The Department of Sociology’s research programme covers a wide spectrum of topics, most of them in the area of basic research. It conducts research in the field of general sociological theory, specialising in current theoretical currents and developments, studies specific social fields and phenomena in the context of different sociological disciplines, and focuses on research and development in the field of the methodology of studying social phenomena. The primary specialised disciplines include research in the field of social pathologies and criminology, historical consciousness and identity, and the Internet, as well as the sociology of lifestyle, family, health, public opinion and the media, globalisation, risk, trust, the information society, and urbanisation. Attention is also devoted to economic issues, both on the level of the history of theory and in certain applications (e.g. the economics of non-market goods). In the area of applied research the department pursues sociological research in the areas of work, organisation, and organisational consultation. Alongside established disciplines, the department aims in the future to develop the field of research on lifestyle, cultural studies, and analyses of the relationship between public opinion, the media, and political systems. In the long run, though, the Department aspires to maintain a wide choice of topics and approaches, drawing, among other things, upon the huge diversity of specializations among our Ph.D. students.
The Department is responsible for publishing the Studia Sociologica series under the universitwide Acta Universitatis Carolinae – Philosophica et Historica, with its volumes appearing approximately once every two years. Other publishing activities include non-periodic conference proceedings or monographs, such as Organizace, rozhodování, řád a změna (Organization, Decision-Making, Order and Change) (AUC Philosophica et Historica 1–2004, Studia sociologica XIV. Praha: Karolinum, 2006), Aktéři, systémy, rizika (Participants, Systems, Risks), ed. Šubrt, J. (AUC Philosophica et Historica 1–2006, Studia socioogica XV, Praha: Karolinum, 2009), Talcott Parsons and His Contribution to Contemporary Sociological !eory (Talcott Parsons a jeho přínos soudobé sociologické teorii; proceedings edited by Jiří Šubrt and first published by Praha: Karolinum, 2006); and Czech Youth in the Delinquency Perspective, Buriánek, J., Podaná, Z. (Prague, Charles University, Faculty of Arts, 2007).
The Department has recently co-organized several conferences relating to the joint research plan with the Faculty of Social Sciences (The Development of the Czech Republic in the European Union). Members of the Department sit on executive bodies of the Masaryk Czech Sociological Association and co-organise a number of its events (e.g. conferences or specialized seminars of the Sociological Theory section), resulting in the publication of proceedings. The Department is member of EUSOC, an Interdisciplinary International School of postgraduate studies in social sciences at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, where the regular participation of our students is very much appreciated.
The Department has organised the 2014 annual conference of the European Society of Criminology (conference web).