300652 Key Texts in the Anthropology and Sociology of Risk (MA: Soziologie der Globalen Welt) (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

This seminar addresses a number of key texts in the anthropology and sociology of risk, along four different thematic focuses: Risk Society, Risk and Culture, Risk and Governmentality and Risk in the World System. Each of these focuses will first begin with a session on a representative text, respectively by Ulrich Beck, Mary Douglas, Pat O’Malley and Niklas Luhmann, followed by two further sessions in which we discuss empirical analyses that engage with the conceptual ideas of the text.

The study credits (Studienleistung) for the seminar will be given to students uploading at least 7 written responses to the texts before the sessions in which they are discussed and talking about these in class. The responses should be about 1-2 pages in your own words and provide your critical responses to the main ideas of the text, either by way of using them to think through specific real-life issues or assessing their strengths and weaknesses through conceptual engagement.

The examination credits (Prüfungsleistung) will be given to an essay that addresses risk as a problematic in a specific empirical context, for example in transnational migration or financial market – further details can be found in the course syllabus to be made available in the first week of the semester.

Please refrain from submitting AI-generated texts for both kinds of credit. I trust that it is not necessary, but in certain cases I may request a meeting with the author of a submitted essay to verify that they actually write it.