Institute of Sociology

Sociology in Göttingen

The Institute of Sociology at Göttingen University focuses on the international comparative analysis of modern societies, their economic, political and cultural dynamics of change as well as their integration into global or transnational structures. The Göttingen Institute of Sociology is one of the few facilities in Germany whose research does not only focus on European, but also on non-European societies. The Göttingen Research Campus, which includes inter alia the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CEMIS) and the Centre for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS), offers an excellent environment for this purpose. Furthermore, the institute cooperates with the Sociological Research Institute (SOFI) and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious Diversity (MPIMMG). The Institute of Sociology is organized in three departments.

Department I »Work – Knowledge– Social Structure«

• Professor of Sociology / Social Stratification (Kurz)
• Professor of Sociology / Work, Companies and Economy (Mayer-Ahuja)
• Professor of Sociology / Society and Economy of Modern China
(Klotzbücher)

Department II »Political Sociology and Social Policy«

• Professor of Sociology / Social Policy (Weishaupt)
• Professor of Sociology and Sociological Theory (Römer)
• Professor of Fundamentals of Social Sciences (Leontiy)

Department III »Cultural Sociology«

• Professor of Sociology / Migration and Ethnicity (Hans)
• Professor of Religious Studies / Social Scientific Studies of Religion (Nagel)
• Honorary Professor of Ethnology and Cultural Sociology (Vertovec)

Professor of »Interdisciplinary Criminological Research«(Bliesener)

Professor of »Sociology with a focus on digitization in the world of work« (Nies)


The internationally comparative research profile of the Göttingen Institute of Sociology is also reflected in our course selection. In the BA- and MA programmes sociology students do not only receive a comprehensive education on theories and methods, which is carried out in cooperation with the Centre of Methods in Social Sciences, but they can also choose from a large number of comparative courses or courses with a regional focus in the various fields of sociology. Furthermore, the Göttingen Institute of Sociology is involved in educating doctoral students in the framework of the Göttingen Graduate School of Social Sciences (GGG). Although the language of instruction is predominantly German, we usually offer a few classes in English each semester.