The human body is a social object: social structures, processes and discourses inscribe themselves into the body, shape it and influence how bodies are viewed and treated. Social reality is also produced and physically experienced in bodily practices. The sociology of the body examines this dual embodiment of society.
At the Sociology of the Body Working Group, we conduct theoretical and empirical research into social phenomena relating to bodies and corporeality. Theoretically, we are primarily oriented towards practice theory and combine this with situationist, interactionist and discourse theory approaches. We conduct qualitative empirical research. In particular, we employ ethnographic research strategies that we combine with discourse and subjectivization analytical approaches. Our research combines questions from the sociology of the body with approaches from the sociology of knowledge and human differentiation research.
The Working Group is affiliated to the DFG Collaborative Research Center 1482: Studies in Human Differentiation and the Georg Forster Forum (GFF) profile area.
In addition to two ongoing externally funded projects, research also takes place in the dissertation projects of doctoral students.
We offer courses in the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs. The spectrum ranges from basic and in-depth courses in the sociology of the body to subject-related seminars and methodological courses in the field of qualitative social research.
In addition, we offer the Body Sociology Colloquium, in which ongoing qualification theses at the working grouup are supervised and guests have the opportunity to discuss their research.