Christian Helge Peters

Dr. Christian Helge Peters is a Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, where he serves as Research Associate at the Chair of Economic and Organizational Sociology (as a parental leave replacement since February 2024). He coordinates the Halle location of the Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ) since August 2020 and has been working on the BMBF-funded project 'Social Cohesion and Good Work' since December 2018 under Prof. Dr. Konstanze Senge. Peters completed his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in February 2022 with a dissertation titled 'The Social of Affect: A Social Theory of Modulations between Virtuality–Actuality and Affects–Emotions Following Gilles Deleuze and Brian Massumi.'

His academic journey includes an MA in Social Theory from Friedrich Schiller University Jena (thesis: 'Sovereignty in the Control Society: Sovereign Socialization of Criminal Deviance') and a BA in Sociology, Education, Political Science, and Philosophy from Kiel University (thesis: 'On the Emergence of the Entrepreneurial Self: A Sociological Interpretation of Foucault's Analysis of a Modern Form of Subjectivation'). He has also held visiting researcher positions at Louisiana State University (2017, with John Protevi) and Université de Montréal (2016, with Brian Massumi).

Peters' research spans theoretical sociology and cultural sociology with particular emphasis on work, sustainability and social cohesion, intensive connections (affects, emotions, needs, desires, resonance), organizational sociology, subjectification and collectivization, governmentality and surveillance studies. His work critically engages with affect theory, drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Brian Massumi to develop innovative social theoretical perspectives that bridge philosophy and sociology. He has made significant contributions to understanding how affective dimensions shape social cohesion and organizational dynamics, with particular attention to the intersections of work, sustainability, and social relations.

His publications demonstrate a consistent theoretical rigor with practical applications, particularly in the areas of social cohesion and work quality. Peters' research shows a distinctive trajectory from examining sovereignty in control societies to developing sophisticated theories of affect and social cohesion in contemporary work contexts.

• Reviewer for: Acta Sociologica, Ambiances Journal, Frontiers in Sociology, Research Institute for Social Cohesion publications, Suhrkamp Publishing, The Journal of Chinese Sociology
• Conference organizer: 'Empirical Affect Research' workshop (2023), 'Working Sustainably - Work and Socio-Ecological Transformation' fishbowl (2024), and several others

Peters teaches across multiple institutions including Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, University of Hamburg, and University of Osnabrück. His courses cover economic and organizational sociology, theories of care relationships, methods of interpretive reconstructive social research, structuralist and poststructuralist social theories, and sociology of materiality. His teaching reflects his research interests, particularly in affect theory, social cohesion, and organizational sociology, and demonstrates his commitment to both theoretical depth and methodological rigor.