Programme outline

What are the main social problems facing societies and policy makers?

• Poverty or social exclusion?
• Racism or failing integration of ethnic minorities?
• Urban violence and addiction or a failing police force in crime-ridden neighbourhoods?
• Teenage pregnancies and school drop outs or failing education, youth support and healthcare?
• Dysfunctional welfare institutions or the demise of the family and social networks?
• Rising mental illness or a society gripped by a ‘therapy culture’?

Social Problems and Social Policy offers students an insight into the ways in which social problems are defined and tackled within welfare states, analysing the roles ascribed to citizens, professionals and other stakeholders within these processes. It considers the recent histories of various policy approaches and puts these in a comparative European context.

The programme primarily focuses on social problems as perceived within modern European welfare states. It compares the way social problems are constructed within the public spheres of various countries and analyses the emerging tensions within policy issues such as citizenship, the labour market and care for vulnerable groups.

For students interested in this field of study, we also offer a two-year Research Master’s.

Studying Social Problems and Social Policy at the University of Amsterdam

The programme's core staff are engaged in innovative research in the field of social policy and urban problems and are mainly drawn from the UvA Programme Group ‘Dynamics of Citizenship and Culture' (sociology). Their expertise in the area of Dutch and other European policy environments, particularly in relation to major urban centres like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, also allows them to be active in advising policy makers.

In this track students acquire the academic knowledge, critical awareness and research skills needed to play an active and/or research role in this field. The programme is theory-driven, problem oriented and interdisciplinary, and links critical social scientific concepts and theory to applied research in salient policy contexts.