Project Description
Irina Christiani
Student Assistant
Mail: irina.christiania@fu-berlin.de
Website: www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de
Short Vita
After completing my bachelor’s degree in social sciences (media, politics, sociology) at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, I am now studying “Sociology – European Societies” in the master’s program at Freie Universität Berlin.
What I find exciting about this research initiative
Social cohesion has possibly never been more important than in the present time, when democratic societies are confronted with new kinds of global crises that can only be overcome through consensus and joint action. At the same time, we are currently experiencing – triggered by these very crises – greater social division than in previous decades. Research into the factors that foster and impede social cohesion is therefore crucial with a view to the future.
What my discipline can contribute to this research initiative
One of the central questions of sociology is: How is society possible? To answer this question, sociology spans the arc of observation from the smallest level of interpersonal encounters to the macro level of large institutions. In this way, sociology captures society as a complex web of interdependent structures and processes. Consequently, the sociological perspective opens up the possibility of viewing individual dimensions in which cohesion or division are generated in the context of society as a whole.