The next SKAD Autumn School will take place at the University of Augsburg on October 5-7, 2023.

Organiser: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller

Following the success of the last four international workshops with participants from different countries and all world regions, there will be a fifth introductory workshop in English on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) at the University of Augsburg in October 2023. The organiser invites novice as well as experienced academics from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, ethnology, political science, cultural studies, linguistics, education, and other humanities, to explore the potential of this approach to studying discourses in the context of their own projects and research. Please note that the autumn school gives priority to participants without a strong German language background. German speakers are invited to register for our summer school.

Die Tagung Ten Years After - Aktuelle Entwickungen des Kommunikativen Konstruktivismus findet vom 26. - 27- Juli 2023 an der TU Berlin (Institut für Soziologie, TU Berlin, Fraunhoferstr. 33-36) statt. Organisation: Prof. Dr. Hubert Knoblauch

Weitere Informationen zum Programm und zur Anmeldung finden sie hier: 

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller

Weitere Informationen zum Programm und zur Anmeldung finden Sie auf der folgenden Seite.

The term positioning power takes up the Foucaultian analysis of power. It denotes a governmental form of power that unfolds in the current phenomena of valuing and assessing, in castings, rankings, ratings, etc.. These current forms of the social construction of the valuable form new complexes of the formation and government of market actors, whose mode of operation points beyond the familiar Foucauldian diagnoses of power. The volume develops central aspects and dimensions of positioning power and illustrates its mode of operation by means of two case studies.

Further information at: https://www.beltz.de/fachmedien/soziologie/produkte/details/50646-positionierungsmacht.html

Summer Semester 2023:

Starting on 4/26/2023, Prof. Dr. Keller's office hours will be held regularly on Wednesdays from 2pm to 3pm (on site or Zoom).

On the following dates there will be some shortened office hours from 12 to 12:30 (!) pm:

•      3.5.
•     31.5.
•     28.6.

Unfortunately, no office hours will be held on 14 June.

Please register via the secretary's office.

Discourse research spans a broad range of themes, including questions of educational justice, environmental problems, problems associated with the pandemic, as well as identity conflicts and migration. From the 30th to the 31st of March, leading researchers will meet at the University of Augsburg for the international conference “The Discursive Construction of Reality V,” organised by the Chair of Sociology. Alongside research, the conference will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the “Zeitschrift für Diskursforschung (ZfD),” which was founded in Augsburg.

Seit 2013 findet – mit pandemiebedingter Pause – im zweijährigen Rhythmus an der Universität Augsburg die Tagung »Die diskursive Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit« statt. Sie versammelt interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Wissenssoziologischen Diskursanalyse und angrenzender Perspektiven der Diskurs- und Dispositivforschung. Damit zielt die Tagung explizit auf inter- und überdisziplinäre Diskussionen und Reflexionen zu laufenden und abgeschlossenen Forschungen sowie Fragen der Theorie, Methodologie und Methoden. Die kommende Tagung möchte die interdisziplinäre Diskussion über Grundlagen und Anwendungen wissenssoziologischer Diskursforschung und anschließender Perspektiven (etwa Situationsanalyse, Subjektivierungsforschung, oder weitere wie ethnographische Diskurs- und Dispositivansätze) fortführen. Sie findet vom 30. bis 31. März 2023 mit deutsch- und englischsprachigen Beiträgen in Präsenz statt.

The latest Special Issue of Nature & Culture (Volume 18, Issue 1) has published:

"What is Fracking a Case of? Theoretical Lessons from European Case Studies".
Guest Editors: Roberto Cantoni, Claudia Foltyn, Reiner Keller, and Matthias S. Klaes

Auf ihrem diesjährigen Kongress vergab die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie posthum den renommierten Thomas A. Herz-Preis für qualitative Sozialforschung an den im Sommer 2021 verstorbenen Augsburger Soziologen PD Dr. Saša Bosančić (Philosophisch-Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Sozialwissenschaften).

Our esteemed and painfully missed colleague PD Dr. Saša Bosančić has posthumously received the Thomas A. Herz Award at the 26th Congress of the German Sociological Association in Bielefeld for his innovative contributions to interpretive subjectivation research. His further developments in the sociology of knowledge, discourse and

Interview with Prof. Dr. Reiner Keller "We need more room for contradictions and uncertainty", In: Die Debatte, 29th September 2022.

The Routdledge Handbook The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse: Investigating the Politics of Knowledge and Meaning-Making has now been made open access: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781315170008/sociology-knowledge-approach-discourse-reiner-keller-anna-katharina-hornidge-wolf-sch%C3%BCnemann