Sociology

The Master’s degree programme in Sociology offers a rigorous course of instruction that will prepare you to investigate and understand the complexities of contemporary societies. The curriculum includes courses in classical and contemporary sociological theory, practical training in quantitative and qualitative research methods, and cultivation of your critical thinking and writing skills. The programme has been carefully designed to offer you a rich and complete sociological education, while simultaneously offering flexibility and opportunities for you to follow your personal interests.

The programme offers intensive instruction in a smaller number of challenging courses with high credit values, rather than extensive instruction in a high number of less demanding courses. This model of teaching is used at top international universities and it also helps you to become flexible and to transition smoothly to doctoral degree programmes if you decide to continue your studies. Our curriculum focuses on independent study combined with consultations with experienced lecturers, which enables you to develop skills needed for autonomous, thorough, and creative problem-solving. Methods that help you solve problems and complete tasks are given priority over broad factual knowledge in sociology, which can quickly become obsolete, is too extensive to be mastered in a two-year course of studies, and is usually easily available in digital databases and other types of information sources. Skilled use of such databases (e.g. being able to determine the relevance or reliability of data and information) is one of the skills that you learn during your Master’s studies.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• to reflect the key value attitudes, behavior patterns and social processes in different institutional contexts
• to understand specific social characteristics of different types of environments and social groups (ethnics, religious, class, generational, national)
• to identify social sources and consequences of specific processes and problems (migration, urbanization, social exclusion, life-style changes, corruption)
• to formulate the potential problem solutions, estimate the consequences of the different problem solutions, assess the reactions of different social actors and institutions
• to understand the debates in the field of population studies, to evaluate the weak and strong points of different approaches and data sources
• to understand theories and conceptualizations of gender and sexuality, identify the research theme and formulate the research question and goal, to pursue the goal by choosing the right methodology
• to understand contemporary society and its issues through anthropological lenses. S/he is able to identify topics of anthropological interest, anchor them in contemporary theories of culture and society and propose further research

The graduates are prepared to carry on individual analytical and conceptual work in different fields. They are prepared for jobs in various specialized areas.

A degree in sociology prepares you for further post-graduate study or for a professional career in fields ranging from state administration, marketing, and business to education, journalism, and the non-governmental sector. Our graduates often find employment in social and land development (at private companies, local authorities, labor offices, etc.) and in the market and public opinion research agencies.

The graduates are capable of individual and independent organizational and analytical work, and after enough experience also for professional leadership in project teams.

Practical training is not a compulsory part of the study programme. However, students are encouraged to specialize and contact potential employers in their chosen area of specialization during their studies.

The MA thesis has the character of empirical research (qualitative or quantitative) or it is based theoretically. The standard scope of MA thesis is 126 000 to 162 000 characters. Students can work with published texts and other sources for secondary analysis. Students prove the capability of 1) formulating the research question, 2) choosing the right methodology and methods to find the answer, 3) interpreting and analyzing the data.

Instructions for Final State Examinations and elaboration of the Bachelor's/Diploma thesis are regulated by FSS Directive No. 6/2019 On Final State Examinations for Students of the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University.

Graduates of the programme can enrol in various doctoral degree programmes in the Czech Republic and abroad.