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Dr. P. Stegmaier (Peter)

Background

Peter Stegmaier studied sociology, social psychology, law, and economics at the University of Munich and at Goldsmiths’ College in London.

Formerly, Peter was a researcher and lecturer at the Universities of Dortmund, Hagen and Düsseldorf, carrying out at the latter two the project ‘Law as a social practice—from everyday legal methods to a legal methodology for everyday work’ (2000–2004). After this, he worked as a lecturer and researcher in criminal and police sociology at the Ruhr University of Bochum, focusing especially on public security institutions (2004–2006). From 2007 to 2009 he held a post-doc position at the Centre for Society and Genomics, Radboud University Nijmegen. There, in the form of an institutional ethnography, he investigated how “society and genomics” research, education and dialogue activities (sometimes called ‘ELSA’ or ‘ELSI’ for ethical, legal, social aspects/implications) in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom get conceptualized and organized, institutionalized and legitimized in everyday work—as science governance in action.

In the late 80s and early 90s, Peter worked as a newspaper journalist and photographer, and managed a local jazz club society.

Research

His research interests include social theory and methodology, knowledge and normativity, theories of action and institutionalization, phenomenology, philosophical anthropology and neurology, and the sociologies of science, governance, innovation and citizenship, as well as that of music.

Current research interest at STePS:

1. Governance in Action

1.1 The Discontinuation of Socio-Technical Regimes

1.2 Innovations of Intermediary Institutions in Science Governance

1.3 Normativity in Science, Technology, Innovation and Research

2. Theory

2.1 Mundane Phenomenology and Technology

2.2 ANT and the Sociology of Knowledge

2.3 Interactionist Goverance Theory

3. Methodology

3.1 Explorative-Interpretative Research in Science, Technology, Innovation and Governance Studies

3.2 Praxeography

3.3 Hermeneutic Interpretation of Web Contents

4. Didactisation

4.1 Explorative-Interpretative Research Design

4.3	Hermeneutic Data Interpretation

4.3 Participation and Observation

4.4 Explorative-Interpretative Governance Research

Current research projects:

-	NanoNextNL, 1C program-level activities (STW)

-	RIF: Research and Innovation Futures 2030: From explorative to transformative scenarios (7th EU Framework Programme)

-	VERA: Forward Visions on the European Research Area (7th EU Framework Programme)

These days, Peter’s research focuses on intermediary institutions in various countries, mainly the Netherlands and UK, which play a role in the governance of (natural and social) sciences, technology and innovation. In particular, he is looking into ELSA genomics programs to learn how they take shape as institutions and organizations, and what the science governance contexts are within which ELSA genomics programs are carried out. Specialized institutions, more or less stable organizations of research, education and debate, are invented for carrying out ELSA work. They often involve anticipatory research and focus on technologies (e.g., genomics, nanotechnology, ICT) that are expected to have an impact in the future of society and sciences. Peter also concentrates on “doing ELSA” practically as boundary or convergence work, investigated in the sense of “governance in action”, as the combined micro- and meso-sociology of governance. This has some things in common with his earlier research on judges’ everyday work and what he had labeled as ‘office studies’.

Certain other forms of interaction are also on Peter’s permanent agenda, such as improvisation in music and in non-musical contexts as meaningful (social) action. In social theory, he is working, for example, on the comparison of Peter Berger’s & Thomas Luckmann’s sociology of knowledge with Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory.

With respect to research methodology, Peter is currently developing a textbook on explorative research processes. He also has a keen interest in the didactisation of explorative and interpretative methods (participant observation, ethnographic interviewing, hermeneutics of texts, images, and video data).

Peter also serves as reviewer of research projects for German Research Foundation (DFG) and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).

Teaching

Within STePS, Peter is responsible for coordinating the development of the new International Master Program in ‘Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation’ which the department intends to offer in the near future.

Currently taught courses:

·	'Policy Analysis in Public and Technological Domains' (with Rob Hoppe)

·	'Explorative-Interpretive Methods for Governance Research'

·	'Ontwerpen van beleid'/'Project 3: policy design in the EU context' (with Hal Colebatch and Maarten Arentsen)

Besides that, Peter teaches empirical research methods and social theory within BA, MA and PhD programs of the Faculté des Lettres, des Sciences Humaines, des Arts et des Sciences de l'Education at the Université du Luxembourg. He can also be “booked” for workshops on methods of ethnographic and interview research, of hermeneutic data analysis (text, picture, video), and on the application of the ‘grounded theory’ approach. In the past, Peter has taught courses in the sociologies of knowledge, law, technology, life science and of the political, as well as courses in criminal sociology and sociology of policing.

BSc and MSc topic areas (along specific case examples):

1. The Stuttgart 21 arbitration meetings—a new format for participation and deliberation?

a) Daniela Müller: ‘Arguments, Strategies, Roles: The Legitimization of Stuttgart 21’ (2011, MSc PA)

2. The governance of discontinuation of technological systems

a) Vincent Visser: ‘Governing the discontinuation pathway of the incandescent light bulb: a study of the Dutch case’ (in prep., MSc PA/GKI)

3. Tentative governance of complex problems

4. Governance by software apps

5. Institutional innovations in the governance of science

6. What comes after ELSA life-sciences research?

7. The theory-practice shock of novice public administrators

8. How public administrators interpret laws/interpret problems with legal norms

9. Policy termination—art or failure?

10. Doing society and genomics—the emergence of convergence work

11. Mafia and governance/The governance of the mafie

12. Practices of policing/Institutions of policing

13. The knowledges of governance

14. Intermediary organisations and practices

15. Governing islands, governing at distance

16. The daily re-invention of legal norms

17. Governing nanotechnology and society

18. Surveillance and governance

19. Governance in action

a) Franziska Raspe: The official positions of the AKP and CHP on Turkey’s EU accession process—a comparative study (2011, BSc ES)

Core methodologies:

a. Ethnography

b. Discourse analysis

c. Qualitative interviewing

d. Document analysis

e. Hermeneutics (of texts, pictures, video, websites)

f. Grounded theory/typological analysis

g. Qualitative network analysis

Publications

(A Selection)

Fragmentierung und Koordination - Governance der Wissenschafts- und Innovationspolitik in Deutschland [Fragmentation and Coordination—The Governance of Science and Innovation in Germany]. In: Seckelmann, Margrit/Lange, Stefan/Horstmann, Thomas (eds.) 2010: Die Gemeinschaftsaufgaben von Bund und Ländern in der Wissenschafts- und Bildungspolitik Analysen und Erfahrungen. Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 169-194 (with Jakob Edler & Stefan Kuhlmann) [LINK]

Recht und Normativität aus soziologischer Perspektive [Law and Normativity in Sociological Perspective], in: Krüper, Julian (ed.) 2010: Grundlagen des Rechts [Foundation of Law]. Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 65-87 [LINK]

The rock 'n' roll of knowledge co-production. In: EMBO reports 10, 2, pp. 114–119 (2009) [LINK]; see also: Science & Society Series on Convergence Research. In: EMBO reports, Science & Society section (ed. with Holger Breithaupt) [Link]

Wissen, was Recht ist – Richterlichen Rechtspraxis aus wissenssoziologisch-ethnografischer Sicht [Knowing the Law—Ethnographic Investigations into the Legal Practice of Judges], Wiesbaden: VS (2009) [LINK] Review 1 [LINK] Review 2 [LINK]

Phänomenologie und Soziologie – Theoretische Positionen, aktuelle Problemfelder und empirische Umsetzungen [Phenomenology and Sociology—Theoretical Positions, Current Problems, and Empirical Realizations], Wiesbaden: VS (ed. with Jochen Dreher, Michaela Pfadenhauer, Jürgen Raab, Bernt Schnettler) (2008) [LINK]

Die ganze Vernetzung der inneren Sicherheit: Wissenskrise und Effektivitätsmythos. In: Möllers, Martin HW & van Ooyen, Robert Chr (eds.): Jahrbuch Öffentliche Sicherheit 2008/2009 [Yearbook Public Security]. Frankfurt/M.: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, pp. 417-428 (with Thomas Feltes) (2008) [LINK]

›Normativität und Wissen‹ [Normativity and Knowledge]. In: Schützeichel, Rainer (ed.): Handbuch Wissenssoziologie und Wissensforschung [Handbook Sociology of Knowledge and Knowledge Research], Konstanz: UVK, pp. 685–698 (2007) [LINK]

Die Unüberwindbarkeit kultureller Differenz [On the Insuperableness of Cultural Differences], Bielefeld: transcript (ed. with Jochen Dreher) (2007) [LINK]

›Vernetzung‹ als neue Effektivitätsmythos der ›inneren Sicherheit‹ [Networking as New Mythos of Effectiveness in the Field of Public Security]. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (Beilage zur Wochenzeitung ›Das Parlament‹), Issue 12/2007 »Innere Sicherheit im Wandel« [Changes of Public Security] (with Thomas Feltes) [LINK]

Die Bedeutung des Handelns – Zum Verhältnis von Wissenssoziologie und neuropsychologischer Hirnforschung [The Meaning of Acting—On the Relation of the Sociology of Knowledge and Brain Research], in: Reichertz, Jo & Zaboura, Nadia (eds.), Akteur Gehirn – oder das vermeintliche Ende des handelnden Subjekts. Ein Kontroverse [The Acting Brain—Or the Alleged End of The Subject], Wiesbaden: VS, pp. 101–119 (2006) [LINK]

Abduktion in der justiziellen Entscheidungspraxis [Abduction in Everyday Judicial Decision-Making]. In: Rechtstheorie 1/2006, pp. 85–108 (with Ralf Kölbel & Thorsten Berndt) [LINK]

Networks

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie/German Sociological Association (GSA)

Section ›Sociology of Knowledge‹ within the GSA

Section ›Methods of Qualitative Social Research‹ within the GSA

Section ›Sociology of Law‹ within the GSA

Section ›Sociology of Professions‹ within the GSA

Section ›Political Sociology‹ within the GSA

Working Group ›Phenomenology‹ within the GSA-section ›Sociology of Knowledge‹

Working Group ›Policing‹ within the GSA-section ›Sociology of Knowledge‹

Working Group ›Sociology of Music‹ within the GSA-section ›Sociology of Culture‹

Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Soziologie/Swiss Sociological Association (SGS)

Österreichische Gesellschaft für Soziologie/Austrian Sociological Association (ÖGS)

European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)

Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)

Gesellschaft für interdisziplinäre wissenschaftliche Kriminologie (GiwK)/Society for Interdisciplinary Scientific Criminology

Gesellschaft für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung (GWTF, Society for Research on Science and Technology)

Other activities

In his spare time, Peter plays baritone, alto and tenor saxophone in a somewhat crazy jazz duo with a double-bass-playing cardiologist, in a rather civilized jazz duo with a (Catholic) theologist-pianist, as well as in a duo with a funky maths teacher playing guitar. The big band, based in Dortmund/Germany won the second prize at the Dutch Big Band Contest 2011, category ‘semi-professionals’. (The duos and the big band can also be booked, of course.)