Sociological Theory

Profile of the subject area

The Department of Sociological Theory is dedicated to the critical discussion, dissemination and further development of the discipline's broad inventory of social and societal theory. It is convinced that a sociological theory discourse that is limited to the interplay of different schools and paradigms falls short. Rather, this discourse is linked back to current social challenges and to the investigation of social processes of their collective and individual processing and is empirically grounded through participation in university research contexts. In line with the University of Kassel's strong focus on innovation and transfer, the further development of social science concepts and theories as tools of thought is to be interlinked with the reflection of design opportunities and the development of new approaches to solving social problems at different levels of social action. The social challenges to which the Department of Sociological Theory pays particular attention include issues of post-digital lifestyles, sustainability, global justice, digitalization and democracy.

News

Agenda Sustainable consumer research

Initiated by the speaker of the coordinating committee of the Federal Network for Consumer Research, the Department of Sociological Theory at the University of Kassel is organizing an agenda process for future-oriented consumer research. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag.

Agenda Sustainable consumer research: Read More

Social Theory Lab/Reading Group on the Theory of Society

This mixed event is a permanent institution of the Research Unit Sociological Theory. The workshop is open especially to students in their final semesters (BA and MA) as well as to PhD students who wish to discuss the theoretical framework, the research design or to work together on empirical material of their theses, dissertations or projects. Master's students writing their master's thesis in the field of Sociological Theory can treat this event as a master's colloquium.

50% of the sessions are designed as a joint reading circle. In these sessions, recent works are discussed from which Sociology may hope for impulses for the further development of Social Theory. In the winter semester 2023/24 we will read the following book (the purchase of which is strongly recommended):

Puig de la Bellacasa, María (2017): Matters of Care. Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press. .

The event is held in German.

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