Department of Society, Knowledge and Politics

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIETY, KNOWLEDGE AND POLITICS

Profile

The new department dedicates its research and teaching to the vital role of knowledge and politics in contemporary societies.

Since science and technology feature in virtually every domain of life, the work of the department covers a wide range of issues. We focus on the social constitution of science (in the broader German sense of Wissenschaft) and the social embeddedness of technical and economic processes. We study the social implications of established infrastructures and new and emerging technologies as well as the politics of (un)sustainable societal transformations. In particular, we pay attention to the interfaces between science and politics. We examine both grand societal challenges and – sometimes seemingly insignificant – practices of producing, communicating, applying and rejecting knowledge and technology that can bring about far-reaching change.

The Department

The Department of Society, Knowledge and Politics was founded in 2024 and combines three former organizational units (Department of Science Communication and Higher Education Research, Department of Science, Technology and Society, Department of Sociology). By combining the existing competencies and activities of the department members, the department sets new accents in research and teaching

The Field

At our department, researchers use a broad range of social science methods. This research contributes significantly to the discipline of sociology and the interdisciplinary field of science, technology and society studies (STS), at both a national and international level.

Research

The department members conduct research on the following key topic:

Sustainability
Science as Culture and Practice
Knowledge & Democracy
Infrastructures

Studies

For students, the department offers one of the few German Master’s degrees in the field of STS, but also the opportunity to pursue the European Master’s Programme on Society, Science and Technology (ESST).

For the 2025 academic year, the department, together with other departments of the Faculty of Social Sciences, is developing the new Bachelor’s programme Social Change, Power and Agency.

In addition, department members teach in technical study programs and economics to promote reflection on the social and ethical dimensions of technology and economy early on and thus contribute to responsible research and development.

The doctoral programs in STS and sociology offers graduates of the cultural and social sciences the possibility to pursue projects on topics across the entire breadth of the two fields. Particularly welcome are projects on one of the department’s overarching key topics.