The beginning of the 21st century is characterized by fundamental societal changes: in addition to changing demographics and the globalization of economic flows, the transformation of an industrial-Fordistic society to a non-industrial service society is significant. For more than twenty years, these large-scale trends and their inherent chances and risks have been the topic of vivid discussions in all the social sciences. Keywords are 'risk-society', 'post-industrial society', 'knowledge-society' and 'information-society'. The implications of these developments are also reflected in the challenge to the traditional, hegemonic and rational understanding of subjectivity. Against the background of these great social changes, several factors indicate that the forms of self-regulation or self-governance are also being transformed. A one-sided consideration of the homo economicus and its varieties would underestimate, for example, certain non-rational forms of self-perception and self-reflection, as well as non-rational practices of self-management and subjectivation. The aim of this anthology is to discuss the question, to what extent the relationship to oneself (its regulation with respect to its governance) and the relationship towards others in (post-)modern societies are being transformed. The perspective of Norbert Elias' process sociology as well as Michel Foucault's post-structural theory seem especially promising, as they appear to have been the first researchers consistently and convincingly analysing the 'nature' of the individual by reflecting upon its long-term historical process of transformation. Both have different visions but similar concerns: they deal with structures of control that exist within society and within the individual.
About the Author: Andrea D. Buhrmann is professor of sociology at the University of Muenster. Her areas of interests include the (trans-)formation of subjectivation, the proliferation and diversification of entrepreneurship, theories of gender and diversity as well as empirical social research e.g. on social practise(s). Her publications include: Buhrmann, Andrea D. et al. (2008): Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences, Koln; Buhrmann, Andrea D. (2005): The Emerging of the Enterprising Self and it's Contemporary Hegemonic Status: Some Fundamental Observations for an Analysis of the (Trans-)Formational Process of Modern Forms of Subjectivation, Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line Journal], 6 (1), Art. 16, 2005 Stefanie Ernst is professor of sociology at the University of Hamburg. Her research interests are varied including: the sociology of work, organisation and gender; processes of transformation and the wider discipline of sociology more generally; social research methods, esp. process oriented methods. She is currently working on a book on Thinking in Figurations: a knowledge sociological study about the next generation of Norbert Elias scholars. Her publications include: Stefanie Ernst 2010: Journal Foucault Studies: Special Section on Michel Foucault and Norbert Elias 8/ 2010 (Guest Edition with Samuel Binkley). Stefanie Ernst 2009: Using Qualitative Content Analysis of Popular Literature for Uncovering Long-Term Social Processes. The Case of Gender Relations in Germany, Journal of Historical Social Research. Data for Historical Sociology and for Analyzing Long-Term Social Processes, 252-269, Stefanie Ernst 2003: From Blame Gossip to Praise Gossip? Gender, Leadership and Organizational Change, The European Journal of Women's Studies (SAGE Publications), Vol. 10, 3, 277-299.