Nico Stehr: Pioneer in the Theory of Society and Knowledge

380 Pages·2018·4.659 MB·English

by  Marian T Adolf

Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice 16
Editor
Marian T. Adolf
Nico Stehr:
Pioneer in the
Theory of Society
and Knowledge
Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science,
Engineering, Practice
Volume 16
Series editor
Hans Günter Brauch, Mosbach, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15230
http://www.afes-press-books.de/html/PAHSEP.htm
http://afes-press-books.de/html/PAHSEP_Stehr.htm
Marian T. Adolf
Editor
Nico Stehr: Pioneer
in the Theory of Society
and Knowledge
123
Editor
Marian T. Adolf
Department ofCulture andCommunication
ZeppelinUniversity
Friedrichshafen, Baden-Württemberg
Germany
Acknowledgement: Thecoverphotographandmostotherphotosinthisvolumeweretaken
from the personal photo collection of the author who also granted the permission on their
publicationinthisvolume.AbookwebsitewithadditionalinformationonNicoStehrandhis
major bookcoversisat: http://afes-press-books.de/html/PSP_Stehr.htm.
ISSN 2509-5579 ISSN 2509-5587 (electronic)
Pioneersin Arts, Humanities,Science, Engineering, Practice
ISBN978-3-319-76994-3 ISBN978-3-319-76995-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76995-0
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For Barbara, Sebastian, Angelika, Leopold
and Leander
Preface
What do democratic politics, economic production, modern markets and climate
politics have in common? They all rely heavily on knowledge, its inherent prop-
ertiesanditspracticalapplication—somuchsothatknowledgecanbeidentifiedas
the one central factor that shapes modern society more than any other. But this is
nottheonlyfeaturethatthesephenomenashare:allofthemhavebeenthefocusof
one ofthemost originaland prolific social scientistsofhis generation,NicoStehr.
This volume brings together, for the first time, some of his most important texts
published over the course of almost five decades and puts them in dialogue with
researchthatdrawson,andisinspiredby,NicoStehr’sthemesandtheories.These
texts, produced by notable contemporaries, all of them peers and collaborators of
Nico Stehr’s, reflect and apply central concepts of his work and demonstrate the
wealth and plurality of the topic of knowledge as a central term of contemporary
social theory and research.
Thecontentofthisbookisorganizedaccordingtothreeframes.First,theaimis
topresentsomeofthemostimportantthemesofNicoStehr’sworkinchronological
order.Movingfromhisearlierworkonthesociologyofknowledgetraditiontothe
studyoftheproductionofscientificknowledgetotheroleofknowledgeforandin
society to the more concrete applications of his theory, it becomes possible to
follow the progression in Nico Stehr’s theoretical and conceptual work as he
uncovers more and more facets of the notoriously evasive concept of knowledge.
The second aim that guides theway thetextsof thisvolumeareorganizedisto
demonstrate the rich potential of an approach to questions of social and cultural
research that appliesthe concept of knowledge to a varietyofmajor contemporary
issuessuchasemployment,socialequityandpower,theglobalchallengeofclimate
changeorthequestionoftheculturalembeddednessofmodernconsumermarkets.
There seems to be a particular, although not initially obvious rationale behind the
progression of Stehr’s studies: throughout his career, he has applied his general
theory of knowledge to various social fields one by one, thus developing his
concepts by tackling central challenges of modern society as he studies its general
layoutand,consequently,uncoveringfundamentalprinciplesofthesocietalroleof
knowledge. The selection of contributions for the present volume thus strives to
vii
viii Preface
Nico Stehr (secondfrom the left)at Zeppelin University’sLake Campus ontheoccasion of his
70thbirthdaysymposiumin2012(withSebastianBelser,formerZUpresidentStephanA.Jansen
andMarianAdolf,lefttoright).SourceZeppelinUniversity/BertramRusch.Thisphotowasused
withpermissionoftheZeppelinUniversity,Friedrichshafen,Germany
assemble texts that demonstrate the wide applicability of this approach to the
broader project of a theory of modern society.
Thethirdideawepursuedinputtingtogetherthisbookwastoaddcommentary
andreflectionbyeminentscholarsratherthanletNicoStehr’sworkstandbyitself.
We were fortunate to have secured the support of some of Nico’s most trusted
colleagues and co-authors from a variety of scholarly disciplines such as philoso-
phy, sociology, and meteorology, scholars that have not only worked closely with
him over the years but are themselves among the most important protagonists
oftheirrespective fields. Their contributions,reflectingonandemployingsome of
Nico Stehr’s central ideas, are published here for the first time. They demonstrate
thetheoreticalinfluenceaswellasthepracticalapplicabilityandanalyticalvalueof
Nico Stehr’s wide range of thinking.
In March 2012, Zeppelin University invited numerous colleagues and com-
panions he worked with throughout his career to a symposium celebrating Nico
Stehr’s 70th birthday. Most of the contributions in this volume originate from this
reunion. All of these texts are original works and refer in many ways to the pro-
ductivityofNicoStehr’sthinking:fromhisearly writings ontheGermantradition
of the sociology of knowledge to his pioneering work on the theory of society,
Preface ix
famouslytermedKnowledgeSociety,aswellashislong-standingengagementwith
the social aspects of climate change or the impact of social change on democracy,
markets and knowledge.
In addition, the volume also includes an interview with Nico Stehr that covers
hisacademiccareer,apersonalexplicationofhismostimportantideasandconcepts
and some rare private comments on his motives and experiences. Although it is
difficult to gain an overview of the extraordinary extent of publications Nico Stehr
has produced—and continues to produce—throughout his career, we have assem-
bled a bibliography of the cornerstones of his pioneering quest to theorize modern
society so far.
This book is the product of many people. Without the contributions of Gernot
Böhme, Reiner Grundmann, Susan McDaniel, Alexander Ruser, Hans von Storch
and Hermann Strasser, there would not have been much to edit. Thanks also to all
the other participants of the symposium, especially Volker Meja and Steve Fuller.
Andreas Hafenscher, Johanna Schabert, Falk Stratenwerth-Neunzig, Paul Malone,
LindaPhillipsandHellaBeisterhelpedduringtheeditorialprocessofthesepages.
We also wish to thank the series editor Hans Günter Brauch for his close
collaborationandsupport.WearegratefultothepublishersofNicoStehr’soriginal
texts for the permission to reproduce them here, and to all colleagues past and
present, at Zeppelin University and elsewhere, who have been instrumental in
bringing together this project. Finally, the editor wishes to thank Nico Stehr for
many productive years of inspiration, collaboration and friendship.
München, Germany/Eisenstadt, Austria Marian T. Adolf
Summer of 2017
Contents
Part I On Nico Stehr
1 A Short Biography of Nico Stehr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Marian T. Adolf
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Nico Stehr, Sociology, Knowledge and the Sociology
of Knowledge: An Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Alexander Ruser
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Sociological Traditions and the ‘Discovery’
of the Knowledge Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.1 Merton, Elias and the Threat of Losing History . . . . . 9
2.2.2 Reclaiming History and Conceptualizing
Knowledge: The Influence of Karl Mannheim . . . . . . 10
2.2.3 Understanding and Making Social
Worlds—Knowledge as a Capacity to Act . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Of Markets and Meteorologists: Challenges for Worlds
Made of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 Reflections on Society and Knowledge: An Interview
with Nico Stehr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Nico Stehr and Marian T. Adolf
3.1 On Nico Stehr’s Career and Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 On the Knowledge Society and Knowledge Economy. . . . . . . 24
3.3 On Knowledge Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4 On the Fragility of Modern Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 On the Future of Modern Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
xi