Xavier Rambla Sociologia

Next Autumn the UN will approve a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. While some NGOs praise the breadth and ambition of the approach, some think tanks argue that a more rigorous calculation recommends to concentrate endeavours on a few actions with the highest likely effectiveness as measured in economic terms.

This debate retrieves old normative issues concerning social change and human progress. For instance, is there a single path to progress? Can socio-economic development become universal? Does the earth contain enough resources for 7 billion people?

It also has to do with classical and current analytic debates on social change. For instance, does rational choice lead change? Do powerful social agents influence on the views and actions of other people? Is social change the consequence of social agency (either through aggregation of rational decisions or the outcome of conflicts)?

In the first term of the 2015-16 academic year, the course on Social Change and Globalisation will address these debates. Have a look at this video introducing the course.