Maria Schlechter

Maria Schlechter is a researcher affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology. Her work focuses on digital sociology, youth cultures, and social integration, often intersecting with media studies and educational ethnography.

• Education: Dr., BA, MA in Sociology

Her research explores mediatisation conditions in educational settings, digital inequality, and the sociological implications of digital communication. She has contributed to analyses of messenger apps through knowledge-sociological hermeneutics and examined teenage aspirations in digital celebrity culture.

Key themes in her publications include digital belonging management, everyday life sociology, and the cultural impact of media integration. She employs ethnographic methods and hermeneutic frameworks to study these dynamics.

• Scientific Awards: Marietta Blau Stipendium (2017), Stipendium zur Teilnahme an der IFK Akademie 2018 (2018), Fellowship (2019)

Schlechter has participated in academic events like Digital Intimacies 5.0 and contributed to public engagement activities, including media discussions on mediatisation as a business model. She collaborates on projects such as Boundaries in Transition and Pathways to the Future, focusing on youth integration in Vienna.