methodological conversations across disciplines and epistemological backgrounds within the faculty and beyond. Bringing scholars of different disciplinary backgrounds together in one department paves the way for innovative theoretical thinking as well as the improvement of applied methods.
This feeds back into our own research agendas within the fields of Communication Science, Political Science and Social Anthropology. Finally, the specific organisational structure allows students to become aware of the variety of ways to think about and work with methods in the Social Sciences. To date the department has three methodological pillars each of which contributes to the joint agenda while also pursuing substantive research activities:
- Ethnography
- Survey Research and Multivariate Statistics
- Text Analysis
The Department is led by Sylvia Kritzinger.
Department of Economic Sociology
Economic sociology is a special field of sociology which focuses on economic phenomena in societal context. The field has been established at the University of Vienna in 1992 and became a department in 2005.
The main focus of research at the department is:
- International comparative analysis of structures, institutions, and dynamics of the labor market, their formation conditions and socio-economic consequences
- Sociology of work and life course, in particular youth labor markets
- Experimental research in decision processes and voting behavior in committees and networks
- Organizational structures of labor market associations
- Structures and processes of public employment
- Methodological research on experimental methods and international comparative analysis
The range of teaching encompasses economic sociology in a broad sense, including organizational and labor sociology, labor relations, and methods of empirical research.
Department of Government
The Department of Government focusses on Research and Teaching in the area of Comparative European Politics and Austrian Politics.
Objects of research are mainly political actors (especially political parties and politicians), political institutions (e.g. election systems, parliaments, governments) and political processes (such as election campaings, coalition politics and legislation) and their results.
Focus areas of our research are governing in coalitions and political competition. Our research is based on rationalistic and behavioralistic theory approaches. Thereby, qualitative but primarily quantitative methods and statistics are applied. The objetive is to present internationally competitive and socially relevant research.
The scientific publications of the institute are found in international leading journals and publishers.
Department of Sociology
The Department of Sociology incorporates sociological research and teaching at the University of Vienna. As to its history the department is influenced by the traditions of the Viennese School that focused on social problems. Its program of empirical analysis serves to combine diagnosis of society and sociological theory.
The Department offers a Bachelor's and Master's Program designed to offer conceptual and practical research tools for a number of areas in applied sociology. The six-term Bachelor Program provides students with fundamental knowledge in sociological theory, research methods and their application. The four- term Master's Program emphasizes academic education and training in substantive core areas of the discipline. In addition, it gives students the opportunity to specialize in the following research areas: social stratification and social integration, sociology of the life course, generations and family, organizational sociology and cultural sociology.
In collaboration with the Postgraduate Center the Department of Sociology supervises a doctoral program. The Department also offers a variety of courses in an effort to establish a substantive foundation for Health and Nursing Science which is integrated into the European Studies Course.
Sociological research centers affiliated with the Department of Sociology include the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for Social Sciences, granting access to original documents of Paul F. Lazarsfeld, and the library for sociology and political science.
Research Areas
The Department of Sociology has a range of diverse research interests which are the foundation for empirically oriented research, advancement in theoretical analysis, and regularly offered academic courses.
Current research areas:
- Work / Organisation / Gender
- Family / Generations / Life Course / Health
- Migration / Ethnicity / Social Inequality
- Culture / Knowledge / Visual Worlds
- Methods
The Department of Sociology is represented by Roland Verwiebe.
Department of Geography and Regional Research
The Department of Geography and Regional Research represents the discipline of Geography in its whole scientific breadth and envisions itself as the only “full institute” in Austria. Fundamental research and applied praxis-oriented aspects are the basis for a universal and comprehensive education. A broad curriculum offers a profound basic education as well as research-oriented teaching, finally guiding students to advanced specialization.
Within the University of Vienna, the department is a subunit of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy. Since the establishment in 1851, the department has a long tradition in geographical research and teaching, always orienting its perspectives to urgent global, regional and local research topics.
The research activities of the department are operating within a wide range of social and natural science aspects in the fields of fundamental as well as applied research. Some of the central research topics are
- Theory and Methodology
- Gender Studies
- Human Ecology
- Migration Research
- Spatial Research and Spatial Planning
- Population Research and Political Geography
- Environmental and Ecosystems
- Quaternary Research
- Natural Hazards and Risk Research
- Cartography and Geoinformation, and
- Modern (School) Didactics
The specific research topics are processed within 6 different working groups, which are partially highly specified. Nevertheless, most of them have a strong interdisciplinary focus.
