Profile of GRASS

Antinomies of post-classical socialization

Thematically, the structured doctoral projects of GRASS are assigned to the main areas of research at the IfS. These focal points meet in a common central focus: under the heading "Antinomies of post-classical socialization", the IfS concentrates on theoretical and empirical analyses of structural tensions between conflicting characteristics of a "late-modern" situation, which are difficult to grasp adequately with the theoretical, conceptual and paradigmatic means of classical sociology.

In an explicitly "post-classical" phase of global social dynamics, local, regional and global phenomena and developments must therefore be examined beyond the already classical concepts of "postmodernism" or "reflexive modernity", starting from the insight that they are intrinsically determined by the conflict between opposing characteristics or factors (individualization and collectivization; increased inclusion and exclusion; universalization of egalitarian principles and an increase in inequality; globalization and localization; growth in freedom and control; secularization and exclusion). factors (individualization and collectivization; increased inclusion and exclusion; universalization of egalitarian principles and increase in inequality; globalization and localization; increase in freedom and control; secularization and spiritualization; differentiation and de-differentiation, etc.).

The research at the IfS, which is differentiated according to subject areas, epistemological interests and empirical fields, thus offers a focused horizon to which the doctoral projects of the scholarship holders can (more or less closely) relate - mediated by the individual project supervision and the structured work within the research focus areas of GRASS.

Research

The doctoral projects at the Graduate School of Sociology are assigned to research focus areas. As centers of gravity of the work at GRASS, these focal points are linked to the research horizons of the IfS "Antinomies of Social Transformation" and ensure a close exchange among the doctoral candidates, with the supervisors and thus a substantive link between the IfS and GRASS.

Focal points

  • Control or momentum: antinomies of social change
  • Ambivalent inclusion in markets, welfare state regimes and education systems
  • Identities between individualization and collectivity
  • Sociological self-reference
  • Post-classical communitization and working relationships
  • Conflicting coordination through organization and milieu
  • Differentiation and de-differentiation