Social inequality is a major field of sociological analysis, and it plays an important role in this masters program. The greater part of your studies places a focus on sociological aspects within the European region. Europe, however, does not stand for itself, but is imbedded into a global system of countries and regions. Therefore, this particular course wants to look at social inequality beyond the European borders and approach this issue from a global perspective. The course will start off with a close look at the actual extent of global inequality, by comparing regions and single countries with each other. This will lead us to the question which indicators are appropriate when talking about inequality at a global level - wealth, health, or maybe social exclusion? After the descriptive part we will try to understand the underlying reasons for observed inequalities by looking at theories such as modernization theory and world systems theory. Possible further themes will be the historical development of global inequality, European inequality in relation to inequality within other world regions and a closer look at another world region. close