Process-oriented sociology starts from the priority of becoming, difference, continuous change and conflictuality of the social. It methodizes the suspicion that sociological problems can turn out to be illusory problems, which are first brought about by static concepts and the "bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language" (Wittgenstein). Therefore, process-oriented sociology develops means of language and thought appropriate to its changing empirical phenomena.

The starting point of our work in the field of process-oriented sociology is the observation and analysis of everyday social occurences. We teach the appropriate methods and develop them further in empirical research. In this empirical-ethnographic, micro-sociological and cultural-analytical orientation we are not thematically fixed. At present, for example, we are concerned with practicings of place as basic operations in the permanent conflicts and struggles over the realization of reality.

Another focus is the empirical exploration of - in the terms of our culture 'cognitive' - procedures of observing, classifying, categorizing, evaluating and deciding. We are interested in the proliferation of sports statistics, the novel field-specific expertise, match and performance analysis in professional soccer, and the transformations of the soccer field that these have set in motion, and we examine, among other things, evaluation and decision-making in the transfer market, in on-field refereeing, and in digital soccer management simulations. We empirically illuminate how exactly the knowledge workers of professional soccer, soccer intellectuals, competent participants, nerds, and fans deal with these categorization-, comparison-, and evaluation procedures and can thus relativize rash assumptions and widespread cultural-critical diagnoses of the "digital transformation."

Furthermore, against the background of the current conflicts about the orientation of sociology, we are working on a new self-understanding of our multiparadigmatic discipline. In this context, we understand sociology as a social faculty for analyzing and dealing with social problems. This capacity is challenged and put to the test by the multiple crises of the present (first and foremost the economic, social, political, warlike, and ecological devastation triggered by global capitalism). Sociology's ability and capacities prove themselves where the discipline develops its diversity and is receptive to non-specialist forms of problem-driven reasoning and sociologizing - for example, in the context of political protest movements. In this context, the critical examination of power processes and power relations plays an important role in the field of process-oriented sociology.

Students interested in process-oriented sociology should have an intellectual appetite for reading and adventure, and a certain stamina in dealing with the classical and theoretical texts of our subject. In addition, a willingness to find the familiar, the ordinary, and the mundane disconcerting and to expose them to the sociological gaze is important. Hopefully, students and those interested will be able to take away with them the ability to wonder about the self-evident as well as a certain analytical flair and a generalized critical ability.

You can find us in the Kapuzinerkloster (KAP) building on the 1st floor.

Postal address:

Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Professur für Prozessorientierte Soziolgie
Kapuzinergasse 2
D-85072 Eichstätt

The exact contact details of the secretariat and the staff of the Professorship for Process-Oriented Sociology can be found under Team.