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Why do people and groups ignore, deny and resist knowledge about society's many problems? In a world of'alternative facts','fake news'that some believe could be remedied by ‘factfulness', the question has never been more pressing. After years of ideologically polarised debates on this topic, the book seeks to further advance our understanding of the phenomenon of knowledge resistance by integrating insights from the social, economic and evolutionary sciences. It identifies simplistic views in public and scholarly debates about what facts, knowledge and human motivations are and what'rational'use of information actually means. The examples used include controversies about nature-nurture, climate change, gender roles, vaccination, genetically modified food and artificial intelligence. Drawing on cutting-edge scholarship as well as personal experiences of culture clashes, the book is aimed at the general, educated public as well as students and scholars interested in the interface of human motivation and the urgent social problems of today.

​Für die Wahrnehmung von Politik und die Beteiligung am politischen Leben einer Gesellschaft ist politisches Wissen notwendig. Der Band bündelt aktuelle Studien zur Bedeutung, zur Messung sowie zu den Bestimmungsfaktoren und Konsequenzen des politischen Wissens. Die Beiträge geben erste Antworten auf drängende Fragen und weisen auf Lücken in der Forschung zum politischen Wissen in Deutschland hin.

Im Vordergrund von Vilfredo Paretos (1848-1923) Soziologie steht das Problem des nicht-logischen Handelns. Darunter fallen all jene Verhaltensformen, die sich nicht mit dem Rationalitätstypus des zweckgemäßen Handelns, wie es für die Wirtschaft, die Wissenschaften und die Technik grundlegend ist, zur Deckung bringen lassen. Soziales Handeln ist überwiegend nicht-logisches Handeln, das häufig nachträglich mit einem Glanzlack der Logik und Vernunft überzogen wird. Pareto legte damit den Grundstein für eine moderne Soziologie der Emotionen und der politischen Rhetorik.

Utopisches Denken und Utopieentwürfe stehen vordergründig für den Glauben an den menschlichen Fortschritt. Ausgangspunkt der Utopien ist fast immer eine schlechte Gegenwart, die überwunden werden soll. Aber im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert wachsen die Zweifel an einer durch die aufgeklärte Vernunft entworfenen, planbaren Zukunft, am Projekt der Moderne. Auf Utopien antworten Dystopien. Daran wird deutlich: Das Grundmotiv utopischen Denkens ist die Angst vor einer unbeherrschbaren Zukunft, eine Angst, die vielleicht durch das Prinzip Hoffnung (Ernst Bloch), eine liebenswürdige Illusion, überwunden werden könnte.Der InhaltDer „Widerspruch“ von Rationalität und Irrationalität in utopischen Konzeptionen ● Fiktion und Wirklichkeit ● Modell und Mythos ● Symbol und symbolische Handlung ● Aufklärung zur Autonomie Die Zielgruppen● Geistes-, Politik- und SozialwissenschaftlerInnen● PhilosophInnen● TheologInnenDer AutorProf. Dr. Hans-Georg Soeffner ist emeritierter Professor für allgemeine Soziologie an der Universität Konstanz, Senior Fellow und Vorstandsmitglied am Kulturwissenschaftlichen Institut Essen (KWI) und Permanent Visiting Fellow am Forum internationale Wissenschaft der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.

Ausgehend vom in den britischen Cultural Studies entwickelten Domestizierungskonzept nimmt der Band einerseits aktuelle Prozesse der Verbreitung digitaler Medien und ihre Folgen für Alltag, Zusammenleben und Medienfunktionen in den Blick (Internet, Mobiltelefon). Er verbindet dies andererseits mit einem historischen Rückblick auf Domestizierungsprozesse ‚alter'Medien wie Radio, Fernsehen, Telefon. Im Zentrum steht vor allem der häusliche Kontext als Ort der Medienaneignung, aber auch die Interaktion mit mobiler Kommunikation und anderen sozialen Räumen. Mit'domestication'wird der Prozess beschrieben, in dem Medien in die Haushalte einziehen, von den NutzerInnen in das Alltagshandeln und in die Medienmenüs integriert werden und sich auf diesem Weg massenhaft und über soziale Grenzen hinweg verbreiten. Die historische Perspektive macht deutlich, dass solche Prozesse - so revolutionär sie im Zuge der Digitalisierung zunächst auch erscheinen mögen - auch bei der Verbreitung anderer Medien relevant waren.Der Band verbindet historische Rekonstruktionen und Gegenwartsanalysen, Mediengeschichts- und Medienrezeptionsforschung.

Deliberate ignorance has been known as the'Ostrich Instruction'in law courts since the 1860s. It illustrates a recurring pattern in history in which figureheads for major companies, political leaders and industry bigwigs plead ignorance to avoid culpability. So why do so many figures at the top still get away with it when disasters on their watch damage so many people's lives? Does the idea that knowledge is power still apply in today's post-truth world?A bold, wide-ranging exploration of the relationship between ignorance and power in the modern age, from debates over colonial power and economic rent-seeking in the 18th and 19th centuries to the legal defences of today, The Unknowers shows that strategic ignorance has not only long been an inherent part of modern power and big business, but also that true power lies in the ability to convince others of where the boundary between ignorance and knowledge lies.

This book, first published in 1989, demonstrates that sociologists have much to gain from a strengthening of the connections between general theories about the changing character of modern western societies and specific studies of religion. It combines an exegesis of sociological classics in the study of religion, and a history of their influence upon the subject's development; a criticism of Talcott Parson's attempt to synthesise classical viewpoints into a single theory of modernity; a discussion of post-Parsonian theories of religion's declining importance; and an argument that some quasi-Marxist thinkers may offer fresh insights into the place of religion in capitalist societies.

Aydın Süer befasst sich mit dem historischen Narrativ vom Niedergang des Osmanischen Reiches, welches den Blick osmanischer und türkischer Eliten auf sich selbst und auf Europa bis heute maßgeblich beeinflusst hat. Dazu untersucht der Autor Reiseberichte, die als Folge einer ab dem 18. Jahrhundert zunehmenden Reisetätigkeit von Osmanen nach Europa entstanden sind. Kennzeichnend für alle Reiseberichte ist, dass sie die Berichterstattung über Europa auf auffällige Weise und häufig in den Dienst einer Kritik an der eigenen Gesellschaft stellen. Damit erzeugen und verstärken sie nach und nach das Bild von einem im Aufstieg begriffenen Europa, demgegenüber das Osmanische Reich zumindest potenziell einer Gefahr des Untergangs ausgesetzt ist. Es ist hier gerade die Wahrnehmung, Darstellung und Deutung einer unmittelbar erlebten fremden Wirklichkeit, die bei den Autoren der Reiseberichte zugleich eine Reflexion darüber auslöst, was das Eigene und das Fremde ausmacht.

In the world of Aristotle, the education of individuals might have led to virtuous action. But today, integrity of action also requires the education of institutions. Those very structures designed to enhance the just use of knowledge too often stand instead as barriers to integrity. Bureaucracy shapes our actions in a manner reflective of a Platonic approach to knowledge and the political order—an approach that labels some as'true knowers'and grants them the ultimate power to decide what is to be done. Professionalism, the institution with which we legitimatize and use expertise, imbues our actions with the Aquinian belief that any disobedience of directives from reigning experts risks (unacceptably) the loss of order. In our research system, representing our main collective effort to generate new knowledge, we unwittingly put into practice Hume's conception of knowledge, which takes the outcomes of science to be an accumulation of facts, and John Stuart Mill's political theory, which overlooks the role of community in the lives of individuals. The stakes are high, argues Dr. Kerr. Given these conceptions of knowledge and the political values that are inherent in our primary modes of knowledge utilization—conceptions that we should not embrace—only with fundamental reforms of our institutions can our society hope to gain integrity. Dr. Kerr discusses how bureaucracy, professionalism, and the research system could be altered so that they might structure actions in more defensible and desirable ways.

This book questions how policies for the metropolis become Europeanised. The book analyses how spatial concepts and political ideas permeate the European multi-level system. Through an interpretive comparison of five contexts, the book provides an overview of the European orientation tracing two interdependent developments. First, the book examines references to ‘Europe'in national and subnational policies. In French and German policies, metropolitan regions are increasingly framed as being central not only for inter-municipal coordination, but also as nodes within the European space. Moreover, Europeanised metropolitan regions such as Lyon and Stuttgart develop European strategies. The second development shows how metropolitan regions appear as actors and issues in the European policy arena, contributing to a tentative and implicit metropolitan dimension. This multi-scalar analysis is of interest for scholars and practitioners specialised in metropolitan regions, European urban and regional policies, geography and related areas.

This book presents a series of studies that demonstrate the value of interactions between knowledge management with the arts and humanities. The carefully compiled chapters show, on the one hand, how traditional methods from the arts and humanities – e.g. theatrical improvisation, clay modelling, theory of aesthetics – can be used to enhance knowledge creation and evolution. On the other, the chapters discuss knowledge management models and practices such as virtual knowledge space (BA) design, social networking and knowledge sharing, data mining and knowledge discovery tools. The book also demonstrates how these practices can yield valuable benefits in terms of organizing and analyzing big arts and humanities data in a digital environment.

Ob und inwiefern Diskursanalyse ein kritisches Unterfangen ist, gilt als strittig. Der Band beleuchtet die Gründe und Gegenstände dieser Debatte über den Zusammenhang von Diskursanalyse und Kritik. Gibt es einen Erziehungs- bzw. Aufklärungsauftrag der Diskursanalyse? Wer und was soll mit der Kritik erreicht werden: die Kritisierten, die Wissenschaft oder ein „allgemeines“ Publikum? Was sind Gegenstände der Kritik: bestimmte diskursive Praktiken, institutionelle Strukturen, die Diskurse ermöglichen, einzelne Akteur•innen oder Diskurseffekte (wie Normalisierungen, Subjektivierungen etc.)? Wie hängen methodisches Vorgehen und kritische Haltung zusammen? Wie wird Kritik versprachlicht? Und schließlich: Soll Diskursanalyse überhaupt einen kritischen Anspruch erheben und, falls ja, wie wäre ein solcher zu verstehen und zu begründen?Der InhaltDiskursanalyse als Kritik? Theoretische Einlassungen ● Annährungen: Diskursanalyse und kritische Theorie(n) ● Diskursanalytische Praxis der KritikDie Herausgeber•innenDr. Antje Langer ist Professorin für Schulpädagogik und Geschlechterforschung am Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften der Universität Paderborn. Dr. Martin Nonhoff ist Professor für Politische Theorie am Institut für Interkulturelle und Internationale Studien der Universität Bremen. Dr. Martin Reisigl ist Assistenzprofessor für Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft am Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Wien.

Marianne T. Schörling-Ajayi diskutiert systemtheoretisch informiert, wie Entscheidungen soziologisch beschrieben werden können. Dabei ist zentral, dass sie den Begriff der Kommunikation als Leitbegriff wählt und auf die Beobachtung des operativen Vollzugs sozialer Unterscheidungsarbeit fokussiert. Als Ergebnis liegt erstmals eine fachhistorische Systematisierung der Entscheidungstheorie vor. Zudem bietet die Autorin eine umfangreiche Diskussion entscheidungstheoretisch relevanter Begriffe zur Formbestimmung von Entscheidungen, die in der Offerte münden, Entscheidungen als kommunikative, gesellschaftliche Prozesse thematisierter Unterscheidungsarbeit mit spezifischer Selbstreferenz zu denken.

This book explores the extent to which our lives become an important underlying context for data production. Drawing on insights from Gestalt psychology, feminism and post-structuralism, it discusses how to situate yourself in the different phases of research.

Medien und Design sind prominente Gegenstände philosophischer Reflexion geworden. Dabei formieren sich Disziplinen übergreifende Diskurse: insbesondere, wenn sich ›angewandte Philosophie‹ im Dialog mit Gestalterinnen, Gestaltern, Künstlerinnen und Künstlern befindet. Aus der methodologischen Perspektive der kritischen Theorie im Kontext von Design- und Medienphilosophie behandeln die Studien im vorliegenden Band Fragen des Zusammenhangs von Kommunikationsdesign mit ethischen, ästhetischen und sozialphilosophischen Theoremen. Sie dokumentieren Schwerpunkte der Grundlagenforschung an der Fakultät Gestaltung der Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften in Würzburg.

The book is composed of several articles that explore complexity in its most varied aspects. The solution of contemporary problems, whatever they may be, requires a multifaceted vision, far beyond the reductionist perspective. The study of complex systems, however, does not have the capacity to offer ready answers to the challenges of humanity. On the contrary, it points to the increase in uncertainty, the need to control variables, and uncertainty. This does not mean, therefore, that we should simply ignore the social, economic, and political phenomena that are all around us. What this book demonstrates is the importance of knowledge being disseminated, and it is imperative that different sciences exchange ideas, theories, and breakthroughs.

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has reoriented research into social forms, structuration and processes of meaning construction and reality formation; doing so by linking social constructivist and pragmatist approaches with post-structuralist thinking in order to study discourses and create epistemological space for analysing processes of world-making in culturally diverse environments.SKAD is anchored in interpretive traditions of inquiry and allows for broadening – and possibly overcoming – of the epistemological biases and restrictions still common in theories and approaches of Western- and Northern-centric social sciences. An innovative volume, this book is exactly attentive to these empirically based, globally diverse further developments of approach, with a clear focus on the methodology and its implementation. Thus, The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse presents itself as a research program and locates the approach within the context of interpretive social sciences, followed by eleven chapters on different cases from around the world that highlight certain theoretical questions and methodological challenges.Presenting outstanding applications of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse across a wide variety of substantive projects and regional contexts, this text will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Discourse Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Qualitative Methodology and Methods.This book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

In der Professionsforschung und in der Organisationsforschung dient Wissen stets als positives Differenzierungsmerkmal zur Charakterisierung der dort tätigen Akteure. Doch wie gehen Expertinnen und Experten damit um, wenn sie nicht weiter wissen? Die medizinische und pflegerische Praxis zeigt, dass (semi-)professionelles Handeln immer wieder an Wissensgrenzen gerät. Der Umgang mit Wissen beinhaltet somit immer auch den Umgang mit Nichtwissen. Im Buch werden unterschiedliche Facetten des Umgangs mit Nichtwissen sowie Einflussfaktoren auf der Grundlage von vier empirischen Studien im niedergelassenen Bereich und im Krankenhaus erstmals umfassend dargestellt.

Despite many scholars noting the interdisciplinary approach of Aboriginal knowledge production as a methodology within a broad range of subjects – including quantum mathematics, biodiversity, sociology and the humanities - the academic study of Indigenous knowledge and people is struggling to become interdisciplinary in its approach and move beyond its current label of ‘Indigenous Studies'. Indigenous Knowledge Production specifically demonstrates the use of autobiographical ethnicity as a methodological approach, where the writer draws on lived experience and ethnic background towards creative and academic writing. Indeed, in this insightful volume, Marcus Woolombi Waters investigates the historical connection and continuity that have led to the present state of hostility witnessed in race relations around the world; seeking to further one's understanding of the motives and methods that have led to a rise in white supremacy associated with ultra-conservatism.Above all, Indigenous Knowledge Production aims to deconstruct the cultural lens applied within the West which denies the true reflection of Aboriginal and Black consciousness, and leads to the open hostility witnessed across the world. This monograph will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such as Sociology of Knowledge, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Ethnography and Methodology.

This book examines Fuller's pioneering vision of social epistemology. It focuses specifically on his work post-2000, which is founded in the changing conception of humanity and project into a ‘post-‘ or ‘trans-‘ human future. Chapters treat especially Fuller's provocative response to the changing boundary conditions of the knower due to anticipated changes in humanity coming from the nanosciences, neuroscience, synthetic biology and computer technology and end on an interview with Fuller himself. While Fuller's turn in this direction has invited at least as much criticism as his earlier work, to him the result is an extended sense of the knower, or ‘humanity 2.0', which Fuller himself identifies with transhumanism. The authors assess Fuller's work on the following issues: Science and Technology Studies (STS), the university and intellectual life, neo-liberal political economy, intelligent design, Cosmism, Gnosticism, agent-oriented epistemology, proactionary vs precautionary principles and Welfare State 2.0.

This book seeks to analyse the categorial structure of sociological theory. The analysis is based on three assumptions: first, sociological theory is in a state of structural crisis; second, one of the symptoms of the crisis is the existence of many theoretical dichotomies which hinder the unification of sociological knowledge; and third, sociology of knowledge may analyse the causes of sociological theory's structural crisis. Drawing on Foucault's work, the author defines the source of theoretical crisis as an anthropological paradox: the involvement of man in a dialectic of being created and defined by what is objective while, at the same time, transcending this condition into the subjective. This study argues that insights found in works by Luhmann, Latour, Collins, Shapin, and others provide a chance for a formulation of a theoretical language for sociology that escapes the anthropological paradox.

In this major new work, Bourdieu pushes the critique of scholastic reason to a point which most questionings leave untouched.

Chelsea Tschoerner-Budde analyzes discourse in two cases of sustainable mobility policymaking in Munich: cycling promotion and electric mobility promotion. Both cases revealed that the formation and integration of a new, socially driven discourse on everyday mobility was necessary for policy change. Historically, transport policy has been structured to improve flow and manage transport systems. The new ‘everyday mobility cultures'approach presents a potential framework for improving policymaking and fostering a transition in the transport sector.

In The End of the Cognitive Empire Boaventura de Sousa Santos further develops his concept of the'epistemologies of the South,'in which he outlines a theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical framework for challenging the dominance of Eurocentric thought. As a collection of knowledges born of and anchored in the experiences of marginalized peoples who actively resist capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy, epistemologies of the South represent those forms of knowledge that are generally discredited, erased, and ignored by dominant cultures of the global North. Noting the declining efficacy of established social and political solutions to combat inequality and discrimination, Santos suggests that global justice can only come about through an epistemological shift that guarantees cognitive justice. Such a shift would create new, alternative strategies for political mobilization and activism and give oppressed social groups the means through which to represent the world as their own and in their own terms.

Der Themenband beschäftigt sich mit der Bedeutung des Sozialen und des Historischen für sozioökonomische Bildung in Schulen und Hochschulen in Deutschland und Österreich. In den Beiträgen werden fachwissenschaftliche Begründungslinien und fachdidaktische Konzepte für die systematische Integration von historischen und gesellschaftlichen Perspektiven in Bildungsgänge der sozialwissenschaftlichen Domäne entwickelt. Sie greifen damit aktuelle fachwissenschaftliche Debatten über die Relevanz von Geschichte und Gesellschaft für ein angemessenes Verständnis von Wirtschaft auf.Historizität und Sozialität sind zentrale Konzepte für die sozioökonomische Bildung, weil ökonomische Institutionen, Strukturen und Prozesse ebenso historisch bedingt und gesellschaftlich eingebettet sind, wie die Begriffe, Theorien und Verfahren, mit denen sie in Wissenschaft, Bildung und Öffentlichkeit erschlossen und verhandelt werden, und die Politiken, mit denen sie gestaltet werden. Die Autorinnen und Autoren zeigen, wie man diese grundlegenden Zusammenhänge theoretisch, konzeptionell und praktisch in der sozioökonomischen Bildung aufgreifen kann.

This book argues that contemporary European politics creates new forms oftransnational power that challenge the traditional parameters of the nation-state.Kauppi identifies and critically explores the evolving dynamics between nationaland transnational spaces, groups and knowledge, and suggests that European publicpolicies and transnational institutions like the European Parliament create new spaces,types of knowledge and novel political practices.Toward a Reflexive Political Sociology of the European Union is structured aroundthree parts. The first focuses on evolving transnational fields. The second explores thechanging role of academics and universities. The third section engages with the worksof Pierre Bourdieu on politics and the media. The issues discussed throughout thebook revolve around the challenges to the nation-state and of knowledge productionthat is tied to it.This book will be an invaluable resource to academics and researchers interested inEuropean politics, European Union studies and political sociology.

Wer sich einen Überblick über die Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Soziologie und über soziologiehistorische Konzepte und Methoden verschaffen möchte, wird in diesem Handbuch umfassend fündig. Band 1 gibt zentrale Einblicke in die sozialen und kognitiven Dimensionen der Fachgeschichte und behandelt dabei auch Theorie- und Methodenentwicklungen, Kontroversen, internationale Rezeptionen sowie Institutionalisierungsprozesse in Form von Fachgesellschaften, -zeitschriften und Forschungseinrichtungen.

Die deutschsprachige Fassung der Heidelberger Dissertation von Talcott Parsons aus dem Jahr 1927 galt lange als verschollen. Umso überraschender ist es, dass diese bisher unveröffentlichte Schrift kürzlich in seinem Nachlass in Harvard aufgefunden wurde. In diesem Band wird sie zum ersten Mal in einer textkritischen Fassung veröffentlicht. In ihrer Einleitung klärt die Herausgeberin dieses Bandes Uta Gerhardt die werkgeschichtlichen Hintergründe der Entstehung und des „Verschwindens“ dieses nachgelassenen Manuskriptes von Parsons auf. Ferner würdigt sie in einer eigenen Abhandlung den Beitrag von Talcott Parsons zur Rezeption des Werkes von Max Weber und zur Kapitalismusdiskussion des 20. Jahrhunderts, die in diesem Band ebenfalls zum Abdruck kommt.

Im Zuge von Migrationsprozessen sind in den klassischen und neuen Einwanderungsländern neue religiöse Gemeinschaften entstanden, die für die Aufnahmeländer bis heute eine integrationspolitische Herausforderung darstellen. Dabei handelt es sich nicht primär um eine Reproduktion der religiösen Strukturen aus dem Herkunftskontext, sondern um adaptive Transformationsprozesse. Denn religiöse Symbole und religiöse Kommunikation sind keine statischen Gebilde, sondern sind dynamisch. Im Migrationskontext intensivieren sich Transformationsprozesse unter veränderten politischen, wirtschaftlichen, sozialen und kulturellen Rahmenbedingungen. Form und Inhalt können einen Bedeutungswandel erfahren und neu kontextualisiert werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund setzt sich die vorliegende Publikation mit dem Thema der Dynamik religiöser Symbole und religiöser Kommunikation in der Diaspora auseinander. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den sozialpsychologischen und religionssoziologischen Zugänge zum DiskursfeldIslam. Dabei ist die Abhandlung in drei Schwerpunkte gegliedert.

With particular attention to his work on modernization and modernity as construed by a sociologist of knowledge, this book offers a sympathetic exposition and evaluation of Peter Berger's work as one of the world's most accomplished and influential sociologists.In the context of an examination of Berger's ongoing work on the social construction of reality, styles of consciousness, the role of science-based technology, pluralism, and other pertinent topics, the author also considers Berger's unique and thoughtful approach to research and theorizing. Berger's method of ‘sociological tourism', which departs sharply from the current emphasis in the social sciences on ever more complex and ostensibly rigorous statistical procedures, provides a refreshing move away from the increasingly esoteric and sometimes alienating methodological self-consciousness that characterizes contemporary sociology. With this distinctive approach, this book will appeal to scholars and students of sociology who share Berger's interest. The importance of modernization and modernity on a world scale is undeniable, and a deeper understanding of their nature and consequences, will also benefit members of the intelligent laity who are not sociological specialists but are open to new ideas that are clearly explained.

Economic changes and political changes which emerged with the modern capitalist world-economy were accompanied in the sociocultural domain by changes in the structures of knowledge. These included the hierarchical separation of the realm of facts from that of values, institutionalized as a division between the sciences and the humanities. The social sciences responded to contradictions inherent in this structure over the nineteenth century in producing knowledge on which policy decisions could be based. The problems of the contemporary period indicate we are in a long-term, structural crisis. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches through which social analysts and observers alike seek to understand the world. Since the 1960s, developments in the field of knowledge, especially two movements complexity studies in the natural sciences and cultural studies in the humanities have contested the naturalized, essentialist boundaries separating the sciences, the social sciences and the humanities. The primary rationale for this work is to recognize the inseparable whole composed of the material structures of the world and the structures of knowledge that govern what actions may be deemed legitimate and effective.'Knowledge Matters'discusses what actions will actually be undertaken by social agents, and what such an approach means for an analysis of the present situation in terms of imagining and evaluating possible futures.

To reflect on Karl Mannheim is to address fundamental issues of political enlightenment Mannheim's driving determination'was to learn as a sociologist by close observation the secret (even if it is infernal) of these new times.'Mannheim's aim was'to carry liberal values forward.'His problem remains irresistible to reflective people at the end of the twentieth century. Mannheim attempted to link social thinking to political emancipation despite overwhelming evidence against the connection. Karl Mannheim and the Crisis of Liberalism is a sympathetic biography of Mannheim's paradoxicalaand paradigmatica'project. The book covers a wide range of European and American thought, including Mannheim's dealings with Georg Lukacs and Oscar Jszi in Budapest; with Alfred Weber, Leopold von Wiese, Franz Neumann, Paul Tillich, Adolph Loewe, and his students in Weimar Germany; with Louis Wirth, Edward Shils, and other major figures in American sociology; and with social analysts and religious thinkers in England. The analysis is informed by dilemmas of history and theory, science and rhetoric, freedom and technical controlathe themes of liberalism. Kettler and Meja carefully depict each stage of Mannheim's life as a sociologist and explore his influence on leading social thinkers. Karl Mannheim and the Crisis of Liberalism combines significant biographical information with insightful sociological theory. It will be a vital resource for historians, sociologists, and political theorists.

»Design Thinking« gilt als universell anwendbares Problemlösungskonzept. Durch ein emphatisches Vorgehen sollen Waren und Dienstleistungen entstehen, die wahre Bedürfnisse stillen. Damit ist das Selbstverständnis verbunden, die Welt zu verändern. Tim Seitz war als Ethnograph in der Welt einer Berliner Innovationsagentur, wo er mit Wissenspraktiken und Transformationsversprechen gleichermaßen konfrontiert wurde. Er analysiert das Verhältnis dieser Praktiken und Diskurse und kommt in einer theoretischen Suchbewegung von der Praxistheorie zum Pragmatismus. »Design Thinking« wird so als Phänomen der Gegenwart und als Kind des neuen Geistes des Kapitalismus verstehbar.

Wer sich einen Überblick über die Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Soziologie und über soziologiehistorische Konzepte und Methoden verschaffen möchte, wird in diesem zweibändigen Handbuch umfassend fündig. Band 2 widmet sich soziologiegeschichtlichen Forschungsdesigns, analytischen Konzepten sowie unterschiedlichen Methodologien und Methoden für die soziologiehistorische Forschung. Er bietet auch einen praxisorientierten Teil zur Arbeit in und mit Archiven. Insgesamt dient Band 2 als ein Werkzeugkasten für systematische soziologiehistorische Forschung.

Is there a basic difference in thinking between Western and non-Western societies? This long-debated yet highly topical problem forms the central question to which distinguished contributors in the fields of psychology, linguistics, history, and sociology and, more particularly, of social anthropology and philosophy, address themselves in this interdisciplinary collec­tion. They are: Barry Barnes, Benjamin N. Colby and Michael Cole, Ruth Finnegan, Ernest Gellner, Robin Horton, J. M. Ita, Hilary Jenkins, Steven Lukes, Nobuhiro Nagashima, S. J. Tambiah, W. H. Whiteley, and Sybil Wolfram. The central ideas of this classic work are reformulated and refined in the various contributions with different possible dichotomies discussed such as:'traditional/modern','industrial/non­ industrial', or'scientific/non-scientific', and'thinking,'analyzed in terms of its thought processes, content, logic or social background. The material in the book, which is dedicated to Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard, falls within the general area of the comparative sociology of knowledge, and will thus particularly interest philosophers, social anthropologists, and sociologists. The volume is however conceived in an interdisciplinary spirit and will be of interest to anyone seriously concerned to examine the nature of thinking in our own and other societies.

Interest in the ethnomethodology and other phenomenological sociologies grew very rapidly among students and professionals in social science during the latter part of the twentieth century. The growth of this interest was handicapped by the lack of clear, systematic, and comprehensive treatments of their basic ideas and research findings. This book provides the first genuinely intelligible and reasonably systematic presentation of this perspective and contributed to the restructuring of empirical knowledge upon solid foundations. It remains important to those who would understood these areas of the social sciences and their potential to contribute to understanding of social life. These original essays, all of which share ideas about the scientific inadequacies of conventional sociologies and the fundamental importance of these new approaches, were contributed by many of the best young research workers and theorists of this approach in 1970, when the book was originally published. They are critical, theoretical, and empirical, and provide the first understandable presentation of this new mode of thought, its distinctions from old points of view, the range of problems that concern its practitioners, and the kinds of results that can be achieved. The book's clarity and systematic treatment of important research topics make it suitable for courses in sociological theory and research, the history of social thought, and related subjects. In addition, this volume can be used in courses specifically dealing with ethnomethodology, in graduate seminars dealing with these issues, and in academic work based on this orientation.

Taking its cue from contemporary western debates on presence in the social sciences and the humanities, this volume focuses on'presence'both as everyday experience and as an experience of intense moments. It raises questions about diverse social configurations of presence as well as about the specific cultural repertoires which encode, articulate, and shape discourses of presence. The contributions take as a premise that phenomena of presence are connected to particular forms of knowledge. Especially tacit knowledge (pre)determines experiences of individual and collective presence and becomes tangible in moments of presence or presentification.

The book presents a broad and multi-dimensional perspective on the topic of knowledge production in and of Africa and seeks changing its post-imperial pattern. This endeavour reflects the concern that in our globalised world, Africa is misrepresented twice: by the ways knowledge about it is selected by gatekeepers of knowledge, and by deliberate suppression of knowledge on Africa. The contributions to this volume address diverse aspects of knowledge production: they examine the existing knowledge-producing frontiers in Africa; they challenge methodological and theoretical universalisms in social science scholarship on the African continent; they look into the interface between the indigenous and modern knowledge systems and the role of African epistemologies and intellectuals in the production of knowledge.

Nothing affects modern society more than the decisions made in the marketplace, especially (but not only) the judgments of consumers. Stehr's designation of a new stage in modern societies with the term'moral markets'signals a further development in the social evolution of markets. Market theories still widely in use today emerged in a society that no longer exists. Consumers were hardly in evidence at all in early theories of the market. Today, growing affluence, greater knowledge, and high-speed communication among consumers builds into the marketplace notions of fairness, solidarity, environment, health, and political considerations imbued with a long-term perspective that can disrupt short-term pursuits of the best buy. Importantly, such social goals, individual apprehensions, and modes of consumer conduct become inscribed today in products and services offered in the marketplace, as well as in the rules and regulations that govern market relations. Stehr uses examples to illustrate these trends and build new theory fitting today's changing consumerism.

Uniting a team of international and interdisciplinary scholars, this volume considers the views of early twentieth-century European thinkers on the creation, dissemination and management of publicly available information. Interdisciplinary in perspective, the volume reflects the nature of the thinkers discussed, including Otto Neurath, Patrick Geddes, the English Fabians, Paul Otlet, Wilhelm Ostwald and H. G. Wells. The work also charts the interest since the latter part of the nineteenth century in finding new ways to think about and to manage the growing body of available information in order to achieve aims such as the advancement of Western civilization, the alleviation of inequalities across classes and countries, and the promotion of peaceful coexistence between nations. In doing so, the contributors provide a novel historical context for assessing widely-held assumptions about today's globalized,'post modern'information society. This volume will interest all who are curious about the creation of a modern networked information society.

This book analyses the India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA), focusing on the communalities and differences in the way foreign policy is conceptualized in its member states. Utilizing 83 interviews with foreign policy makers and experts, as well as the analysis of 119 foreign-policy speeches, the author traces key shifts in official foreign policy discourse. In order to evaluate the degree of support for key IBSA Dialogue Forum concepts within national discourse, the author also examines the interplay between official and broader societal discourses on foreign policy. This analysis combines political science factors (foreign policy role conceptions) with linguistic factors, thus enabling a qualitative and quantitative comparison of different framings of foreign policy. Extensive empirical material collected during six months of field research in India, Brazil and South Africa allows the author to present a differentiated account of their alleged like-mindedness.

As we move through our modern world, the phenomenon we call knowledge is always involved. Whether we talk of know-how, technology, innovation, politics or education, it is the concept of knowledge that ties them all together. But despite its ubiquity as a modern trope we seldom encounter knowledge in itself. How is it produced, where does it reside, and who owns it? Is knowledge always beneficial, will we know all there is to know at some point in the future, and does knowledge really equal power? This book pursues an original approach to this concept that seems to define so many aspects of modern societies. It explores the topic from a distinctly sociological perspective, and traces the many ways that knowledge is woven into the very fabric of modern society.

Das Buch stellt unterschiedliche und interdisziplinäre Beiträge vor, die sich mit der Wissenssoziologischen Diskursanalyse auseinandersetzen, sie für spezifische Forschungsvorhaben nutzen und adaptieren oder sich mit angrenzenden Fragestellungen zum Verhältnis von Wissenssoziologie und Diskursforschung beschäftigen. Im ersten Teil des Bandes geht es um theoretisch-methodologische Fragen, die solche Perspektiven adressieren und ebenso um die Einbettung wissenssoziologisch-interpretativer Ansätze in die aktuelle Landschaft der Diskursforschung. Im zweiten Teil des Bandes stehen empirische Studien im Vordergrund, welche Forschungsfelder und -gegenstände wie Medizin, Bildung und Partnerschaft in den Blick nehmen.

Melanie Nagel untersucht die Dynamik in politischen Diskursen am Beispiel der Proteste gegen das Bahnhofsprojekt „Stuttgart 21“. Durch einen innovativen Ansatz, der Wissens- und Diskursnetzwerke in die Analyse einbezieht, gelingt es der Autorin, die Dynamik im politischen Diskurs nachzuzeichnen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen u. a., dass die Schlichtung den Diskurs nur vordergründig verändert hat und die Polarisierung im Konflikt nach wie vor vorhanden ist. Die Frage, worum es beim Diskurs um „Stuttgart 21“ eigentlich geht, wird durch die Betrachtung der Konfliktfelder Ökonomie, Verkehrstechnik, Ökologie, Städtebau und Partizipation beantwortet. Die innovativen Methoden der Diskursnetzwerkanalyse und die Visualisierungen dieser Netzwerke wurden interdisziplinär an der Universität Konstanz entwickelt und werden seit vielen Jahren international gelehrt.

In diesem Sammelband werden Probleme in der Evaluation von Studium und Lehre aufgezeigt und ein möglicher Umgang mit ihnen erörtert. Obgleich Evaluationen in Form von Befragungen Studierender zur Lehr- und Studiensituation flächendeckend verbreitet sind, weisen die genutzten Instrumente und Verfahren methodische Probleme auf und besteht daher Kritik an deren Genauigkeit und Verlässlichkeit sowie dem Umgang mit den gewonnenen Ergebnissen. In den Beiträgen werden historische und methodische Grundlagen besprochen, Potentiale und Grenzen spezifischer Evaluationsverfahren aufgezeigt und mögliche externe Einflüsse auf Evaluationsergebnisse betrachtet.

The essays in this collection address questions raised by a modernity that has become global with the victory of capitalism over its competitors in the late twentieth century. Rather than erase difference by converting all to European-American norms of modernity, capitalist modernity as it has gone global has empowered societies once condemned to imprisonment in premodernity or tradition to make their own claims on modernity, on the basis of those very traditions, as filtered through experiences of colonialism, neocolonialism, or simple marginalization by the forces of globalization. Global modernity appears presently not as global homogeneity, but as a site of conflict between forces of homogenization and heterogenization within and between nations. Prominent in this context are conflicts over different ways of knowing and organizing the world. The essays here, dealing for the most part with education in the United States, engage in critiques of hegemonic ways of knowing and critically evaluate counterhegemonic voices for change that are heard from a broad spectrum of social, ethnic, and indigenous perspectives. Crucial to the essays'critique of hegemony in contemporary pedagogy is an effort shared by the contributors, distinguished scholars in their various fields, to overcome area and/or disciplinary boundaries and take the wholeness of everyday life as their point of departure.

Udo Dengel untersucht das (migrations-)biographische und quasi-professionelle Erfahrungswissen älterer, herkunftsheterogen verorteter MigrantInnen in dem Tätigkeitsfeld des Migrations- und Integrationsengagements in Deutschland. Er geht auf der Basis biografisch-narrativer und zum Teil leitfadengestützter Interviews der Frage nach, wie dieses Erfahrungswissen in der Unterstützung für andere MigrantInnen modifiziert in neuen Integrationsstrategien in Erscheinung tritt. Die Ergebnisse spiegeln typische Haltungen, Handlungen und Funktionen der Unterstützung bei engagierten Migranten und Migrantinnen wider, die quer zu ethnisch-kulturellen Grenzen in einem neu gedeuteten Tätigkeitsrahmen zwischen Distanz gegenüber ‚Dritten‘ und persönlicher Nähe zu Hilfesuchenden stattfinden.

Interest in relations between knowledge, power, and space has a long tradition in a range of disciplines, but it was reinvigorated in the last two decades through critical engagement with Foucault and Gramsci. This volume focuses on relations between knowledge and power. It shows why space is fundamental in any exercise of power and explains which roles various types of knowledge play in the acquisition, support, and legitimization of power. Topics include the control and manipulation of knowledge through centers of power in historical contexts, the geopolitics of knowledge about world politics, media control in twentieth century, cartography in modern war, the power of words, the changing face of Islamic authority, and the role of Millennialism in the United States. This book offers insights from disciplines such as geography, anthropology, scientific theology, Assyriology, and communication science.

Heralding a push for higher education to adopt a more global perspective, the term'globalizing knowledge'is today a popular catchphrase among academics and their circles. The complications and consequences of this desire for greater worldliness, however, are rarely considered critically. In this groundbreaking cultural-political sociology of knowledge and change, Michael D. Kennedy rearticulates questions, approaches, and case studies to clarify intellectuals'and institutions'responsibilities in a world defined by transformation and crisis. Globalizing Knowledge introduces the stakes of globalizing knowledge before examining how intellectuals and their institutions and networks shape and are shaped by globalization and world-historical events from 2001 through the uprisings of 2011–13. But Kennedy is not only concerned with elaborating how wisdom is maintained and transmitted, he also asks how we can recognize both interconnectedness and inequalities, and possibilities for more knowledgeable change within and beyond academic circles. Subsequent chapters are devoted to issues of public engagement, the importance of recognizing difference and the local's implication in the global, and the specific ways in which knowledge, images, and symbols are shared globally. Kennedy considers numerous case studies, from historical happenings in Poland, Kosova, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, to today's energy crisis, Pussy Riot, the Occupy Movement, and beyond, to illuminate how knowledge functions and might be used to affect good in the world.

Once treated as the absence of knowledge, ignorance today has become a highly influential topic in its own right, commanding growing attention across the natural and social sciences where a wide range of scholars have begun to explore the social life and political issues involved in the distribution and strategic use of not knowing. The field is growing fast and this handbook reflects this interdisciplinary field of study by drawing contributions from economics, sociology, history, philosophy, cultural studies, anthropology, feminist studies, and related fields in order to serve as a seminal guide to the political, legal and social uses of ignorance in social and political life.