Research in the VU Department of Sociology is organized in the PARIS — PARticipation In Society — programme. We research participation as the engine of social life, tracing how involvement in school, work, family, civil society and politics can both generate cohesion and inclusion and deepen inequality and exclusion. Our theoretically plural, methodologically diverse community invites collaboration across these arenas to address pressing sociological questions.
Rather than adhering to a single theoretical framework, PARIS-researchers employ a variety of theories and methods suited for the research problem they address. Research questions are derived from the social problems faced in the various realms of social participation, as well as from the unsolved puzzles of the sociological discipline. At the VU Department of Sociology, we house advanced methodological expertise, applying methods ranging from advanced quantitative methodologies to in-depth qualitative research strategies and co-creative methods.
PARIS research groups bring together PARIS researchers with common research interests and expertise. See our five research groups: SILC, SoCA, SCC, IDI, CPhS.