Ulf Tranow

Dr. Ulf Tranow is a Senior Lecturer (Akademischer Oberrat a.Z.) at Sociology I, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, where he has worked since 2004. He held a Junior Professorship from 2013 to 2020 and was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in 2019–2020. His research focuses on sociological theories of action, normative integration, and solidarity in digital and heterogeneous societies.

• Current role: Senior Lecturer (since 2020)
• Prior role: Junior Professor of Sociology (2013–2020)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship: CAIS Bochum (2019–2020)
• PhD: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (2010)

Tranow’s work examines solidarity as a normative and analytical concept, particularly in conflictual online deliberation and liberal democracies. His publications address ritualistic foundations of solidarity, social mechanisms of trust, and the role of religion in fostering solidarity. Recent projects include the Religionsmonitor 2023 (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2023–2024), which explores religious resources for solidarity.

Key trends in his articles include:

• Intersection of rationality and ritual in group solidarity
• Normative frameworks for political trust in digital democracies
• Mechanisms of normative integration in post-traditional societies
• Boundaries of solidarity in multicultural contexts
• Contextual analysis in actor-centered sociology

Awards:

• Drupa Prize 2011 for his dissertation on solidarity

Tranow has co-edited special issues on social mechanisms and organized conferences on normativity, digital societies, and solidarity. He teaches courses on digital society, field theory, and micro-sociology of violence.