Michael Pollok

Michael Pollok
© privat
Michael Pollok
Graduate School of Politics
Scharnhorststraße 100
48151 Muenster
michaelpollok@uni-muenster.de
Consultation hours: : Thursdays, in presence between 3pm and 4pm in Room 100 or digitally by arrangement. Registration by e-mail necessary.

  • Project

    Sustainable Mobility in Medium-Sized Cities

    Current mobility causes an unacceptable burden for humans and the environment and must be transformed as quickly as possible. Although there are alternative concepts of sustainable mobility, the actual development stands quantitatively and qualitatively in a diametrically opposite direction. I assume that for measures to be successful, in addition to the provision of the best possible technologies, the social conditions of mobility must be taken into account. What this means will be investigated using the example of medium-sized cities, which – to date – have been rather neglected in sustainability research. The research question is: How do municipal actors in medium-sized cities (politicians, municipal administrators, citizens, mobility service providers) shape the sustainable transformation of mobility? To answer the research question, the mobility culture approach, which has been expanded to include a power perspective, will be used, since it is particularly suitable for establishing links between technical solutions, administrations and infrastructures on the one hand, and human action on the other. Social and cultural factors are at the core of analysis. On the one hand, the aim is to explore the political and economic capacities in city administrations for the sustainable transformation of mobility. At the same time, the analysis must also identify the needs of people affected by potential measures. Participation processes can mediate between those two areas. In the style of a Critical Grounded Theory Methodology, meaning the theory-based collection of data in the field and the multi-level coding of the material, the answer to the research question will be approached via a continuous dialogue of the theoretical perspective, as well as the basic assumptions derived from it, with the actual observations made in the field. The goal of the interdisciplinary doctoral project is to support sustainable mobility in medium-sized cities by providing in-process support. This means: Maintaining mobility and satisfying the need to change places, but with less environmental pollution, energy consumption, land use, accidents and other social or ecological costs. Such a social scientific perspective on sustainability issues is essential in view of the already tangible effects of climate change, as it has the capacity to create links between global challenges and capacities in local structures.

     

     

  • Research Group

  • Career

    Education

     
    10/2020 Member of the Graduate School of Politics (GraSP), Institute for Political Science, University of Münster.
    Since 10/2019 Doctoral studies at University of Muenster on sustainable mobility in medium-sized cities
    10/2015-12/2018 Master's studies of Political Science at Goethe University Frankfurt
    01/2011-09/2015 Bachelor's studies of political science and sociology at University of Muenster
     
    Positions
    Since 03/2021 Research Fellow at The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) Bonn
    10/2020-12/2020 Research Assistant for Prof. Doris Fuchs at the Chair of International Relations and Sustainable Development at the Institute for Political Science Münster
    06/2020-09/2020 Freelancer for agile analyses at betabloom Hamburg
    10/2016-11/2017 Student assistant for Dr. Lisbeth Zimmermann in the project International Norms in Conflict: Contestation and Norm Robustness at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
    08/2016-09/2016 Student Assistant for Felix Anderl in the DFG-Project Social Protest in the Globalization Critical Movement between Opposition and Dissidence at Goethe University Frankfurt
    11/2015-07/2016 Student Assistant for Prof. Christopher Daase at the Chair for International Organizations at the Cluster of Excellence Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt
    04/2014-09/2014 Tutor for International Relations for Prof. Markus Lederer at the Chair of International Governance at the Institute for Political Science Münster
    01/2012-09/2015 Student assistant for Prof.'in Doris Fuchs at the Chair of International Relations and Sustainable Development at the Institute of Political Science Münster
     

     

  • Publications

    • Pollok, Michael (2018): Striving to Improve the Conditions in Global Textile Production? The Case of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles and the Politics of Supply Chain Sustainability. Masterarbeit an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. September 2018.
    • Pollok, Michael (2017): Postfaktische Emotionalität_en: Vom Phänomen des wütenden weißen Mannes und warum wir darüber nachdenken müssen, was wir dagegen tun können. In: Gabel, Jürgen; Hauptmann, Kilian; Janoschka, Jasmina; Langwald, Theresa; Michell, Alix (Hrsg.): Maskulin*identität_en. Christian A. Bachmann Verlag: Berlin.
    • Heinze, Tobias; Pollok, Michael; Illigens, Sebastian (2016): Doing Frontiers. On the Performativity of the European Border and Migration Regime. Papier präsentiert bei der Nachwuchskonferenz des Exzellenz-Clusters Normative Ordnungen in Frankfurt a.M. am 28. November 2014. Erschienen 2016 beim Barbara Budrich Verlag: Berlin.
    • Pollok, Michael (2015): Discursive Strategies in Global Fashion Governance: Performing Destructive Creation? Bachelorarbeit an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Juli 2015.
    • Fuchs, Doris; Lietz, Annika; Pollok, Michael (2015): Nachhaltigkeit, Gerechtigkeit und ein gutes Leben im öffentlichen Diskurs. Inhaltsanalytische Illustrationen aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft. Sustainable Governance Discussion Paper 01/2015. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
    • Fuchs, D. A., Di Giulio, A., Engelkamp, S., Fahy, F., Glaab, K., Lorek, S., Pollok, M.; Schweighofer, M.; Vergragt, P. (2013). Structural Prerequisites for Sustainable Societies and the Good Life – Taking the Sustainable Consumption Lens Seriously. Sustainable Governance Discussion Paper 01/2013. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
    • Siepker, Lena; Pollok, Michael; Peuckert, Jan; Sharp, Helen; Gall, Anna; Kern, Florian; Wolff, Franziska; Hanke, Gerolf (2021) Trendanalyse – Engagement und Beteiligung in Deutschland. Working Paper in context of the project "ENGAGE – Engagement für nachhaltiges Gemeinwohl“, Muenster.

     

  • Further Information

    Lectures

    Research interests

    • Sustainable Mobility
    • Urban Transformation Processes
    • International Political Economy
    • Cultural Sociology

    Memberships

    Workshops and training