The faculty has a long tradition in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and its self-understanding today in research and teaching is that of multi-paradigmatic social science with a wide spectrum of research-based teaching – from critical social theory to a broad range of research priorities in the field of sociology (Sociological Theories and History of Ideas; Social Stratification Analysis and Social Injustice; Sociology of Knowledge; Nature and Society; Sociology of Economics, Work and Organisations; Sociology and Psychoanalytic Social Psychology; Family, Youth and Educational Sociology; Culture and Migration Research; Labour Market Sociology; Women and Gender Research) and political science (Comparative Capitalism; Justice and Legitimacy in a Transnational Perspective; Politics of Competing International Orders; Comparative Democracy Research) as well as a wide variety of social science research methods. It is due not least to the faculty's guiding principle of research-based teaching that its members are very active in the area of externally funded research – both in large collaborative projects as well as many individual ones.
- Institute of Sociology
- Institute of Political Science
In primarily three fields of development, the faculty supports the following profile areas of Goethe University Frankfurt: (1) Orders & Transformations, (2) Universality & Diversity and (3) Sustainability and Biodiversity. The three fields of development are:
(1) Field of Development “Normative Orders"
The interdisciplinary research centre Normative Orders evolved above all out of the Cluster of Excellence with the same name (2007-2019). It comprises a number of projects (two Leibniz Prize research groups, a Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, a Heisenberg Project, externally funded posts) and alliances, in particular the Hessian cluster initiative ConTrust and the Research Institute Social Cohesion.
The Frankfurt research centre Normative Orders examines the formation of normative orders, with a special focus on freedom and justice, tolerance and participation. Within the Normative Orders research centre at Goethe University Frankfurt, the researchers reflect on such rights and principles in society. The cluster's spokespersons are Professor Nicole Deitelhoff (Institute of Political Science) and Professor Rainer Forst(Institute of Political Science and Institute of Philosophy).
(2) Field of Development “Democracy and Inequality"
The field of development Democracy and Inequality, which is also designated as one of the profile areas of Goethe University Frankfurt, encompasses numerous activities and projects in research, teaching and transfer at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In terms of content, it is concerned with the analysis of modern capitalist societies, whereby the focus lies on the causal relations between democracy and inequality. In this context, inequalities are considered from several dimensions, for example educational, gender, income inequalities, etc., whereby it is precisely the interaction of various dimensions of inequality that is of particular interest. Democracy, with its promise of equality, is on the one hand the framework in which inequalities could be and can continue to be repeatedly criticised and scandalised, but on the other hand also the reproduction context in which existing inequalities could not be sustainably dismantled even over longer periods of time. Both institutes at the faculty are therefore actively involved in this research priority on a large scale; indeed, it is the combination of sociological and political science expertise that distinguishes it.
(3) Field of Development “Nature, Science and Technology Studies"
“Nature, Science and Technology Studies (S&TS)" has developed gradually out of sociology and matured through well-established collaboration with human geography and cultural anthropology. This field of development is based on an interdisciplinary initiative which is responsible for the MA in Science and Technology Studies and feeds from a variety of activities at the Faculty of Social Sciences. It is important for the faculty to expand its activities in research and teaching, above all with regard to the university-wide profile area Sustainability and Biodiversity. As a consequence, the faculty is also involved, for example, in the interdisciplinary MSc in Environmental Sciences.
