After successfully completing the courses in this module, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Students are familiar with fundamental developments and discourses on population trends and demographic change and can place these within the context of societal transformations. They are able to draw on interdisciplinary perspectives to describe and explain population-related issues and to critically reflect on their scope.

Knowledge Creation

• In exemplary fields of action, you can develop independent ideas for shaping demographic change and population trends and provide scientific justification for them. You are able to formulate further research questions.

Communication and Cooperation

• You can engage in dialogue with stakeholders from other disciplines and fields of action regarding demography and population trends and are able to anticipate different perspectives, interests, and conflicts and address them in a solution-oriented manner.

Scientific Self-Conception/Professionalism

This module presents well-founded empirical findings and theoretical perspectives on demographic change and population trends, and places them in the context of societal transformation processes.

• Key population processes and discourses on demographic change: changes in generations, life courses, and life stages; aging society, extreme old age, and the multidimensionality of aging; trends in migration, immigrant societies, and integration.

The module exam is administered as either a 30-minute oral exam with a position paper or a 2-hour written exam. The format of the exam is determined uniformly by the lecturers for all seminars in the module at the beginning of the lecture period.

The oral exam consists of a specialized section (75 percent) on a topic of the student’s choice from one seminar within the module and a specified cross-seminar foundational section (25 percent).

Grade on the module exam of at least “satisfactory” (4.0).

Hank, K., Wagner, M., & Zank, S. (Hrsg.). (2023). Alternsforschung: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium (2. Auflage). Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.

Höpflinger, F. (2023). Bevölkerungssoziologie: Eine Einführung in demographische Prozesse und bevölkerungssoziologische Ansätze (3., überarbeitete Aufl.). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.

Learning Outcomes / Competencies

Upon successful completion of the module’s courses, students will be able to

knowledge and understanding

• to outline and contextualize basic digital concepts.
• to trace key aspects of the development of digitization.

Knowledge Production

• apply theoretical frameworks to digital phenomena.
• classify and evaluate discourses on digital humanism and digitalization .

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

• History of Digitalization
• Basic Digital Concepts
• Transformation of (Educational) Systems through Digital Technology
• Sociological and Philosophical Theories of Technology on the Entanglement of Humans and Technology
• History of Humanist Thought
• Post- and Transhumanism

30-minute oral exam on a topic of your choice from the list of topics.

Oral exam graded at least "Satisfactory" (4.0).

Arnol, F., Bernhard, J. C., Feige, D. M. & Schröter, C. (Hrsg.) (2024). Digitalität von A bis Z. Bielefeld: transcript.

Fuchs, C. (2024). Radikaler Digitaler Humanismus. München: UVK (utb)

Häußling, R. (2019). Techniksoziologie. 2. Auflage. Baden Baden: Nomos (utb).

Heßler, M., Liggieri, K. (2020). Technikanthropologie. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium. Baden Baden: Nomos.

Loh, J. (2018). Trans- und Posthumanismus zur Einführung. Junius: Hamburg.

Schrape, J.-F. (2021). Digitale Transformation. Bielefeld: transcript (utb).

Upon successful completion, students will be able to

apply their knowledge and understanding

• the scientific and political discourse on socio-ecological transformation and sustainable development and to relate it to other societal challenges.

Generation of knowledge

• to evaluate academic discourses on societal transformation processes and, based on this, independently derive project ideas and research questions related to social sustainability.
• Based on the core principles of project management, to develop and document in writing research designs for theoretically grounded and empirically oriented projects.

Communication and Cooperation

• to understand the language and practices of other academic disciplines and practice partners in sustainability research, thereby laying the foundation for transdisciplinary processes of understanding and implementation.

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

Academic and political discourses on socio-ecological transformation, including the history of sustainable development at the local and global levels, as well as technical terminology in the context of climate change, climate adaptation, and sustainability management

Presentation of current research and development projects from academia, public administration, and the business sector that are being carried out at Fachhochschule Dortmund and other locations with ties to societal transformation processes

Models and frameworks for competencies and psychological resources that support societal transformations in the context of sustainable development.

Heintel, P. & Krainz, E. (2015). Projektmanagement. Hierarchiekrise, Systemabwehr, Komplexitätsbewältigung. 6. Aufl. Wiesbaden: Gabler Springer.

Hunecke, M. (2025). Vom Wissen zum Handeln - Psychische Ressourcen für BNE und sozial-ökologische Transformationen. In A. Carrapatoso, S. Kenner C. Bergmüller, N. Inkermann V. Reinhard, (Hrsg.), Handbuch Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Frankfurt/M.: Wochenschau Verlag.

Neckel, S. (2018). Die Gesellschaft der Nachhaltigkeit. Soziologische Perspektiven. Umrisse eines Forschungsprogramms. Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung. Hamburg: Soziopolis.

Learning Outcomes / Competencies

Upon successful completion of the module courses, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• understand the vulnerability to crises and changes in social order, such as the crisis of the welfare state, increasing digitalization, the mediatization of everyday life, or the potential threats posed by climate change to nations, humanity, and individuals.

Knowledge Production

• to adopt diverse interdisciplinary perspectives on the diagnosis of social, group-related (milieus, organizations, social contexts), individual, and global crisis processes.
• Deriving from such perceptions the need for political, societal, and individual action
• Developing intervention strategies and potential solutions

Communication and Cooperation

• To coordinate with one another in various social contexts despite differing viewpoints, and to work out, develop, and present a joint outcome

Academic Self-Conception / Professionalism

Module Exam: A written paper of approximately 12 pages in length, in which students demonstrate their ability to critically discuss the material covered and to draw their own conclusions or identify possible courses of action.

2 ungraded coursework assignments (SL) in two courses within the module:

A module exam graded at least “sufficient” (4.0).

Brand, U. & Wissen, M. (2022). Imperiale Lebensweise. Zur Ausbeutung von Mensch und Natur in Zeiten des globalen Kapitalismus. München: oekom.

Fischer, U. (2024). Soziale Nachhaltigkeit. OnCourse für die virtuelle Akademie Nachhaltigkeit der Universität Bremen. Veranstaltung ‚Der menschengemachte Klimawandel: Ursache, Effekte, Lösungswege‘. Kapitel 10 (o.S.).

Hunecke, M. (2022). Psychologie der Nachhaltigkeit. Vom Nachhaltigkeitsmarketing zur sozial-ökologischen Transformation. München: oekom.

Kluwick, U. & Zemanek, E. (Hrsg.) (2019). Nachhaltigkeit interdisziplinär. Konzepte, Diskurse, Praktiken, Wien Köln Weimar: utb

After successfully completing the courses in this module, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• They can understand and apply interdisciplinary forms of scholarly work. They can relate and integrate bodies of knowledge within the social sciences.

Generation of Knowledge

• They are able to recognize the perspectival nature of findings from different academic disciplines, to evaluate them, and to take them into account when synthesizing bodies of knowledge. Students can apply methods and procedures in practice to integrate knowledge from various academic disciplines.

Communication and Cooperation

• Students can work in a transdisciplinary manner , i.e., they can relate bodies of knowledge from different academic disciplines to one another while simultaneously incorporating the experiential knowledge, goals, and interests of various stakeholders—such as citizens, business representatives, and local and other political decision-makers in the process of knowledge generation. They are able to articulate, systematize, and integrate the various perspectives and concerns, thereby making them useful and applicable for all involved practitioners.

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

Epistemological foundations for the genesis and evaluation of scientific knowledge, as well as the resulting concepts for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge production

Teaching of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods of knowledge integration for knowledge processing and evaluation, e.g., scenario techniques and the Delphi method, as well as for foresight, evaluation, and participation, e.g., through constellation analyses and citizens’ conferences.

A grade of at least “satisfactory” (4.0) on the oral exam.

Participation in a course as part of “Interdisciplinary Reflection.” Attendance at at least 75% of the sessions is mandatory (pursuant to §22 StgPO). Exams are not required in the non-major courses of the “Interdisciplinary Reflection” program .

Exceptions

In the event of illness or other important, documented reasons, exceptions to the minimum attendance requirement may be granted upon an informal request by the instructor in charge.

Legal Consequences

Bergmann, M., Jahn, T., Knobloch, Krohn, W. Pohl, C & Schramm, E. (2010). Methoden transdisziplinärer Forschung – Ein Überblick mit Anwendungsbeispielen. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus.

Krohn, W., Grunwald, A. & Ukowitz, M. (2017). Transdisziplinäre Forschung revisited. Erkenntnisinteresse, Forschungsgegenstände, Wissensform und Methodologie. GAIA, 26,4, 341-347.

Niederberger, M. & Wassermann, S. (Hrsg.) (2015). Methoden der Experten- und Stakeholdereinbindung in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung. Wiesbaden: Springer.

After successfully completing the courses in this module, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• They are familiar with fundamental global developments and their consequences for the diverse actors in politics, society, the economy, and academia. They are able to contextualize global transformation processes—particularly in the context of hegemonic power asymmetries— and reflect critically on them.

Generation of Knowledge

• Students are familiar with relevant concepts and approaches in transformation research and can apply them, for example, in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and discuss them critically.

Communication and Cooperation

• Students are able to compare the knowledge they have acquired with that of actors from countries in the “Global South” and develop new perspectives to shape their own academic profiles. They are able to develop further research questions and critically examine existing concepts .

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

This module provides in-depth empirical findings and theoretical perspectives on global issues related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and global transformation processes.

• What are the consequences of globalization for micro-, meso-, and macro-political actors in supranational contexts?
• Which global mechanisms determine and promote hegemonic power asymmetries between the countries of the “Global North” and the “Global South”?
• What options for action do key stakeholders from politics, academia, the economy, and (civil) society have in addressing the challenges of globalization (poverty, displacement, gender inequalities, childhood, social inequalities, etc.), and what alternative concepts and approaches are currently being discussed?

The module exam takes the form of a written assignment (30,000 characters, including blank lines).

Completion of a non-graded SL.

Brand, U. & Wissen, M. (2017). Imperiale Lebensweise. Zur Ausbeutung von Mensch und Natur im globalen Kapitalismus. München: Oekom.

Dörre, K., Rosa, H., Becker, K., Bose, S. & Seyd, B. (2019). (Hrsg). Große Transformation? Zur Zukunft moderner Gesellschaften. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

After successfully completing the courses in this module, students will have developed the following skills and competencies:

Knowledge and Understanding

• They will be able to classify and critically reflect on social and technical innovations in terms of their societal impacts and their significance for transformations, and critically reflect on them. They are familiar with interdisciplinary approaches to the dynamics of innovation and technology, as well as to acceptance and participation in their development and design.

Generation of Knowledge

• They are able to develop ideas for social and technical innovations in exemplary fields of action and identify potential critical impacts. They can design participatory processes for innovation and technology design and formulate follow-up research questions

Communication and Cooperation

• You can collaborate at a technical level with actors from other disciplines in the development and design of social and technical innovations. You can assess different disciplinary perspectives and viewpoints and constructively integrate them into collaborative efforts.

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

This module provides a foundation in social science research on innovation and technology and places this research within the context of societal transformation processes. It examines empirical findings, theories, and case studies related to the following key areas:

• Concepts and approaches to innovation from an interdisciplinary perspective; social innovations; innovation and sustainability; approaches and methods related to acceptance and participation

The module exam consists of either a 30-minute oral exam with a position paper or a 2-hour written exam. The format of the exam is determined by the lecturers uniformly for all seminars in the module at the beginning of the lecture period.

The oral exam consists of a focused section (75 percent) on a topic of the student’s choice from a seminar within the module and a specified cross-seminar foundational section (25 percent).

Häußling, R. (2019). Techniksoziologie. Opladen/Toronto: Barbara Budrich.

Upon successful completion of the module’s courses, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Students are familiar with fundamental theories on the governance of processes of societal transformation and social sustainability. They have a basic understanding of the organization of international politics and fundamental theoretical knowledge regarding the management of international conflicts.

Knowledge Production

• They have acquired practical analytical skills in selected international policy areas.

Communication and Cooperation

• They have acquired the political competence to shape society and can recognize the possibilities and limitations of political action. They can reflect on their actions within the framework of democratic constitutional states and know how to deal with opponents of democratic models of action.

Academic Self-Conception/Professionalism

This module focuses on the political implementation and shaping of processes of societal transformation and social sustainability. How can ideas be put into practice? Which actors have which options? What experiences exist in this regard? What problems arise in the process, and what ideas are there for overcome them? Specific topics will include:

• Can transformation be shaped democratically?
• What political conflicts arise? Which theories explain these conflicts, and what models exist for resolving these conflicts?
• Political governance of transformation processes at the international, national, and local levels
• How can societal change be achieved through political action?
• Social movements as drivers of transformation and sustainability
• European policy—fundamentals, opportunities, limitations, visions
• Contextual conditions: International conflict research—models, theories, explanations
• Policy research on topics related to the study program

The module exam is structured as a performance-based exam in which students’ ability to engage in applied scholarly argumentation in small groups on selected areas of conflict is assessed orally over a period of 30 minutes.

1 ungraded course assignment in one of the two courses within the module, e.g., an outline of a conflict relevant to the seminar, an academic argument on an area of conflict, or a comparison of arguments regarding an area of conflict. The course assignment may be completed orally as a short presentation of no more than 8 minutes or in writing, limited to two pages.

Grade on the module exam of at least "satisfactory" (4.0)

Borstel, D. & Fischer, U. (2018). Politisches Grundwissen für die Soziale Arbeit. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag.

Münkler, H. (2023). Welt in Aufruhr. Die Ordnung der Mächte im 21. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Rowohlt.

After successfully completing the module courses, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• understand that the goals of social sustainability may conflict with social transformations due to an irreducible social pluralism of lifestyles and values, and that an ethically responsible approach to these conflicts is necessary.

Generation of Knowledge

• based on this understanding, to independently deepen their knowledge and to analyze such conflicts using concepts from ethics and political philosophy, and to critically evaluate possible solutions.

Communication and Cooperation

• to engage in reflective, reasoned dialogue with one another within diverse, pluralistic social contexts and, despite persistent differences in content, to jointly develop and present acceptable solutions.

Academic Self-Concept/Professionalism

Portfolio, consisting of a written analysis totaling approximately 8 pages (or, alternatively, upon consultation with the examiner, other media formats of comparable length, , e.g., annotated videos, podcasts, drafts for practical workshops, etc.), in which students demonstrate that they can accurately present and analyze a self-selected societal example of a pluralistic challenge based on the seminar content—on the one hand, accurately portraying and analyzing it, and on the other hand, engaging in a discussion of this challenge aimed at a socially sustainable solution by drawing on the normative concepts for responsible solutions addressed in the seminars.

1 credit hour in one of the two courses in the module:

A portfolio graded at least "sufficient" (4.0).

Christman, J. (2020). Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy. In: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta, Herbst 2020. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/autonomy-moral/.

Goppel, A., Corinna Mieth, C., & Neuhäuser, C. (Hrsg.) (2016). Handbuch Gerechtigkeit. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-05345-9.

Upon completion of the module, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• They are familiar with current analyses of the state of global ecosystems and human-nature relationships from a social science and psychological perspective, as well as sustainability- and transformation-oriented concepts leading toward biocycle-based societies (e.g., in the areas of business studies, energy, mobility, food, consumption, and housing) as well as alternative forms of practice and lifestyles. They understand complex, parallel, and contradictory processes and areas of social tension (conflicts of interest, crises, social inequality and patterns of habitus, media- and group-specific attention economies, etc.).

Generation of Knowledge

• They can apply these insights to various professional contexts and critically reflect on possible unintended and counterintuitive consequences.

Communication and Cooperation

• You can design, apply, and communicate processes of sustainable and transformative thinking and action in various professional fields of practice, thereby promoting and establishing them.

Academic Self-Concept/Professionalism

The events will explore and examine interdisciplinary theoretical approaches, discourses, and empirical findings regarding contemporary social analyses, lines of conflict, visions for the future, as well as approaches to alternative forms of practice and ways of life:

• Current report on the state of the world with regard to climate change, environmental protection, and species conservation, as well as assessments of societal relationships with nature (IPCC, Club of Rome, sociological approaches to the environment and the world around us, etc.)
• Systemic and interest-based conflicts, multiple crisis scenarios, and social resistance (economic and social systems, wars and other crises, social inequality, processes such as digitalization and authoritarian revolts, etc.)
• Theoretical and empirical approaches for a sustainable/transformative society (national and global) (approaches based on socio-ecological transformation, Earth4all, the common good, and post-growth societies etc.)
  

Brand, U. & Wissen, M. (2024). Kapitalismus am Limit. Öko-imperiale Spannungen, umkämpfte Krisenpolitik und solidarische Perspektiven. München: oekom.

The Club of Rome/Wuppertaler Institut (2024). Earth for All Deutschland. Ein Survivalguide für unseren Planeten. Der neue Bericht an den Club of Rome, 50 Jahre nach „Die Grenzen des Wachstums“. München: oekom.

Hunecke, M. (2022). Psychologie und Klimakrise: Psychologische Erkenntnisse zum klimabezogenen Verhalten und Erleben. Heidelberg: Springer.

Schroer, M. (2022). Geosoziologie. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.

SONA – Netzwerk Soziologie der Nachhaltigkeit (2021). Soziologie der Nachhaltigkeit. Bielefeld: transcript.

Upon successful completion of the module, students will have developed the following skills:

Knowledge and Understanding

• To comprehend, interpret, and critically evaluate theories and empirical studies.

Generation of knowledge

• They possess the skills to independently address a research topic using scientific methods and to critically interpret the results.

Communication and Cooperation

• This enables them to participate in theoretical, methodological, and practice-oriented discourse within the social sciences. Students who have successfully passed the colloquium possess the competence to independently present their research topic within scholarly discourse , defend their theses and findings—developed according to scholarly standards—before a specialized audience, and engage with critical questions .

Scholarly Self-Concept/Professionalism

The prerequisite for the thesis is the successful completion of Modules 1 through 11.

A thesis graded at least "Satisfactory" (4.0).

After successfully completing the module courses, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Analyze and interpret, and critically evaluate.

Generation of Knowledge

• Apply methods and procedures of qualitative and quantitative social research.
• Independently plan and carry out an empirical research project with a theory-based research question in the context of the study program (social sustainability and societal transformations)

Communication and Cooperation

• to present their research design as well as the research results in writing and orally.
• to critically analyze and evaluate the application of methods in their own and others’ research.

Academic Self-Concept/Professionalism

Methods of quantitative and qualitative social research: data collection and measurement techniques such as standardized surveys, qualitative interviews, observations, and experimental approaches; methods of data preparation and analysis such as content analysis, objective hermeneutics, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics.

The module exam consists of two parts:

1. At the end of the second semester, students demonstrate, through an 8-page written proposal, that they are able to describe a research design.
2. At the end of the third semester, students demonstrate, through a written project report of approximately 20 pages, that they can present the findings of their research, the data collection, and the analysis process in a clear and comprehensible manner, and that they can current state of research.

Baur, N. & Blasius, J. (Hrsg.). (2019²). Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Döring, N. (2023). Forschungsmethoden und Evaluation in den Sozial- und Humanwissenschaften (6. Aufl.). Berlin: Springer VS.

Przyborski, Aglaja, Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika (2021⁵). Qualitative Sozialforschung. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg.

Schöneck, N. M. & Voß, W. (2013). Das Forschungsprojekt. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.