>>> Professorship for Work and Knowledge

The research and teaching area "Work and Knowledge" is dedicated to the study of the genesis, structural peculiarities and polyvalences of work and knowledge as a relatively stable and at the same time mutable power and social structure of society. This implies, in particular, the theoretical and empirical investigation of the social transformations that entail the questioning of the traditional self-understanding of modern societies as well as their social cohesion.

On the one hand, the changing work and knowledge society in particular poses ambivalent challenges that need to be explored in greater detail in micro- and meso-sociological terms. On the other hand, contributions to the further development of the sociology of work and knowledge on the basis of process theory are made on the macrosociological level. In this context, the question of the location of the individual in the process of work, knowledge, and education is fundamentally posed anew against the background of an expanded sociological framework of investigation of work (from classical industrial and business sociology to the sociology of work and organization to the investigation of knowledge and sole-servant work). A knowledge-sociological view on the location-boundness of the discourses around the work-and-knowledge-society as well as the factual mobilization of tacit knowledge in work organizations is furthermore extended here by a view on the long-durée socio- and psychogenetic dimensions of societal transformations.

Ongoing activities | Completed projects | Supervised doctoral projects

• Ongoing activities

  DIV - Diversity Climate Survey at the WWU Münster [Diversitätsklima-Erhebung an der WWU Münster]

  Living and working in the cultural and creative industries [Leben und Arbeiten in der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft]

  Visibility of women in work organizations with ZEUGS, University of Münster [Sichtbarkeit von Frauen in Arbeitsorganisationen mit dem ZEUGS, Universität Münster]

  FIG - FIG - Thinking in Figurations: A Sociological Study of Knowledge on Process Theory, sponsored by the Norbert Elias Foundation, Amsterdam. [In Figurationen denken: Eine wissenssoziologische Studie zur Prozesstheorie, gefördert von der Norbert Elias-Stiftung, Amsterdam]

• Completed projects

  2023: On the transformation of social canons: process sociological perspectives on the 21st century. Conference with the Norbert Elias Foundation. [Zur Transformation sozialer Kanons: Prozesssoziologische Perspektiven auf das 21. Jahrhundert. Tagung mit  der Norbert Elias-Foundation]

  2017 - 2020: Spreading Young Non-discrimination Generation - SPRYNG. EU project

  2014-2017: The forgotten generation. Youth and long-term unemployment (2014 - 2017)

  2017: ARBEITsLEBEN. Film series at CINEMA Münster (2017) with Sparkasse Münsterland Ost.

  2016: International conference: Changing Power Relations and the Drag Effects of Habitus - Theoretical and Empirical Approaches in the Twenty-First Century, with the Norbert Elias-Foundation.

• Supervised doctoral projects

  2019-2023: Bystander experience of employees in male-dominated occupational fields. A figuration sociological view [Bystander-Experience von Arbeitsnehmenden in  männerdominierten Berufsfeldern. Eine figurationssoziologische Betrachtung] (Valerie Dahl)

  2019-2022: Right-wing violence in urban spaces. On police perception and evaluation of right-wing extremist violent delinquency in German cities [Rechtsextreme Gewalt im urbanen Raum. Zur polizeilichen Wahrnehmung und Bewertung rechtsextremer Gewaltdelinquenz in deutschen Großstädten] (Claudia Tutino)

  2013-2016: Trust and change in social service organizations: A figuration sociological analysis [Vertrauen und Wandel sozialer Dienstleistungsorganisationen: Eine figurationssoziologische Analyse] (Janina Evers)

  2012-2015: Social Theory and Political Engagement. An exploration of the reception of Pierre Bourdieu's work in German sociology [Sozialtheorie und politisches Engagement. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit der Rezeption des Werks Pierre Bourdieus in der deutschen Soziologie] (Semra Dogan)

  2010-2013: Labor action between external and self constraints. A figuration and process sociological study in the automotive industry [Arbeitshandeln zwischen Fremd- und Selbstzwängen. Eine figurations- und prozesssoziologische Untersuchung in der Automobilindustrie] (Melanie Frerichs)

  2012-2014: Process sociology of parenthood: nation-building, figurational ideals, and generative power architecture in Germany [Prozess-Soziologie der Elternschaft: Nationsbildung, Figurationsideale und generative Machtarchitektur in Deutschland] (Désirée Waterstradt)

  2012-2014: Performance principles in change: stylizing work and performance policy (demands). On the thesis of a psycho-cognitive structural difference between traditional + modern mentality - Weber, Elias and Piaget in comparison [Leistungsprinzipien im Wandel: Stilisierung arbeits- und leistungspolitischer (An-)forderungen. Zur These einer psychisch-kognitiven Strukturdifferenz zwischen traditionaler + moderner Mentalität - Weber, Elias und Piaget im Vergleich] (Jessika Barg)