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Andreas Reckwitz (18 March 1970 in
Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dortmu ...
) is a German sociologist and
cultural theorist Culture theory is the branch of comparative anthropology and semiotics (not to be confused with cultural sociology or cultural studies) that seeks to define the heuristic concept of culture in operationalism, operational and/or scientific metho ...
. He is professor at the institute of social sciences at
Humboldt University Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...
.


Life

Reckwitz studied sociology, Political science and philosophy in
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. He graduated 1994 in Cambridge, overseen by
Anthony Giddens Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (born 18 January 1938) is an English sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern sociologists and is t ...
. He achieved his
Dr. phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in 1999 at
Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
. From 2001 to 2005 he worked there as assistant professor at the sociological faculty. In 2005 he became professor for sociology and
sociology of culture The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, ...
at
Konstanz University The University of Konstanz (german: Universität Konstanz) is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its main campus was opened on the Gießberg in 1972 after being founded in 1966. The university is Germany's ...
, 2010 professor for sociology of culture at the
Viadrina European University European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the ...
in
Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
. In 2020 Reckwitz became professor for sociology and sociology of culture at Humboldt University in Berlin. Reckwitz is a prominent proponent of social
practice theory Practice theory (or praxeology, theory of social practices) is a body of social theory within anthropology and sociology that explains society and culture as the result of structure and individual agency. Practice theory emerged in the late 20th c ...
and contributed to its development as an encompassing
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
and
cultural theory Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...
. This serves as basis for his works on
subjectivation A subject is a being who has a unique consciousness and/or unique personal experiences, or an entity that has a relationship with another entity that exists outside itself (called an "object"). A ''subject'' is an observer and an ''object'' is ...
,
creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...
and singularization of the social life. In 2017 he published his work on the structure of the current late modern society, ''Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten. Zum Strukturwandel der Moderne'', which was published in English in 2020 as ''The Society of Singularities''. In this book he analyses how economy, work, information technology, lifestyle, classes and politics follow a system which values singularity and devalues non-singularity. Reckwitz wrote several articles for the newspaper ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'' and appeared as an interview partner on the German national radio
Deutschlandfunk Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station was ren ...
discussing current socio-cultural and political trends and issues in
western societies The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
. In 2019 Reckwitz was awarded the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...
of the
German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
.


Selected publications

* ''The Society of Singularities''. Polity, Cambridge 2020. ** Translated from ''Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten. Zum Strukturwandel der Moderne.'' Suhrkamp, Berlin 2017, * ''The End of Illusions: Politics, Economics and Culture in Late Modernity''. Polity, Cambridge 2021. ** Translated from ''Das Ende der Illusionen. Politik, Ökonomie und Kultur in der Spätmoderne''. Suhrkamp, Berlin 2019. . * ''Kreativität und soziale Praxis. Studien zur Sozial- und Gesellschaftstheorie.'' transcript, Bielefeld 2016, (collected articles). * ''The Invention of Creativity. Modern Society and the Culture of the New,'' Polity, Cambridge 2017, . ** Translated from ''Die Erfindung der Kreativität. Zum Prozess gesellschaftlicher Ästhetisierung.'' Suhrkamp, Berlin 2012, * ''Unscharfe Grenzen. Perspektiven der Kultursoziologie.'' transcript, Bielefeld 2008, . * ''Subjekt.'' transcript, Bielefeld 2008, . * ''Das hybride Subjekt. Eine Theorie der Subjektkulturen von der bürgerlichen Moderne zur Postmoderne.'' Velbrück Wissenschaft, Weilerswist 2006, . (habilitation dissertation) * ''Die Transformation der Kulturtheorien. Zur Entwicklung eines Theorieprogramms.'' Velbrück Wissenschaft, Weilerswist 2000, . * ''Struktur. Zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Analyse von Regeln und Regelmäßigkeiten.'' Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen/ Wiesbaden 1997, . As editor * with Sophia Prinz and Hilmar Schäfer: ''Ästhetik und Gesellschaft.'' Suhrkamp, Berlin 2015, . * with Stephan Moebius: ''Poststrukturalistische Sozialwissenschaften.'' Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2008, . * with Thorsten Bonacker: ''Kulturen der Moderne. Soziologische Perspektiven der Gegenwart.'' Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main/ New York 2007, . * with Holger Sievert: ''Interpretation, Konstruktion, Kultur. Ein Paradigmenwechsel in den Sozialwissenschaften.'' Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen/ Wiesbaden 1999, .


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reckwitz, Andreas Living people 1970 births People from Witten German sociologists Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Academic staff of the University of Konstanz Academic staff of European University Viadrina Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin University of Bonn alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Hamburg alumni