Hubert Knoblauch

Last updated

Hubert Knoblauch
Born (1959-03-21) 21 March 1959 (age 64)
Alma mater University of Konstanz
Scientific career
Fields Sociology
Institutions
Thesis Die Welt der Wünschelrutengänger und Pendler  (1991)
Doctoral advisor Thomas Luckmann

Hubert Knoblauch (born March 21, 1959) is a German sociologist. He is known for his work on Sociology of knowledge, Sociology of Religion, Qualitative research and Videography.

Contents

Biography

Knoblauch has a degree in Sociology from the University of Konstanz where he also did his PhD. He did research and taught among others at the University of California at Berkeley, King’s College London, the Universities of Konstanz, Zurich, Bern and Vienna. From 1996 he was a Heisenberg scholar of the German Research Association (DFG). In 2000 he became Professor in Religious Studies at the Theological Faculty of the University of Zurich. Since 2002 he is Professor of General Sociology/Theories of Modern Societies at the Technical University of Berlin. [1]

Works

His texts are published in 10 languages and cover the sociology of knowledge, communication, contemporary religion, death and dying and video analysis. [2] He is a member of the Council of the DGS (German Society for Sociology) [3] and has held many positions within the ESA, e.g. Chair of the RN Sociology of Culture. [4]

Hubert Knoblauch is spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center 1265: Re-Figuration of Spaces at the Technical University of Berlin and for the Research Network Social Theory of the European Sociological Association (2019-2021). He is an elected member of the Executive Board of Research of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, editor of the series "Knowledge, Communication and Society" (Routledge), and on the board of the SFB "Affective Societies" (2015-2019). He is head of the "Sociology" section of the Görres Society for the Cultivation of Science and editor of the series "Sozialwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen" of the Görres Society. He is also editor of several journals ("FQS", "Human Studies", "Qualitative Research", "Religion and Society", "sozialer sinn" and "Schuetzean Studies") and editor of the series "Wissen, Kommunikation und Gesellschaft" at Springer Verlag, as well as Consulting Editor of the series "Qualitative Sociology Review".

Research methodology and theoretical orientation

In his research Knoblauch focusses on various fields within theoretical and empirical sociology. He developed his own approach to the investigation of social interaction called focused ethnography. [5] In contrast to “classic” ethnography this does not include prolonged stays in foreign cultures, but relies on video recordings of specialized fields within the researchers own society. The combination between video analysis and focused ethnography was elaborated as “videography”. [6] Another major field of his work is the sociology of religion, where he advocates for a broad understanding of the role of religion in modern society. Building on Luckmann’s “invisible religion”, [7] he was one of the first to analyse the new forms of spirituality and developed the idea of a mediatized, event- and experience based “popular religion”. [8] Next to his contrition in re-establishing the sociology of knowledge in German speaking sociology, communication was a crucial reference point for his work. While he analysed communication processes already in his dissertation on dowsing and divination, [9] in his habilitation thesis “Kommunikationskultur: Die kommunikative Konstrutkion kultureller Kontexte” (translation: Communication Culture: The Communicative Construction of Cultural Contexts) [10] he elaborated a theoretical framework which came to be known as “Communicative Constructivism”. Based on “The Social Construction of Reality” by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, this approach includes bodily performances and material “objectivations” as “the missing analytical link which allows one to turn social into communicative action”. [11] Without being reduced to speech acts, “communicative action" becomes “the basic process in the social construction of reality”. [12]

Publications (selection)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Schütz</span> Austrian philosopher (1899–1959)

Alfred Schutz was an Austrian philosopher and social phenomenologist whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions. Schutz is gradually being recognized as one of the 20th century's leading philosophers of social science. He related Edmund Husserl's work to the social sciences, using it to develop the philosophical foundations of Max Weber's sociology, in his major work Phenomenology of the Social World. However, much of his influence arose from the publication of his Collected Papers in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnography</span> Systematic study of people and cultures

Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining the behavior of the participants in a given social situation and understanding the group members' own interpretation of such behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social constructionism</span> Sociological theory regarding shared understandings

In the fields of sociology, social ontology, and communication theory, social constructionism is a framework that proposes that certain ideas about physical reality arise from collaborative consensus, instead of the pure observation of said physical reality. The theory of social constructionism proposes that people collectively develop the meanings of social constructs. Social constructionism has been characterised as a neo-Marxian theory and as a neo-Kantian theory, proposing that social constructionism replaces the transcendental subject with a societal concept that is descriptive and normative.

Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated, and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others. Like social constructionism, social constructivism states that people work together to construct artifacts. While social constructionism focuses on the artifacts that are created through the social interactions of a group, social constructivism focuses on an individual's learning that takes place because of their interactions in a group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qualitative research</span> Form of research

Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This type of research typically involves in-depth interviews, focus groups, or observations in order to collect data that is rich in detail and context. Qualitative research is often used to explore complex phenomena or to gain insight into people's experiences and perspectives on a particular topic. It is particularly useful when researchers want to understand the meaning that people attach to their experiences or when they want to uncover the underlying reasons for people's behavior. Qualitative methods include ethnography, grounded theory, discourse analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative research methods have been used in sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, communication studies, social work, folklore, educational research and software engineering research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter L. Berger</span> American sociologist (1929–2017)

Peter Ludwig Berger was an Austrian-born American sociologist and Protestant theologian. Berger became known for his work in the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, study of modernization, and theoretical contributions to sociological theory.

Thomas Luckmann was an American-Austrian sociologist of German and Slovene origin who taught mainly in Germany. Born in Jesenice, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Luckmann studied philosophy and linguistics at the University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck. He married Benita Petkevic in 1950. His contributions were central to studies in sociology of communication, sociology of knowledge, sociology of religion, and the philosophy of science. His best-known titles are the 1966 book, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, The Invisible Religion (1967), and The Structures of the Life-World (1973).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discourse analysis</span> Generic term for the analysis of social, language policy or historiographical discourse phenomena

Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrative inquiry</span>

Narrative inquiry or narrative analysis emerged as a discipline from within the broader field of qualitative research in the early 20th century, as evidence exists that this method was used in psychology and sociology. Narrative inquiry uses field texts, such as stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, family stories, photos, and life experience, as the units of analysis to research and understand the way people create meaning in their lives as narratives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual sociology</span> Area of sociology

Visual sociology is an area of sociology concerned with the visual dimensions of social life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of culture</span> Branch of the discipline of sociology

The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Culture in the sociological field is analyzed as the ways of thinking and describing, acting, and the material objects that together shape a group of people's way of life.

Online ethnography is an online research method that adapts ethnographic methods to the study of the communities and cultures created through computer-mediated social interaction. As modifications of the term ethnography, cyber-ethnography, online ethnography and virtual ethnography designate particular variations regarding the conduct of online fieldwork that adapts ethnographic methodology. There is no canonical approach to cyber-ethnography that prescribes how ethnography is adapted to the online setting. Instead individual researchers are left to specify their own adaptations. Netnography is another form of online ethnography or cyber-ethnography with more specific sets of guidelines and rules, and a common multidisciplinary base of literature and scholars. This article is not about a particular neologism, but the general application of ethnographic methods to online fieldwork as practiced by anthropologists, sociologists, and other scholars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video ethnography</span>

Video ethnography is the video recording of the stream of activity of subjects in their natural setting, in order to experience, interpret, and represent culture and society. Ethnographic video, in contrast to ethnographic film, cannot be used independently of other ethnographic methods, but rather as part of the process of creation and representation of societal, cultural, and individual knowledge. It is commonly used in the fields of visual anthropology, visual sociology, and cultural studies. Uses of video in ethnography include the recording of certain processes and activities, visual note-taking, and ethnographic diary-keeping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martina Löw</span> German sociologist

Martina Löw is a German sociologist.

Wilhelm Kempf is an Austrian born psychologist and peace researcher who has made significant contributions to theoretical psychology, psychological methodology and peace research. Alongside of Johan Galtung, Kempf is one of the founders of the concept of peace journalism, which he, in contrast to Galtung, however, does not conceive of as a form of advocacy journalism, but rather understands as a trans-disciplinary research program which has as its object the possibilities of and limits to maintaining journalistic quality norms during war and crisis situations, and to overcome the communication barriers between the conflict parties.

Gabriele Rosenthal is a German sociologist and head of Department for Qualitative Methods of the Center for Methods in Social Sciences of the University of Göttingen, Germany. Rosenthal is recognized for the introduction of the method of biographical case reconstruction using biographical narrative interviews. She is known for systemizing the influences of the Gestalt theory, the sociology of knowledge, and the sociology of figurations and processes to explain the interrelationship between experience, memory and narrative, as well as how social figurations intertwine with individual biographies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Critical theory</span> Approach to social philosophy

A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from social structures and cultural assumptions than from individuals. It argues that ideology is the principal obstacle to human liberation. Critical theory finds applications in various fields of study, including psychoanalysis, sociology, history, communication theory, philosophy and feminist theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman K. Denzin</span> American sociologist

Norman Kent Denzin was an American professor of sociology. He was an emeritus professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was research professor of communications, College of Communications scholar, professor of sociology, professor of cinema studies, professor in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. Denzin's academic interests included interpretive theory, performance studies, qualitative research methodology, and the study of media, culture and society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulrike Tikvah Kissmann</span> German sociologist

Ulrike Tikvah Kissmann is a German sociologist.

Kersten Reich is a German educator and cultural theorist. He was Professor of General Pedagogy from 1979 to 2006 and Professor of International Learning Research at the University of Cologne from 2007 to 2017.

References

  1. "CV (short)" . Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  2. "Worldcat, Knoblauchs Work".
  3. DGS Website. "Council".
  4. ESA. "Soc of Culture Chair".
  5. Knoblauch, Hubert (2005). "Focused Ethnography". Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 6 (3). ISSN   1438-5627.
  6. Knoblauch, Hubert (2006) Videography. Focused Ethnography and Video Analysis, in Knoblauch, Hubert; Schnettler, Bernt; Raab, Jürgen and Hans-Georg Soeffner (eds.): Video Analysis: Methodology and Methods. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, pp.69-83.
  7. Luckmann, Thomas (1967). The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society. New York: Macmillan.
  8. Knoblauch, Hubert (2012): Popular Religion, in Juergensmeyer, Mark an Wade Clark Roof (eds.): Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, DOI: 10.4135/9781412997898.n572
  9. Knoblauch, Hubert (1991). Die Welt der Wünschelrutengänger und Pendler: Erkundungen einer verborgenen Wirklichkeit [The World of Diviners and Dowsers: Investigations Regarding a Hidden Reality]. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag. ISBN   3-593-34575-7.
  10. Knoblauch, Hubert (1995). Kommunikationskultur: Die kommunikative Konstruktion kultureller Kontexte [Communication Culture: The Communicative Construction of Cultural Contexts]. New York and Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN   3-11-014773-4.
  11. Knoblauch, Hubert (2013). "Communicative Constructivism and Mediatization". Communication Theory. 23 (3): 302. doi:10.1111/comt.12018. ISSN   1050-3293.
  12. ibidem: 297