300190 Irony in Sociology and History (S) (SoSe 2026)

The course is dedicated to irony as a sociological method of discovery. In discussing examples from the canon of sociology, we examine how sociological findings are most likely to be aesthetically appealing and memorable when they reveal incongruities and contradictions between appearances and reality, or individual motives and social consequences. Such a debunking motif that shows how social phenomena are intimately related to their opposites, proves itself receptive to the fundamental paradoxes of the social process, and turns preconceived notions on their head is elemental to what Peter L. Berger has called the “sociological consciousness.” Such ironic sensitivities are heuristically productive in formulating working hypotheses and analytical strategies and rhetorically instructive in developing a sociologically surprising, non-trivial “story.” In providing insights into what makes the discipline’s most interesting work truly interesting, the course aims to impart strategies for developing interesting work of one’s own and turning one’s findings into a compelling account.