Stine Willum Adrian is a Professor in sociology of health, welfare and qualitative methods at Department of the Social Sciences at The Arctic University of Norway. Adrian is a sociologist by training and holds a PhD in feminist STS and cultural analysis. Adrian’s work has always been interdisciplinary joining ethnography of medical technologies with cultural analysis, ethics and law. Her research interests lie in questions concerning, reproductive technology, technologies of death and dying at the beginning of life, gender, intersectionality, feminist materialisms, the entanglement of technologies and ethics, ethnographic and qualitative methods. Adrian has previously done several comprehensive ethnographic studies on fertility clinics and sperm banks in Denmark and Sweden looking at IVF, insemination, fertility travelling, cryo-technologies, sperm banking, sperm depositing, and she is currently engaged in researching technologies of death and dying at the beginning of life.

• utdanning og sosial ulikhet
• utdanningspolitikk
• hjem-skole samarbeid og foreldreinvolvering i skolen
• geografiske utdanningsforskjeller
• ung i nord

Leder forskningsgruppen EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HIGH NORTH, EDU-NORTH

Klassisk og moderne sosiologisk teori

Samtidsdiagnoser

Frihet

Den norske modellen

Den naturalistiske vendingen (sosiologi og biologi)

Positiv sosiologi

• General theory: A concept of collective rationality

My main interest is in a theory of collective action in modern society. The assumption is that the dynamics of collective action is poorly understood in the social sciences because they lack concepts to account for the rational aspects of collective action. The development of the three concepts of collective rationality, solidarity as a medium and collective power is central to this undertaking.

• Theory of society: Solidarity as a medium of integration in functionally differentiated societies

The three concepts of collective rationality, rational solidarity and collective power enables a new approach to empirical research on integration of the function systems of modern society, like the economy, politics, education, law, medical treatment and science, and processes of inclusion and exclusion of individuals into these systems of communication

• Theory of science: Methodological constructivism

The aim is to demonstrate how an epistemological constructivism opens up a new kind of reflection on all the elements of the scientific research process, not only as social but scientific constructions. At the centre is a reorientation of the relationship between theoretical and empirical research, structuring the research process in four phases each connecting a specific research question with logics of research.

These topics are related: The lack of a concept of collective rationality is an obstacle to empirical research on forms of integration in modern society, and to appreciate the scope for rational collective action in modern society. To create a concept of collective rationality, one has first to discern the epistemic obstacle that explains why sociological theories replace the distinction of individual and collective rationality, with the distinction of individual rationality and social norms. Through the research logic of abduction new scientific concepts are constructed which enables new empirical observations.

1) Moderniserings- og globaliseringsprosesser
2) Tradisjoner, paradigmer og grunnlagsproblemer i samfunnsvitenskap
3) Samfunnsteori og naturforståelse

Kompetanse og forskningsområde
Internasjonal migrasjon og integrering, mobilitet, flerkulturelle samfunn, arbeidsmigrasjon, arbeidskraftbehov, arbeidsliv, kjønn, kvinner, menn, likestilling, kvinner i ledelse, kvinner i STEM-fag,  flytteprosesser, kystsamfunn, frivillig arbeid, feministisk teori og metode, bolyst, stedsforskning og stedsutvikling.

Medisinsk sosiologi, velferdssosiologi

Frivillig arbeid, kvalitative forskningsmetoder, matvaner og forbruk, barnearbeid (Etiopia), mikrokreditt for kvinner (Etiopia).