DFG and German Science Council call for a detailed proposal for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons"
Nowadays, public comparisons are a ubiquitous phenomenon: States are compared in terms of their human rights records and companies in terms of their creditworthiness; universities compare themselves in terms of the amount of third-party funding they receive and athletes in terms of their victories. Although comparisons are a constitutive element of the social order, the social sciences have hardly ever treated them as an independent subject of study. The initiative for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society" will tackle this topic and study the historical change and social significance of comparisons from a long-term historical perspective. Particular attention will be paid to the transition to modernity and the specific functions of comparisons within the emergence of the world society. With this comprehensive topic, history and sociology at Bielefeld are assigning themselves a joint research programme and intensifying the cooperation that already exists between them. Scientists in the fields of law and philosophy will also be participating in the Cluster.
Coordinators: Professor Dr. Bettina Heintz (Faculty of Sociology), Professor Dr. Willibald Steinmetz (Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology/History Department)
Deutsch
