Sociological Theory

Initiated by the spokesperson of the coordination committee of the Bundesnetzwerk Verbraucherforschung (Federal Network for Consumer Research), the Research Unit of Sociological Theory at 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 and based on a resolution of the German Bundestag.

On the occasion of the 9th Annual Conference of the Federal Network for Consumer Research, Jörn Lamla and Dirk Hohnsträter edited the conference proceedings titled “Between Incorporation and Disposal: The Materialities of Consumption.” Like the annual conference of the same name, the volume addresses the—at times rather neglected—material dimension of consumption, which, in light of current crises such as war, the climate crisis, and disrupted supply chains, is once again coming into sharper focus not only for the public but also for consumer science.

The BMBF project „Datenökonomien: Verbraucherverhältnisse und Geschäftsmodelle“ ("Data Economies: Consumer Relationships and Business Models") uses two examples of data-economy platforms to examine how they differ in terms of their market form, value exchange relationships, organisational structure, sociality, promise of co-determination, and personalisation technology, and which consequences this may have for self-determination on these platforms.

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 2026/27 we will read the following book (the purchase of which is strongly recommended):
Nosthoff, Anna-Verena (2026): Kybernetik und Kritik. Eine Theorie digitaler Regierungskunst. Berlin: Suhrkamp
The event is held in German.

How can the public be involved in the discussion about the future of privacy and democracy? As a combination of scientific research and artistic intervention, the website www.privacy-arena.net serves both as a continuation of the December 2016 exhibition at Interim Kassel and as a platform for an in-depth exploration of the research findings of the “Privacy Arena” project.

With the thematic focus "Post-Digital Life-Politics", the Research Unit Sociological Theory combines questions at the interface of digitality, sociality and sustainability. Post-digitality refers to a state in which digitality and sociality have become so intertwined that they are difficult to separate as distinct spheres. New questions thus arise for politics of living and the possibilities of alternative practices and their structuring (with reference to A. Giddens' concept of life politics). The program is based on anthropological and neo-pragmatic theories of contemporary French philosophy (including L. Boltanski and L. Thévenot: On Justification, B. Latour: Modes of Existence, P. Descola: Beyond Nature and Culture). From a (political) ontological and practice-theoretical perspective, it explores the question of alternative ways of living and cosmologies. These alternatives can or should lie beyond a productivist naturalism (keyword: modern industrial society) and an emerging digital analogism (keyword: cybernetic control society).