Integrated Social Sciences – (B.A.)

The concept of the Integrated Social Sciences (ISS) curriculum is based on three fundamental insights.

First, increased knowledge and institutional differentiation have fragmented the social sciences in ways that make it ever more difficult to overcome disciplinary boundaries. Divisions among the disciplines are emphasized and it has become easy to lose sight of the large body of shared empirical concerns, theoretical traditions, and methodological approaches. It is the main purpose of the ISS-curriculum to refocus attention on these commonalities. Our aim is not to achieve an illusory “unity of the social sciences”, but rather to give students a theoretical and methodological basis for integrating insights from various social science disciplines in addressing a concrete problem.

Second, the demand for a transdisciplinary integration of knowledge is steadily increasing. The challenges with which contemporary societies are confronted have reached a degree of complexity that makes isolated disciplinary approaches insufficient. Problems, such as ethnic conflict, welfare reform, or sustainable development cut across disciplinary boundaries. They can not be adequately understood, let alone solved, without drawing on the intellectual resources of various disciplines.

Third, problem-solving in contemporary societies requires cooperation across national, cultural, and linguistic barriers. The ISS-curriculum intends not only to prepare students intellectually for the challenges of transdisciplinarity but also socially and culturally for the challenges of transnationality. Jacobs University is committed to ensuring a high degree of diversity of its student body. Currently, students from various different countries are enrolled in the ISS-program. This ensures that not only the insights of different disciplines meet in the class room, but also the experiences and concerns of different regions, cultures and traditions.

The Integrated Social Sciences (ISS) curriculum is concerned with questions that link the disciplines of sociology, political science, economics and mass communication. It encompasses a wide range of social science topics including the analysis of social, economic and political systems, the internationalization of governance and the nation state, citizen beliefs, socio-political attitudes and citizen action, as well as information, communication and knowledge societies. Generally speaking, the ISS curriculum deals with the functioning and development of contemporary societies, focusing on the key challenges with which contemporary societies are confronted – such as the globalization of markets and the de-nationalization of governance; the individualization trend among communities and its impact on social bonds and collective identities; pervasive value change among mass publics and its consequences for democratic governance; and the increasing role of new electronic media in shaping people’s minds.