ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 6 – social SCIENCEs
In terms of relevance (scientific, social and socioeconomic significance):
In view of the relevance of the norm perspective for an understanding
of modern and late modern society and societal change, the department
ranks as excellent.
In terms of vitality and organizational capacity (flexibility, control,
leadership): The unit shows great vitality in carving out a basic and highly
relevant perspective to be followed in research on law and society, and
it shows a clear capacity to implement successfully such research (see
2.5–2.8). In these terms, the unit ranks as excellent.
Concering plans for the future. The vision of a research centre on norms
is an extremely interesting and original idea for the future. The University
would be wise to make a note of this vision, and give it support. Many
departments could be involved, and interests in questions of ethics,
gender, socialization, and culture and society in general could be vitalized
and integrated. On a four point scale it is given the rank of excellent.
4. Department of Sociology
and Social Anthropology
4.1 Introduction
The Department of Sociology {SOC} (and Social Anthropology [SOC
A]) is a large unit within the Faculty of Social Sciences. According to
the statistical information provided is has a total academic staff of 42 in
2007. Both the number of academic staff and composition of the academic
staff have changed significantly since 2003. The number professors
has dropped by about a third (while the mean age has increased from 57
to 61), the number of senior lecturers dropped a quarter and the number
of researchers declined even more, from 18 to 6 researchers. In line with
these changes, the number of doctoral students and other personnel declined
significantly. Overall, the department in 2007 is roughly half the size
of the 2003 department. Despite the drop in academic staff members, the
Lund University sociology department was the largest Nordic sociology
department in 2005 (cf. Aaltojärvi et al., 2008: Table 2 11 ).
11. Aaltojärvi, Inari et al. (2008), “Scientific productivity, web visibility and citation patterns
in sixteen Nordic sociology departments,” Acta Sociologica 51 (1): 5-22.
169