Research Areas

  • Sociology of the body and sexuality
  • Sociology of Knowledge
  • Methodology of qualitative social research, Qualitative methods, esp. Ethnography
  • Theories of practice, interactionism
  • Human differentiation research (esp. gender and dis/ability)

Project management

People with disabilities are often socially excluded from the field of sexuality. Their desire and the way society deals with it are also problematized in socio-educational and activist discourses as ‘disabled sexuality’ (in the sense of socially prevented sexuality). The sub-project analyzes sexual education advising and support services for people with disabilities as a field of “sexual human differentiation” that responds to this circumstance. From a sociology of knowledge perspective, it asks how sexuality is produced as an ability in sexual education discourses and practices and how this is linked to the categorization of bodies and persons as ‘disabled’ or to undoing disability. To this end, the production, communication and application of various forms of knowledge related to sexuality and disability will be examined ethnographically and through discourse analysis.

Project management

The task of the project is to develop and implement formats of responsive science communication for the Collaborative Research Center 1482: Human Differentiation. The sub-project accompanies research processes and processes their results in order to make them publicly communicable. With podcasts and local discussion groups, it establishes formats for communication with the non-scientific public. In addition, it monitors and analyzes the SFB’s impact on the public and conducts an internal resonance analysis. In this way, it contributes to the SFB’s self-reflection and the optimization of its public communication.

Monograph

Boll 2019 Autopornography Cover

Autopornography. An autoethnography of mediatized bodies . Berlin: De Gruyter 2019.

Editorial Work

Book series Body and Society . Baden-Baden: NOMOS (since 2026).

Unexpected un/abilities. The flip side of body-sociological competence orientation . Special Issue of the Austrian Journal of Sociology, 44 (3) (2019) (with Philip Lambrix)

Contributions to journals

(* with double blind peer review)

* Interdisciplinary Pornography Research in German-Speaking Countries: A Report on Networking. Journal of Sex Research, 39 (2) (2026): 99–108. (with Nicola Döring, Leonie Zilch, Peer Briken, Emre Busse, Hannah Fitsch, Sven Lewandowski, Insa Härtel, Paul M. Horntrich, Susanne Huber, Charlotte Markert, Friederike Nastold, Madita Oeming, Peter Rehberg, Nina Schumacher, Anja Schmidt, Marc Siegel, Rudolf Stark, Marion Thuswald, Rahel Wehrlin)

* Psychosocial Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Children with Chronic Health Conditions in Germany – A Qualitative Interview Study. BMJ British Medical Journal open Aug 13;15 (2025) (with Sophie Lukes, Tim Schäfer, Elena Dessauer, Christiane Diefenbach, Michael S. Urschitz and Florian Hammerle)

Re-orientations in sociological methods training. Additions to a debate from the perspective of qualitative social research . Sociology, 53 (1) (2024): 46–59 (with Tobias Röhl and Daniela Schiek)

* Meet “Me” in the Field(-notes): The Selves and Self-Relations of Autoethnography. Qualitative Inquiry 2023

* Body Boundary Work: Praxeological Thoughts on Personal Corporality. Human Studies 43 (2020): 585–602 (with Sophie Merit Müller)

* Unexpected Inabilities – Editorial. Austrian Journal of Sociology 44 (3) (2019): 261–267 (with Philip Lambrix)

Essays in Anthologies

(* with double blind peer review)

“Sexual Independence as Collective Performance in Sex Education and Assistance for People with Disabilities.” pp. 143–158 in: Backhausen, E./Kreuser, M./Wihstutz, B. (eds.): Independence and Collectivity. Configurations of Dis/ability Performance. London/New York: Routledge (forthcoming) (with Miriam Brunnengräber)

Forms and Degrees of Human Differentiation in Social Pedagogy and Activist Helping Relationships. pp. 331–356 in: Hirschauer, S., Hofmann, P., Friedrichs, A., Schabacher, G. (eds.): A Comparative Study of Human Differentiation. Weilerswist: Velbrück (2025) (with Heike Drotbohm)

Exploring Through the Body: From Approaches to Applications. pp. 19–38 in: Poferl, A./Schröer, N. (eds.): Leib-Körper Ethnography. Explorations of Being a Body and Having a Body. Essen: Oldib 2023.

Becoming ‘(Ab)Normal’: Normality, Deviance, and Doing Life Course Transitions. pp. 169–183 in: Walther, A./Stauber, B./Settersten, R. Jr. (eds.): Doing Transitions in the Life Course – Processes and Practices. Springer 2022.

“Changes” in Bodies with Disabilities in Discourses on Sexuality. pp. 139–160 in: Meuser, M./Keller, R. (eds.): The Bodies of Others: Body Knowledge III. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2022. (with Miriam Brunnengräber)

“Pornography.” pp. 345–357 in: Gugutzer, Robert; Klein, Gabriele; Meuser, Michael (eds.). Handbook of the Sociology of the Body. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2022.

* Picture Me Naked. Embodying Images On Screen and Off . pp. 247–262 in: Abidin, C./Cambre, C./Warfield, K. (eds.): *Mediated Interfaces: The Body on Social Media*. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.

Un/doing Differences: On the Theory and Empirical Basis of a Research Program. pp. 7–26 In: Hirschauer, S. (ed.): Un/doing Differences. Practices of Human Differentiation. Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2017. (with Stefan Hirschauer)

Media-Shaped Lifestyles and Seeing Through Different Eyes. pp. 411–424 in: Schröer, N./Kreher, S./Poferl, A./Hinnenkamp, V. (eds.): Lifestyles and Ethnography. Essen: Oldib 2012.

Visual Media and the (Re)creation of Immediacy: pp. 219–231 in: Hägele, U./Ziehe, I. (eds.): Visual Media and Research, Visual Culture, Vol. 5, Münster: Waxmann 2011. (with Larissa Schindler)

Miscellanies and reviews

On the Path to a Queer Life Stage. In: DJI Impulse 1/2018: 10–12

Social practices with skin and hair. Everyday semiotics and the practical ontology of bodily peripheries . In: Sozialmagazin. The Journal of Social Work 42 (1-2) (2017): 20–26

Review of Benkel, T./Akalin, F. (eds.): Social Dimensions of Sexuality, Giessen: Psychosozial: In: Journal of Sex Research 23 (4) (2010): 393–396

Review of “What Does ‘Normal’ Mean? On the Relationship Between Sexuality and Society.” SWS-Rundschau, Issue 3/2008. In: Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung 22 (4) (2009): 375–378

(the 7 most recent)

(the 2 most recent)

in the current semester:

  1. Kolloquium: BA/MA-Kolloquium Körpersoziologie
    Instructor: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tobias Boll
  2. Kolloquium: Das Spektrum der Mainzer Soziologien
    Instructor: Prof. Dr. Petra Ahrweiler; Blanca Luque Capellas; Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tobias Boll; Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sascha Dickel; Univ.-Prof. Dr. Marina Hennig; Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Hirschauer; Univ.-Prof. Dr. Herbert Kalthoff; Prof. Dr. Natascha Nisic; Univ-Prof. Dr. Gunnar Otte; apl. Prof. Dr. Heiko Rüger
  3. Seminar: Corporeal Orders: Embodiment, Social Difference, and Inequality
    Instructor: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tobias Boll
  4. Vorlesung: Einführung in die Körpersoziologie
    Instructor: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Tobias Boll

SoSe 2026