Comparative Cultural Sociology and Political Sociology of Europe

At the Chair of Comparative Cultural Sociology and Political Sociology of Europe, we are interested in the question of what life is like in societies that, on the one hand, are characterized by openness toward Europe and the world, but on the other hand are subject to new processes of closure. In this context, we examine social change in various sectors of society, with a particular focus on Europe and the European Union.

One area of emphasis is research into the effects of the European integration process on living conditions, social inequalities, and social divisions within and between countries. This involves questions of democratic public sphere and populism, as well as forms of political participation, protest, and Representation of Interests within a transnational legal and administrative framework. Central to this is also how meanings are constructed, stabilized, and contested in public debates and political discourses.

Another focus is on analyzing the dynamic negotiation of belonging and solidarity. In this context, we examine the social conditioning of biographies and investigate processes of identity formation as well as inclusion and exclusion. We explore this, among other things, through the lens of the phenomenon of binational background.

Furthermore, we examine the emergence and transformation of cross-border, transnational fields of cultural production in Europe. At the center of our interest are the associated processes of cultural openness and the drawing of boundaries between European and non-European societies. To this end, we examine, for example, the infrastructures, mediation practices, and cooperation networks within the European book market.

Finally, the professorship examines the relationships between (non-)citizens and the state. Here, the team is interested in how plural and sometimes contradictory legal systems are applied and interpreted at the local level. We examine how interactions between members of the public and employees of public authorities take shape, what role trust and distrust play in this context, what forms of power and counter-power characterize these interactions, and to what extent they can be changed.

The research conducted by the chair is characterized by methodological diversity and draws on qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches. These include grounded theory and situational analysis, discourse analysis, as well as advanced quantitative analytical methods and techniques from computational social sciences.