Sigrid Quack (born 17 July 1958) is a German
social scientist
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of socie ...
working in the field of
comparative sociology
Comparative sociology involves comparison of the social processes between nation states, or across different types of society (for example capitalist and socialist). There are two main approaches to comparative sociology: some seek similarity acr ...
. She is a professor of sociology at the
University of Duisburg-Essen
The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...
in Germany, where she is the Director of the Centre for Global Cooperation Research, and was a senior fellow at the
Watson Institute for International Studies
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs is an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Its mission is to promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and public engagement ...
,
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
.
Biography
Quack studied
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
in Paris and Berlin. Her doctorate was awarded by the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
in 1992 on the topic of dynamics of part-time work, and she subsequently worked at the
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. In 2007, she received her
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
for scholarship on cross-border institutional development, and became a professor at the
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...
based at the
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (German: ''Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung'', MPIfG) is a German social-science research institute within the Max Planck Society located in Cologne.
Established in 1985, it was ...
from 2007 until 2013.
Research
Quack is the head of an international research group on transnational institution-building. Her work has examined the phenomenon of
transnationality Transnationality is the principle of acting at a Geography, geographical scale larger than that of states, so as to take into account the interests of a Supranational union, supranational entity.
Transnational policies or programmes are not simply ...
and
governance
Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...
, with a focus on how
global governance
Global governance refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly entails making, monitoring, and enfor ...
institutions increasingly interact with politics and practices on the ground. In particular, she has studied governance across borders in the fields of
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
and
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
,
financial reporting
Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity.
Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to un ...
, the regulation of
multinational companies
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
,
environmentalism
Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...
, and
labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...
. She is the author or editor of numerous books and articles on
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
,
institutions
Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
and
regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...
.
Quack is the President-Elect and incoming President of the
Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, a key international
scholarly society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership may ...
in the field of
economic sociology
Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one, known as "new economic sociology".
The classical period was concerned ...
.
References
External links
*Blo
Governance Across Borders*Sigrid Quack page o
AcademiaNet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quack, Sigrid
1958 births
Living people
German sociologists
German women sociologists
20th-century German writers
20th-century German women writers
21st-century German writers
21st-century German women writers
Brown University fellows
Free University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the University of Cologne
Academic staff of the University of Duisburg-Essen