Qualitative Methods and Microsociology

Welcome to the Section for Qualitative Methods and Microsociology in the Institute of Sociology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. In this Section students are trained in qualitative research methods, a process tied in closely to training in quantitative methods, this dual focus being a specialty of Sociology at Jena. In their first semester, students are introduced to the foundations of empirical social research by Prof. Sylka Scholz (who specializes in qualitative research) and Prof. Kathrin Leuze (quantitative research). Building on this, the staff in our Section provide further in-depth teaching in qualitative methods at both Bachelor’s and Master’s level. Our aim is to introduce students to the broad range of qualitative methods available in social research (including various kinds of qualitative interviews, ethnographic methods, visual methods and discourse analysis). We are especially keen to test certain of these methods with students in applied contexts. This occurs in various formats such as supervised project research, research practice and research workshops. Our research and teaching activities are concerned especially with changes in gender relations, which are studied from a microsociological perspective. Current topics include the crisis in care in today’s society, the transformation of discourses and practices of motherhood, men’s access to the caring professions and the care experiences of adolescent males, as well as the discrimination of higher-weight persons. We are also engaged in debates around the transformation of masculinities in the field of tension between new forms of caring masculinities and right-wing populist masculinities, as well as the discourse of the “brown [right-wing racist] East (Germany)” associated with the latter. These topics are also discussed and researched in the Master’s course “Gender Relations in Modern Societies”.

If you have any queries or suggestions, feel free to contact Ms. Gürtler (Section Secretariat).