Sarah Nies

Prof. Dr. Sarah Nies is Professor of Sociology with a focus on digitalization in the world of work at the University of Göttingen's Institute of Sociology. She leads multiple German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded projects examining the sociological dimensions of digital transformation in labor processes and workplace dynamics.

Her research centers on the reorganization of work under digital capitalism, analyzing management and control mechanisms, technical rationality, ideology critique, and evolving worker consciousness. She investigates how digital technologies reshape labor processes, influence political awareness, and impact action capabilities through critical engagement with power structures in contemporary workplaces.

Her scholarly output reveals consistent focus on digital labor's political economy, examining how corporate digitalization strategies perpetuate social domination while workers negotiate autonomy. Publications demonstrate interdisciplinary analysis of technology governance, organizational reality construction, and the contested nature of performance management in industrial settings.

Prof. Nies currently directs three major DFG projects: 'Action Capabilities and Political Awareness of Employees' (2026-2029), 'Politics of Inscription in Digital Transformation' (2023-2026), and 'Politics of Performance in Digitalized Production Work' (2020-2023). Her research team includes doctoral researchers and student assistants, indicating active supervision of junior scholars despite no named advisees in the source material.

She maintains strong collaborative networks with the Department of Social Economics at the University of Hamburg, the Institute for Social Science Research (ISF) Munich, and the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF), enabling interdisciplinary investigation of digital transformation across historical, sociological, and economic perspectives.