Main Content

Research focuses

Social Orders in an International Comparison

Our institution engages in theory-focused, internationally comparative, empirical sociological research. The methodological spectrum comprises collecting and analyzing large (longitudinal) data sets, as well as ethnographic and discourse-analytic approaches. We want to know, for example, under which conditions migrants will be induced to integrate, whether democratic societies engage with their populations’ ideas on justice, how gender equality can be achieved, or the effects of security considerations relative to social situations.

Orders of Space and Time

We examine how social orders manifest themselves in terms of time and space. The focus is, on the one hand, the materiality of spatial formations, e.g. borders, territorial zones, architectures or ecosystems. On the other hand, we are interested in the creation of temporal relationships, e.g. how memories are ordered, or techniques for reaching out to an uncertain future. Areas of concentration are configurations of planetary (“geosociology“), space-time dynamics of risk situations and the formation of structures of global inequality.

Violence, Conflict and Negotiating Social Order

We examine central dimensions of conflict-driven social change as well as everyday processes of order formation from both micro and macro sociological perspectives. Various forms of organized collective violence and their effects are addressed, alongside different aspects of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Methodologically, our research is often comparative and relates to different regions such as Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America.