
The Centre for Sociology of Democracy studies democracy in modern societies. Our projects deal with democracy from different perspectives and with different methods.
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In their article, by augmenting Mouffe’s agonistic pluralism with Thévenot’s pragmatic sociology, Veikko Eranti and Taina Meriluoto develop both an analytical framework for a more nuanced study of urban politics as sites of democracy and a detailed conceptualization of pluralism in democracy.
In their article, Eeva Luhtakallio and Taina Meriluoto argue that a fame-based logic has become dominant in the strategies of actors in many different situations concerning political action in public. By recognizing the fame-based values informing public action with a pragmatist approach, they argue that a wider variety of action can be recognized as public action and the normative foundations that inform people’s action in public can be interrogated.
In their article, Luhtakallio, Ylä-Anttila and Lounela compare the efforts of civil society organizations to influence climate change policymaking in three countries with very different traditions of democratic decision making.
In her article, Taina Meriluoto conceptualizes selfies as reflexive practices of self-coordination, and develops an analytical framework adapted from the literature of sociology of engagements for their analysis.
What are the next walls to fall in science and society? Led by this question, the brightest minds from the international scientific community submitted their groundbreaking projects for the prestigious Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022.
In their article, Luhtakallio and Meriluoto argue that two significant shifts, namely, the blurring of lives offline and online and the increasing significance of the visual character of these lives, pose new challenges to social science research methods.
Julkisuuteen noussut kohu on keskittynyt pääasiassa yhden suuren ketjuravintolan toimintakulttuuriin, mutta Lotta Junnilaisen ja Lotta Haikkolan haastatteluiden perusteella ongelmat eivät koske yksittäistä pikaruokaketjua, vaan ravintola-alaa laajemminkin.
Kahdeksan kuplan Suomi kuvaa talouden murrosten silmässä elävien ihmisten kokemuksia itsestään ja yhteiskunnasta: sitä, mitä he odottavat itseltään ja toisiltaan. Se kertoo myös tahdosta ja tunteista, jotka sitovat ihmisiä yhteen. Millaista tarinaa suomalaiset kertovat itsestään, ja millaisia tunteita tarinaan liittyy? Kuulemmeko ja ymmärrämmekö toistemme tarinoita?
Linda Haapajärven, Jutta Juveniuksen ja Lotta Junnilaisen artikkeli valittiin Sosiologia-lehden toimituskauden 2020-2021 parhaan artikkelin palkinnon voittajaksi.
In her article, Lotta Junnilainen tackles the question of how particular places shape responses to stigmatization.
POSTPONED: Visual Studies Lab Masterclass: How to study the visual in social media?
The planned Masterclass on visual analysis at the University of Helsinki has been postponed.

The event has been postponed. We will update on the new event date as soon as possible.
The Visual Studies Lab, in collaboration with the ImagiDem project, organizes a one-day Masterclass offered to PhD students and early post-docs engaged with or interested in visual analysis and research. The Masterclass is taught by Associate Professor Katrin Tiidenberg (Tallinn University) and Senior Lecturer Leena-Maija Rossi (University of Helsinki). The progamme consists of a lecture on methodologies of social media research by prof. Tiidenberg, and workshops discussing participants’ contributions, led by the two visual culture experts. The final programme depends on the number of participants enrolled.
Provisional programme:
9.15 Welcome to the MasterClass + Visual Studies Lab introductions: Eeva Luhtakallio (University of Helsinki) and Asko Lehmuskallio (Tampere University)
9.45 Keynote: Associate professor Katrin Tiidenberg (Tallinn University): How to study visual social media?
11.30 Discussion and comments
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Workshop 1
14.45 Coffee
15.00 Workshop 2
16.45 Closing discussion