Theories of Citizenship, Civil Society and Integration
7,5 ECTS
Information
Course leaders: Gabriella Elgenius
Duration: 12 April – 31 May 2027.
Location: Hybrid with on-campus week in Gothenburg, 7– 14 May. Accommodation in Gothenburg is covered for all PhD students who are admitted to the course.
Language: English
Study pace: 100%
Course Description
This doctoral course examines citizenship, civil society and integration as interconnected and contested fields of theory and practice. It explores how rights, participation, belonging and access to resources are shaped by migration, diversity and inequality, and by the political, social and institutional conditions in which individuals and communities are situated. A central concern is the relationship between formal institutions and lived experiences of inclusion and exclusion, and between individual agency and wider structures of power and opportunity.
Citizenship is approached both as formal legal membership and as the substantive capacity to exercise civil, political, social and cultural rights. The course engages with classical and contemporary theories of citizenship and considers how citizenship is differentiated through class, gender, ethnicity, migration and racialisation. Attention is given to how states and welfare institutions define membership, distribute rights and resources, and produce boundaries of inclusion and exclusion.
Integration is examined as an influential but contested way of conceptualising inclusion, participation and incorporation. The course considers shifts from assimilationist and one-directional models towards relational, multidirectional and capability-based approaches, asking who is expected to integrate, into what, on whose terms and with what responsibilities. It examines how institutional and political conditions enable or constrain participation and inclusion.
Civil society is approached as an associational sphere, a provider of welfare and services, a site of democratic participation, and an arena of collective action and social change. The course considers both its inclusive potential and the inequalities that may be reproduced within civil society, as well as how organisations mobilise resources and connect individuals and communities with institutions.
Bringing these perspectives together, the course provides students with theoretical and analytical tools for critically examining rights, difference, responsibility and belonging, and for applying these perspectives to their own doctoral research.
Course Lecturers
Gabriella Elgenius, Professor of Sociology, University of Gothenburg.
Kerstin Jacobsson, Professor of Sociology, University of Gothenburg.
Juta Kawalerowicz, Senior Lecturer, Stockholm University.
Anders Neergaard, Professor of Sociology at REMESO, Linköping University.
Jenny Phillimore, Professor of Migration and Superdiversity, University of Birmingham.
Peter Scholten, Professor of Migration and Diversity Policy, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
How to Apply
Applications via the link below.
Deadline will be announced shortly.
https://fubasextern.gu.se/fubasextern/info?kurs=SC30020
Contact
For further information contact the course leaders:
Postgraduate Studies Administrator: Irene Carlensberg, irene.carlensberg@gu.se
Course Director: Gabriella Elgenius, gabriella.elgenius@gu.se
About the Graduate School in Migration and Integration:
- The Graduate School’s courses are offered free of charge to PhD students.
- This course of 7,5 ECTS corresponds to approximately 5 weeks of full-time work, including one intensive week at the Department of Sociology and Work Science at the University Gothenburg.
- The course is taught in English.
- The course is examined through a paper assignment and a presentation in class.
- Shared accommodation is provided free of charge to PhD students admitted to the course.