Rudolf Stichweh

Rudolf Stichweh is Professor for Theory of Modern Society at the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft, University of Bonn, and one of the Principal Investigators of the Bonn Center for Slavery and Dependency Studies (BCDSS). Since 2012 he has led major interdisciplinary projects on asymmetrical dependency, world society, and the sociology of science, and serves as editor of book series and journals such as Global Studies and Theory of Society and Soziale Systeme.

Education:

• 1977 – Diploma in Sociology & Philosophy, Free University of Berlin & University of Bielefeld
• 1983 – Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Bielefeld
• 1990 – Habilitation in Sociology, University of Bielefeld

Research interests revolve around a sociological theory of inclusion and exclusion in world society. He analyses how global function systems (science, law, politics, love, etc.) differentiate and how individuals and groups are included or excluded through patronage, strangership, or institutional capture. Historical work explores guest roles, adoption, enslavement, and marriage as modes of incorporating outsiders, while contemporary projects trace internationalisation dynamics in higher education and science.

Across more than 270 scholarly publications and roughly 500 lectures he has developed a distinctive Luhmann-inspired systems-theoretical perspective on world society, examining phenomena such as academic freedom, university governance, inter-disciplinarity, democratic/authoritarian regimes, and the global semantics of love and citizenship.

Scientific recognition:

• Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Scholarship, 1985-1989
• Elected Member, North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, since 2014

As principal investigator he has acquired over €5 million in third-party funding (Mercator Foundation, SNF, DFG, DAAD, VolkswagenStiftung) for large collaborative projects on science policy, citizenship comparisons, humanitarian-law semantics, and the global governance of knowledge.

Stichweh currently supervises doctoral researchers within the BCDSS and previously led the DFG Research Training Group “World Concepts and Global Structural Patterns” (2003-2006) and the DAAD Graduate School at Bielefeld (2003-2005), acting as spokesperson for both.