PhD students

Melanie Fleisch completed her Bachelor's degree in Sociology at the University of Innsbruck in 2019, her Master's degree in Philosophy in 2022 and her Master's degree in "Gender, Culture and Social Change" in 2022 with a thesis on "Gender Knowledge in the Bundeswehr. Self-conscious soldiers in conflict with unconscious organisational structures of the field".

Daniela Gruber completed her diploma study at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Her diploma thesis focused on transnational religious networks of Roma and Sinti in France and Austria. Her research topics are migration, minorities and transnationalism, using qualitative research methods. During her studies in Vienna, she worked for editorial efforts at the human rights organization “Bedrohte Völker” in Vienna.

The dissertation deals with integration processes in the autonomous region of South Tyrol in North Italy. Following Bourdieu, integration processes are worked out by a theory of practice, focusing particularly on social network building in the social space. The work contains a qualitative study that includes biographical interviews with female and male migrants from Pakistan and Germany as striking examples, considering their migration experience by entering into new social fields and their everyday life. The argumentation line goes along the focus on social network building as crucial in integration processes and its interconnections with other aspects of accumulating and transforming economic and cultural capital. The work aims to examine the mechanisms, which are going on in the society by a theory of practice, including immigrant’s habitus dispositions as an engine for strategies of social networking and their positioning in the society. The argumentation is linked to concrete practice of network building over a long-term period related to gender issues, in contrast to an essentialist cultural view on integration, forced by public discourse, political debates and research studies, which emphasize cultural differences in referring to women from Muslim origin countries and where Pakistani women are regarded as the “upholders of the culture” in playing their major rule in transmission and appreciation of the cultural values of their origin country.

Dominik Gruber studied sociology and education in Salzburg. He has been working on his doctorate at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Innsbruck since 2018. Dominik Gruber works as a research assistant in the field of social psychiatry in Upper Austria. From 2011 to 2018, he also worked as a lecturer at the University of Salzburg, Department of Political Science and Sociology (Department of Sociology).

In his dissertation project, Dominik Gruber is working on a critical theory of societal/social diversity. The concept of diversity is to be anchored in social theory and its critical potential scrutinised. To this end, theoretical considerations by Judith Butler and Theodor W. Adorno in particular will be utilised. The theoretical and normative areas of tension between Butler and Adorno and between post-structuralist and materialist-critical thinking will be utilised to explore the potentials and limits of a critical concept of diversity.

Carolin Holtkamp studied "B.A. Cultural Economics" and "M.A. Sustainable Management" at the Universities of Passau and Kassel. She completed her Master's degree in Kassel in 2016 with a thesis on collective identity and community in mountain farming in South Tyrol. Since 2017, she has been working as a university assistant and project collaborator in the working group for agricultural and regional sociology at the University of Innsbruck. In this context, she is writing her dissertation on civil society transformation strategies of local agricultural and food systems towards food sovereignty. Her case study is the social movement, Der Malser Weg, in South Tyrol. She has also been a member of the Kassel research group "Traditional Peoples and Communities" since 2014. In this context, she conducts research in the context of sustainable development on ways of life and economic practices of local communities worldwide that have been handed down over generations and adapted to local ecosystems

The dissertation project analyses the extent to which civil society food networks contribute to the socio-ecological transformation of established agricultural and food practices. The case study is the "Malser Weg" movement in the municipality of Mals, Italy. Since 2010, it has been campaigning against the expansion of agribusiness agriculture in its home region, the Upper Venosta Valley, and in favour of establishing the "Mals Region for the Common Good". One of her main concerns is the ban on pesticides in the municipality. Malles/Mals is the first municipality to put such a ban to a referendum. Through its actions, the movement has stimulated an intensive political discourse on the future of agriculture in South Tyrol and beyond. as a cultural asset is a source of identity for the Alpine population. It is not only the food itself that is important, but also its contribution to the cultural landscape, knowledge of traditional production methods, associated consumption rituals and the passing down of ancient wisdom. The Interreg project AlpFoodway is developing a sustainable development model for the valorisation of this cultural asset in the Alpine region. In particular, it examines approaches that feature innovative marketing strategies and governance tools, thereby maintaining the cultural asset 'food' as a social practice.

The theoretical perspectives on which the project is based stem from the discourses of socio-ecological and socio-technical transformation. The study follows the format of participatory action research. The researcher primarily draws on actions that she plans and carries out together with local actors. The actions aim to support the process of socio-ecological transformation. This generates a wealth of data that can be used to answer questions about the transformation. At the same time, the research project leaves the realm of pure understanding and has a transformative effect itself. In this way, it also contributes to improving the perception of science as an effective instrument of social change.

Rotation position as a university assistant with dissertation agreement

Carla Scheytt studied "History" and "Politics/Economics/Society" at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB). In her Master's degree in "Social Science" at RUB, she focussed on methods of empirical social research. She has been a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck since 2021.

Specialisations and interests: Qualitative methods and methodologies, research ethics, sociology of science, higher education research

The dissertation project is dedicated to research ethics in qualitative social research. Although research ethics is increasingly being addressed in the social sciences, partly because research ethics review procedures are being further institutionalised, research on ethical practice has so far been largely lacking. The aim of the project is to empirically analyse the research practice of qualitative researchers with regard to ethics. It is assumed that the practice is shaped on the one hand by the chosen qualitative methodology and methodological procedures and on the other hand by the institutionalisation of research ethics. The work ties in with sociological research into the sociology of science and organisational sociological approaches to higher education research. As part of the dissertation, qualitative interviews will be conducted with sociologists conducting research and a document analysis will be carried out and analysed. The project is intended to provide added value for the research ethics discourse in the social sciences, for the reflective examination of qualitative social research with its own methods and for sociological research in sociology.

Claudia Schütz studied sociology, political science and communication and media studies at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and completed her Master's degree in "Social and Political Theory" at the University of Innsbruck with a thesis on the Stuttgart 21 civic protest movement. Her thesis was honoured by the Austrian Sociological Association as an outstanding sociological work. From 2016 to 2019, Claudia Schütz worked as a development education officer at the Dreikönigsaktion. She then took over the project management for an EU project to reduce food waste at Abfallwirtschaft Tirol Mitte.

Claudia Schütz isworking on her dissertation in the field of protest and movement research. In her dissertation project, she is examining the wave of protests in democratic states and the social normative foundations as a prerequisite for collective mobilisation from 2011 onwards. She is particularly interested in the Gezi protests in Turkey and the Indignados movement in Spain. Between 2014 and 2016, she therefore spent several research stays in Turkey and Spain, supported by a Marietta Blau scholarship, among others.

After completing his bachelor's degree in political science (2018), Philipp Seeber completed a master's degree in history with a thesis on the Paris Commune in 2021 and a master's degree in sociology with a study on global inequality at the University of Innsbruck. He has been working on his dissertation as a doctoral student in sociology since 2022.

Martin Steinlechner studied sociology at the University of Innsbruck and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of Sociology. He is a member of the Austrian Sociological Association (ÖGS) and the European Sociological Association (ESA) and has taken part in several international meetings and conferences as a speaker.

In his dissertation, he is mainly concerned with Axel Honneth's theory of recognition and its positioning in the field of tension between the Frankfurt Critical Theory of Adorno and Horkheimer.

Martin Steinlechner is also actively involved as a transport planner and in this role deals with the daily requirements of spatial mobility and its complex problems.

Axel Honneth's texts often focus on the space of public decision-making, for example in "The Idea of Socialism" or earlier in "The Right of Freedom", in which Honneth outlines it as a place of reflexive self-thematisation and the articulation of social conflict that is free of domination. Just as the public space works simultaneously on the successful self and on the political order, the social conflict carried out in this space is not sufficiently determined by its mere articulation in public: it is also an expression of subjective experiences of disregard in a "struggle for recognition" and thus becomes the focal point of Honneth's entire theoretical structure.

However, according to my thesis, Honneth develops a concept of the subject in recognition theory that exaggerates the potentials of the subject and thus ultimately also those of social conflict. His perspective underestimates the fact that existing power relations are also reproduced in the order of recognition (Kögler). This can be seen, for example, in the implicit labelling of protest as the ideal of a normal resolution of social conflict: here, recognition theory underestimates the fact that the potential of protest evaporates in the legitimisation of the dominant order.

What concept of society does Honneth refer to from recognition theory to his more recent political theory of democratic morality, and what concept of critique subsequently results for his paradigm of a Frankfurt critical theory? Along these fundamental questions, the dissertation project ultimately follows a question about the whole: Does Honneth do justice to his claim to focus on human suffering and its transcending potential?

I completed a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna and then a Master's degree in Sociology at the University of Innsbruck. In my master's thesis, I analysed the differences in Bourdieu's and Butler's theories of language in terms of their stability and dynamics. The title of the master's thesis was: "Performativity of language. A theoretical examination of the practical dimension of speech".

Since October 2020, I have been working as a university assistant and project worker at the Social Theory Research Centre at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck. In this context, I am writing my dissertation on the relationship between migration and development by investigating transnational engagement in African migrant organisations in German-speaking countries.

From 2001 to 2012, Hannes Vorhofer worked at APA-MediaWatch Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH, a spin-off of the University of Innsbruck - Institute of Political Science, and headed the company as its managing director for the last four years. From 2012 to 2014, Vorhofer worked on the Management Board of APA-OTS GmbH. He completed his doctorate at the Institute of Political Science in 2010 on the subject of political communication and media resonance analyses. Hannes Vorhofer is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at Postsecular Conflicts Project at the Institute of Sociology and is writing his sociology dissertation. At the same time, Hannes Vorhofer works as a partner in the agency Kommunikationsraum GmbH and works in the team as a consultant for empirical media resonance, media impact and reputation analyses and in the field of international and intercultural communications.

Hannes Vorhofer is a postdoctoral researcher in the Postsecular Conflicts Project at the Institute of Sociology and is writing his sociology dissertation with the working title "Religious-secular conflicts in Israel from the perspective of contemporary critiques of the secularisation thesis". His interests focus on the theoretical and empirical aspects of the theses on post-secularity, de-secularisation and the return of religious fundamentalism. His findings are applied in his professional consultancy work in the fields of international and intercultural communications & sales, diversity management & cultural diplomacy and integration management.

Sabine Wallner completed a Master's degree in Sociology and Gender, Culture and Social Change at the University of Innsbruck. Her academic education is characterised by a pronounced interdisciplinarity with a sociological focus, which has also had a lasting impact on her research interests. Sabine Wallner's dissertation deals with the phenomenon of the social interpretation of sexualised violence.

Mag. phil. Mathias Weiss, born 1983 in Hallein, Austria, studied sociology and cultural studies at the University of Salzburg with research stays at the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia and the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. He is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Sociology of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at the University of Innsbruck, was a participant and speaker at the first international Climate Engineering Conference (CEC14 - Critical Global Discussions) in Berlin and is writing his dissertation on the topic of "Military Geoengineering vs. Civil Society".
He has, among other things, trained as a carpenter. He has been involved in the independent art and culture scene since 2000 and has since realised projects at home and abroad at the interface between art, culture and science. Mag. phil. Mathias Weiss is a member of the Research Institute for Patriarchal Critique and Alternative Civilisations (Fipaz) and the Planetary Movement for Mother Earth (PBME).

The aim of the work is to clarify the question of whether and how the climate-manipulating option of geoengineering is treated - or not treated - as a factor triggering climate change and is constructed in scientific and public discourse. The aim is to show that geoengineering is about to reach a new stage in the implementation of an ideology of total "machinisation" (Genth) and control over the planet and all living things in order to get it under military, economic and engineering control for the first time in history. This is to be achieved by means of a sociological critique of ideology and analysis from the perspective of the "risk society" (Beck), critical theory as well as "critical patriarchy theory" (Werlhof) on the basis of its sociological critique of technology.

David Furtschegger completed his Bachelor's and Master's degree in Sociology at the University of Innsbruck and is now based at the Institute as a doctoral fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and as an external lecturer. Through his many years as head of the "ABW & SPI Netz" learning project, in which young people excluded from the regular school system are supported in preparing for external educational qualifications, he has focussed his research on educational sociological issues with a focus on theory-based qualitative research methods

Christoph Kircher studied sociology and economics in Bolzano, Bremen and Innsbruck. He is currently finalising his dissertation, which was funded in part by a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He has also been working as an external lecturer at the University of Innsbruck since 2016.

In his dissertation project, Christoph Kircher deals with the problem of the new in both its sociological and philosophical dimensions. In particular, the works of Gilles Deleuze and Gabriel Tarde are analysed with regard to the question of how conditions can be conceived under which something new occurs.

Funding: DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences; doctoral scholarship from the Province of Bolzano