Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Social Anthropology Group

As a result of the quality and intensity of this scientific production, the Social Anthropology Group has been recognized as a consolidated and funded research group since the beginning of the calls by the Government of Catalonia.

The Social Anthropology Group has been critically and reflectively analysing social and cultural transformation for more than 30 years, with an emphasis on mobility, gender models, health and disease processes, identity complexities and intervention policies.

Our current plan is entitled "People facing new inequality scenarios: challenges for a sustainable and inclusive global society" and it is the one guiding our research over the 2022-2024 period. During these years, we will focus on analysing the processes involved in growing social inequality and the interpretation of social phenomena linked to the uncertainty and fragility of today's societies. We intend to increase project leadership, knowledge transfer and the social impact of research. These research actions will emphasise the characterisation of these processes, as well as setting out proposals to improve policies on health, care, dependency, gender, religious pluralism, identities and immigration.

The Social Anthropology Group's areas of research in this triennium are:

1/ Inequalities, care and social intervention.

2/ Global health and health pluralism

3/ Urban societies and identities

These research areas are complemented by three key themes running through the different fields of study, developed over several decades: gender, qualitative methodologies and social participation.

The designed plan will work in synergy with two key international policy agendas at the research level. On the one hand, with the strategic approaches of Pillar II (Global Challenges) of the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme, which promotes research aimed at responding to global societal challenges (health, culture and inclusive societies and food, among others). On the other hand, our research is in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, especially with objectives that deal with reducing inequality within and between countries; achieving gender equality; eradicating poverty and guaranteeing and promoting health and well-being.

This research strategy is the result of a long and progressive process of formation of the group, which is based on the training activity of the initial group of teaching staff that constituted the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work fifty years ago at the Rovira i Virgili University. The long research trajectory of the group has involved a double mission: to differentiate and specialise in specific areas of research and, at the same time, to interweave and combine the lines of research both in wide-ranging framework projects and in sectoral projects.

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