Academic Career
Studium der Germanistik, Philosophie, Kommunikationswissenschaften, Kunstgeschichte und Soziologie an den Universitäten Tübingen, Köln und Bonn.
since 2013
Permanent Visiting Fellow, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn, Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW)
since 2010
Senior Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Law as Culture”, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn
2009-2013
Guest Professorship, University of Luzern
since 2008
Board member and Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) Essen
since 2007
Senior Fellow “Exzellenzcluster Religion und Politik”, University of Münster
2007, 2009
Guest Professorship, University of St. Gallen
1996, 2011-2013
Guest Professorship, University of Vienna
1996
Guest Professorship, University of California, Berkeley
1994-2008
Professorship for Sociology, University of Konstanz
since 1994
Head of the researchteam „sociology of knowledge“ and director of the archive of social sciences, University of Konstanz
1993
Professorship for Sociology, University of Potsdam
1993
Guest Professorship, Boston University
1992
Guest Professorship, Universidad Santiago de Chile
1986-1992
Guest professorship, University of Zurich
1984, 1987, 1991
Guest professorship, University of California, San Francisco
1984-1994
Member of the research team of Anselm Strauss, USA
1980-1992
Professorship, FernUniversität in Hagen
1978-1980
Professorship, University of Duisburg-Essen
1976
Habilitation, University of Duisburg-Essen; Venia Legendi: communication studies/sociology of communications
1972
PhD, philosophy, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn
1966
First state examination, philosophy and german studies
Memberships and cooperations
2011-2013
Member of “Strukturkommission zur Evaluierung”, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2008-2018
Together with Prof. Dr. Dieter Gutzen, head of education seminars for DAAD lectorssince 2008
Cooperation, Stiftung Mercator
2007-2011
Chairman, German Sociological Society (DGS)
since 2004
Expert for VolkswagenStiftung
2002-2008
Chairman of the advisory council “Wissenschaft und Zeitgeschehen”, Goethe-Institute
since 2002
University of Haifa: Member of the Board Haifa Center for German and European Studies (HCGES); Hebrew University Jerusalem: Member of the Board Center for German Studies
since 2000
Cooperation, Hamburger Institute for Social Sciences
since 2000
Cooperation, Academy for Social Sciences, Beijing
since 1996
Expert for German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
1996-2010
Cooperation, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) Saitama University, Japan
since 1994
Cooperation, Justizakademie NRW Recklinghausen and Justizakademie Trier
since 1986
Expert for German Research Foundation (DFG)
Research Interests
Theory in sociology, everyday culture, sociology of knowledge, culture, media and religion, methodology and methods of hermeneutics
Publications (Selection)
Soeffner, Hans-Georg (1989): Auslegung des Alltags – Der Alltag der Auslegung. Zur wissenssoziologischen Konzeption einer sozialwissenschaftlichen Hermeneutik. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp.
Soeffner, Hans-Georg (1992): Die Ordnung der Rituale – Die Auslegung des Alltags II. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp.
Soeffner, Hans-Georg (2000): Gesellschaft ohne Baldachin. Über die Labilität von Ordnungskonstruktionen. Frankfurt/M.: Velbrück Wissenschaft.
Soeffner, Hans-Georg (2010): Symbolische Formung. Eine Soziologie des Symbols und des Rituals. Frankfurt/M.: Velbrück Wissenschaft.
Soeffner, Hans-Georg (2019): Bedrohliche Attraktivität. Charisma der Gewalt. In: Ecarius, Jutta; Bilstein, Johannes (eds.): Gewalt – Vernunft – Angst. Wiesbaden: Springer Verlag (coming soon).