Political and Social Sciences
The Words of the Future: Politics, Power, People
Campuses and Degree Programmes:
For the Faculty, preserving the cultural identity of Università Cattolica means placing the cardinal principles of the common good, dignity of the person, solidarity and subsidiarity at the centre of the Political and Social Sciences, both in research and teaching. These principles are expressed in the formulation of the educational offer, in the awareness on the part of teachers of their role as educators, in the response to the problems and challenges of contemporary society.
It is on this conviction that the educational paths active within the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of Università Cattolica are based, all characterised by a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, which is therefore the point of distinction and strength of the Faculty. This approach translates into a teaching method that combines cultural training and professional preparation. A method aimed at acquiring the ability to interpret phenomena and deal with problems by grasping their multiple dimensions, able to give the graduate a flexible profile that is open to the development of new skills in his or her professional future.
The Faculty, only in terms of age, is quite young: in fact, it was born in 2012 from the union of the Faculties of Political Science and Sociology. However, it is a project that has very distant origins, born with Università Cattolica: in fact, the degree programme in Social Sciences dates back to 1921, the year the University was founded, from which, at different times, the Faculties of Political Science and Sociology took shape. Today, the two faculties are once again united in a project that is both solid and innovative.
There are many figures of extraordinary scholars and masters who have characterised this long history. These include: Marcello Boldrini, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences from 1935 to 1947, statistician, academic of the Lincei and long-time collaborator of Enrico Mattei at the top of the national oil industry; Francesco Vito, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences from 1947 to 1959, economist, academic of the Accademia dei Lincei and also rector from 1959 to 1965; Gianfranco Miglio, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences from 1959 to 1989, political scientist and constitutionalist, who devoted himself in particular to the issues of institutional reforms and federalism; Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences from 1989 to 2010, economist, academic and President of the Accademia dei Lincei since 2015, who was also President of the Italian Society of Economists; Michele Colasanto, first Dean of the Faculty of Sociology, sociologist and Deputy Vice-Rector of Università Cattolica from 1998 to 2002.
I believe that the contemporary university, while it has the duty to collaborate for the advancement of the sciences and to follow the methodology required by each of them, must never put in second place what requires the recognition of its primacy, that is, man, the human person, the world of spirituality