Greta Wagner

Greta Wagner is a sociologist affiliated with the Institute for Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt since March 2024, where she leads the Emmy Noether junior research group „Grenzen des Helfens unter Bedingungen multipler Krisen“. She previously held visiting professorships at TU Darmstadt and the University of Lucerne, and was a research associate at institutions including Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Darmstadt. Her work bridges general sociology, social theory, and interdisciplinary crisis studies.

• Education: Soziologie (Sociology) at Freie Universität Berlin and Goethe University Frankfurt (2003–2009).
• Highest Degree: Ph.D. (summa cum laude) at Goethe University Frankfurt (2014) on Neuroenhancement: Critique and Practice of Pharmacological Performance Enhancement.

Her research explores compassion and solidarity in refugee crises, burnout and exhaustion in capitalist societies, and self-optimization practices under digital acceleration. Her publications include monographs on neuroenhancement and interdisciplinary studies on burnout, often emphasizing affective economies and crisis response.

Recent publications analyze reciprocity in rural volunteerism, ambivalences of refugee support, and the intersection of digital labor with mindful self-cultivation. Awards highlight her international recognition, including fellowships at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and Columbia University Press publications.

Collaborations include partnerships with scholars like Sighard Neckel and Anna Katharina Schaffner. She has contributed to edited volumes on capitalism, ecology, and culture, and her work has been published in journals such as WestEnd and Zeitschrift für Theoretische Soziologie.

• Contact: greta.wagner@soz.uni-frankfurt.de
• Phone: +49 6151/16-57372
• Address: Residenzschloss 1, 64283 Darmstadt.