Research Areas

Methods of Theorizing, Political Sociology, Science and Technology Studies.

Henning Laux is a Professor of Sociological Theories of the Knowledge Society at Leibniz University Hannover. He studied in Mainz and Glasgow, completed his doctorate in Jena and taught in Bremen, Chemnitz and Hamburg.

In his recently published book "Risk Democracy” (with Jenni Brichzin and Ulf Bohmann) he attempts to explain the erosion of three key institutions of Western democracies (politics, science, media) on the basis of a two-year ethnography in the German city of Chemnitz and with the help of analytical stories. He is currently investigating the “polis of saving the world” with Lea Zierott and Clara Wieghorst as part of a research project on disruptive technologies. He is analyzing in the peculiar role that technologies such as cultured meat and digital assistants play in justifying modern, capitalist societies. In addition, for several years he has been interested in the process of theorizing and the strategies used to refer to reality (in particular founding scenes, metaphors and social figures). Finally, as Director of the Leibniz Center for Science and Society in Hannover, he conducts research together with colleagues from various disciplines (philosophy, sociology, economics and law) on the interaction between science and society in times of ecological, economic and political transformation processes.