Hans Joas
curriculum vitae
November 27, 1948, MunichNationality: GermanDirector, Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany, and Full Professor of sociology and social thought, University of Chicago, Member of the Committee on Social Thought.Married to Heidrun Joas-Bohme, one child (born 1976)
1968—1971 studying sociology, philosophy, history, German literature at the University of Munich
1971—1972 studying the same disciplines at the Free University of Berlin
1972 «Diploma» in sociology
1973—1977 «Wissenschaftlicher Assistent» (Research and teaching fellow), Department of Sociology, Free University of Berlin
1979 «Dr. phil.»
1979—1983 Research fellow, Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin(1980/81 Visiting Professor, University of Tubingen)
1981 «Habilitation»
1984—1987 Heisenberg fellow of the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
1985 (Spring Quarter) Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago
1986 (Summer Quarter) Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto
1987—1990 Professor of Sociology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
April 1990- March 2002 Professor of Sociology, Free University of Berlin
April 1993-April 1995 Executive Director, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies
Spring 1992 Fellow at SCASSS (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences) and Visiting Professor, University of Uppsala
Fall 1994 Fellow, Indiana University Institute for Advanced Study, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A.
1996 (Fall semester) Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin at Madison
1997 (Spring semester), Theodor Heuss Professor, Department of Sociology, New School for Social Research, New York
1998 (Spring semester), Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina(Fall semester), Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin at Madison
1998 — Regular Member, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences
1999—2000 Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
2000 — Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Member of the Committee on Social Thought
2002 — Director, Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany
2002 (Fall semester), Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Vienna (Austria)
2004—2005 Ernst Cassirer Professor, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
2005—2006 Fellow Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
2007 (Spring semester), Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology and Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Vienna (Austria
Selective bibliography
(for a complete publication list see: http://www.uni-erfurt.de/maxwe/)
1. Books
1.1 Die gegenwärtige Lage der soziologischen Rollentheorie. Frankfurt 19731, 19752, 19783, (Athenäum)
(= The present situation of sociological role theory)
1.2 Praktische Intersubjektivität. Die Entwicklung des Werkes von George Herbert Mead. Frankfurt 1980 (Suhrkamp), 19892, 20003
1.2.1 (English translation of 1.2 published as:) G.H. Mead. A Contemporary Re-examination of his Thought. Cambridge 1985 (Polity Press, England, and MIT-Press, U.S.A.);
new edition 1997
1.2.2. (French translation in preparation)
1.3 Soziales Handeln und menschliche Natur. Anthropologische Grundlagen der Sozialwissenschaften. (mit Axel Honneth) Frankfurt 1980 (Campus)
1.3.1 (English translation of 1.3, published as:) Social action and human nature. Cambridge 1988 (Cambridge University Press) (With a preface by Charles Taylor)
1.4 Wissenschaft und Karriere (mit Michael Bochow). Frankfurt 1987 (Campus)
(= Science and career. An empirical study)
1.5 Pragmatismus und Gesellschaftstheorie. Frankfurt 1992 (Suhrkamp), 19992
1.5.1 (English translation of 1.5, published as:) Pragmatism and Social Theory. Chicago 1993 (University of Chicago Press)
1.5.2 (Spanish translation of 1.5, publisher: Siglo Veintiuno / CIS, Madrid 1998)
1.6 Die Kreativität des Handelns. Frankfurt 1992 (Suhrkamp), 19962
1.6.1 (English translation of 1.6, published as:) The Creativity of Action; Polity Press/University of Chicago Press 1996
1.6.2 (French translation of 1.6; Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris 1999) (With a preface by Alain Touraine)
1.6.3 (Korean translation of 1.6; Hanul Press, Seoul 2001)
1.6.4 Russian translation of 1.6; Aletheia, St. Petersburg 2005
1.7 Die Entstehung der Werte. Frankfurt 1997 (Suhrkamp), 19992
1.7.1 (English translation of 1.7, published as:) The Genesis of Values; Polity Press 2000/University of Chicago Press 2001.
1.7.2. Polish, Serbian and Croatian translation forthcoming
1.8 Kriege und Werte. Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Weilerswist 2000 (Velbrück)
1.8.1 (English translation of 1.8, published as:) War and Modernity; Polity Press 2002.
1.8.2 (Spanish translation of 1.9., published as:) Guerra y modernidad, Ediciones Paidos: Barcelona 2005.
1.9 Creatividad, acción y valores. Hacia una teoría sociológica de la contingencia. Mexico-City 2001. (Collection of articles in Spanish translation).
1.10. Sozialtheorie. Zwanzig einführende Vorlesungen (mit Wolfgang Knöbl). Frankfurt 2004 (Suhrkamp).
1.10.1. (English translation of 1.10. forthcoming as:) Social Theory (Cambridge University Press) 2008.
1.11. Braucht der Mensch Religion? Über Erfahrungen der Selbsttranszendenz. Freiburg 2004 (Herder).
1.11.1. (English translation of 1.11.) Do We Need Religion? On the Experience of Self-Transcendence (Yale Cultural Sociology Series) Boulder, Co. 2008.
2. Editorships
JOURNALS
2.1 Co-editor Leviathan. Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft 26 (1998) ff.
2.2 Member of the Editorial Board Archives européennes de sociologie (2001) ff.
2.3 Member of the Editorial Board Acta Sociologica (2002) ff.
2.4 Member of the Editorial Board American Journal of Sociology
BOOKS
2.10 George Herbert Mead. Gesammelte Aufsätze. 2 vols., Frankfurt, Suhrkamp. (Vol. 1: 1980, vol. 2: 1983); paperback edition 1987.
2.11 Das Problem der Intersubjektivität. Neuere Beiträge zum Werk G.H. Meads. Frankfurt 1985.
2.12 Émile Durkheim, Schriften zur Soziologie der Erkenntnis ("Pragmatismus und Soziologie"; "Über einige primitive Formen von Klassifikation"). Frankfurt (Suhrkamp) 1987.
2.13 Axel Honneth/Hans Joas (eds.) Communicative Action. Cambridge 1988 (Polity Press/MIT-Press) (a collection of essays on Jürgen Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action).
2.14 Hans Joas/Helmut Steiner (eds.), Machtpolitischer Realismus und pazifistische Utopie. Krieg und Frieden in der Geschichte der Sozialwissenschaften. Frankfurt (Suhrkamp) 1989 (a volume on the sociology of war and peace).
2.15 Hans Joas/Martin Kohli (Hg.), Der Zusammenbruch der DDR. Soziologische Analysen. Frankfurt (Suhrkamp) 1993 (a volume on the collapse of the GDR).
2.16 Hans Joas/Wolfgang Knöbl (eds.), Gewalt in den USA. Frankfurt (S. Fischer) 1994 (a volume on violence in the U.S.).
2.17 Hans Joas (ed.), Philosophie der Demokratie. Beiträge zum Werk von John Dewey. Frankfurt 2000 (Suhrkamp).
2.18 Hans Joas (ed.), Lehrbuch der Soziologie. Frankfurt (Campus) 2001, 2. Auflage 2003.
2.19 Hans Joas (ed.) Was sind religiöse Überzeugungen? Göttingen (Wallstein) 2003.
2.20 Joachim Fischer/Hans Joas (eds.), Kunst, Macht und Institution. Studien zur Philosophischen Anthropologie, soziologischen Theorie und Kultursoziologie der Moderne. Frankfurt (Campus) 2003.
2.21 Charles Chamic/Hans Joas (eds.), The Dialogical Turn: New Roles for Sociology in the Postdisciplinary Age. Lanham, MD (Rowman and Littlefield) 2004.
2.22 Hans Joas/Hans G. Kippenberg (eds.), Interdisziplinarität als Lernprozeß. Erfahrungen mit einem handlungstheoretischen Forschungsprogramm. Göttingen (Wallstein) 2005.
2.23 Hans Joas/Klaus Wiegandt (eds.), Die kulturellen Werte Europas. Frankfurt am Main (Fischer) 2005.
English Translation: The Cultural Values of Europe. Liverpool (Liverpool University Press) 2008.
2.24 Die Zehn Gebote. Ein widersprüchliches Erbe? Köln (Böhlau) 2006.
2.25 Hans Joas/Klaus Wiegandt (eds.), Säkularisierung und die Weltreligionen. Frankfurt am Main (Fischer) 2005.
English Translation forthcoming (Liverpool University Press).
2.26 Michael Gabel/Hans Joas (eds.), Von der Ursprünglichkeit der Gabe. Jean-Luc Marions Phänomenologie in der Diskussion. Freiburg/München (Karl Alber) 2007.
2.27 Friedrich Jaeger/Hans Joas (eds.), Europa im Spiegel der Kulturwissenschaften. Baden-Baden 2008.
2.28 Die Anthropologie von Macht und Glauben. Das Werk Wolfgang Reinhards in der Diskussion. Göttingen 2008.
3. Articles in English
3.1 G.H. Mead and the "Division of Labor": Macrosociological Implications of Mead's Social Psychology, in: Symbolic Interaction 4 (1981), pp. 177-190 (reprinted in several collections)
3.2 The Intersubjective Constitution of the Body-Image, in: Human Studies 6 (1983), pp. 197-204
3.3 Giddens' Theory of Structuration, in: International Sociology 2 (1987),
pp. 13-26
3.4 Symbolic Interactionism, in: A Giddens/J. Turner (eds.), Social Theory Today. Cambridge/Stanford 1987, pp. 82-115
3.5 Role Theories and Socialization Research, in: H.J. Helle/S. Eisenstadt (eds.), Perspectives on Microsociology, London 1985, pp. 37-53
3.6 The Antinomies of Neofunctionalism: A Critical Essay on Jeffrey Alexander, in: Inquiry 31 (1988), pp. 471-494
3.7 Institutionalization as a Creative Process. On the Sociological Importance of Cornelius Castoriadis' Political Philosophy, in: American Journal of Sociology 84 (1988/89), pp. 1184-1199
3.8 Functionalism, in: Jon Clark et al. (eds.), Anthony Giddens: Consensus and Controversy. Basingstoke 1990
3.9 The Creativity of Action and the Intersubjectivity of Reason, in: Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society 26 (1990)
3.10 The Democratization of Differentiation, in: Jeffrey Alexander/Pjotr Sztompka (eds.), After Progress. London 1990
3.11 The Federal Republic of Germany: University and Career Opportunities for Young Scientists, in: Higher Education Policy 3 (1990), pp. 41-45
3.12 The Classics of Sociology and the First World War, in: Thesis Eleven 27, 1990, pp. 101-124
3.13 Between Power Politics and Pacifist Utopia: Peace and War in Sociological Theory, in: Current Sociology 39, 1991, pp. 47-66
3.14 Underestimated Alternative. America and the Limits of Critical Theory, in: Symbolic Interaction 15, 1992, pp. 261-275
3.15 Émile Durkheim's Intellectual Development: The Problem of the Emergence of New Morality and New Institutions as a Leitmotif in Durkheim's Oeuvre, in: Stephen Turner (ed.), Émile Durkheim: Sociologist and Moralist. London 1993, S. 229-245
3.16 The Ambiguity of Creativity in the Culture of "Postmodernity", in: Ragnvald Kalleberg (ed.), Sociology, Cultural Analysis and Hermeneutics. Oslo 1993, pp. 45-58
3.17 Communitarianism, Pragmatism, Historicism, in: Peter Koslowski (ed.), The Theory of Ethical Economy in the Historical School. Berlin 1995, pp. 267-282.
3.18 Communitarianism in Germany, in: The Responsive Community 5 (1995), pp. 24-29.
3.19 The Creativity of Action: Pragmatism and the Critique of the Rational Action Model, in: Ingrid Carlgren/Gunnar Handal/Sveinung Vaage (eds.), Teachers' Minds and Actions. Research on Teachers' Thinking and Practice. London 1994, pp. 62-73.
3.20 Communitarianism. A German Perspective. Indiana University, Institute for Advanced Study; Distinguished Lecturer Series, No. 6, Bloomington, Indiana 1995)
3.21 Economic Action, Social Action, and the Genesis of Values. An Essay on Amitai Etzioni's Contributions to Social Theory, in: David Sciulli (ed.), Macro Socio-Economics. From Theory to Activism. London/Armonk, N.Y. 1996, pp. 35-50.
3.22 G.H. Mead and the Renaissance of American Pragmatism in Social Theory, in: Charles Camic (ed.) Reclaiming the Sociological Classics. The State of the Scholarship. Oxford 1997, pp. 262-281.
3.23 Bauman in Germany: Modern Violence and the Problems of German Self-Understanding, in: Theory, Culture, and Society 15 (1998), pp. 47-55.
3.24 The Autonomy of the Self. The Meadian Tradition and Its Postmodern Challenge, in: European Journal of Social Theory 1 (1998), no.1, pp. 7-18.
3.25 Postdisciplinary Histories of Discipline, in: European Journal of Social Theory 2 (1999), no.1, pp. 109-122.
3.26 The Inspiration of Pragmatism. Some Personal Remarks, in: Morris Dickstein (ed.), The Revival of Pragmatism. Durham, N.C. 1998, pp. 190-198.
3.27 Decline of Community? Comparative Observations on Germany and the United States, in: Josef Janning(ed.), Civic Engagement in the Atlantic Community, Gütersloh 1999, pp. 55-66.
3.28 Macroscopic Action – On Amitai Etzioni's Contribution to Social Theory, in: The Responsive Community 9 (1998/99), pp. 23-31 (revised version in: Wilson Carey McWilliams (ed.), The Active Society Revisited. Lanham, Md. 2006, pp. 13-22).
3.29 Social Theorizing about War and Peace, in: Lester Kurtz (ed.), Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict. San Diego 1999. Vol. 3, pp. 329-336.
3.30 Combining Value Pluralism and Moral Universalism. Isaiah Berlin and Beyond, in: The Responsive Community 9 (1999), pp. 17-29.
3.31 The Genesis of Values, in: Winfried Fluck (ed.), Pragmatism and Literary Studies. Tübingen 1999, REAL Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature 15, S. 207-226.
3.32 The Modernity of War: Modernization Theory and the Problem of Violence, in: International Sociology 14 (1999), pp. 457-472.
3.33 For Fear of New Horrors. A Reply to Edward Tiryakian and Jan Roxborough, in: International Sociology 14 (1999), pp. 214-217.
3.34 Procedure and Conviction. On Moral Dialogues, in Edward Lehman (ed.), Autonomy and Order. New York 2000, pp. 37-56.
3.35 The Emergence of the New: Mead's Theory and Its Contemporary Potential, in: George Ritzer/Barry Smart (eds.), Handbook of Social Theory. London 2000, pp. 89-99.
3.36 Social Theory and the Sacred. A Response to John Milbank, in: Ethical Perspectives 7 (2000), pp. 233-243.
3.37 The Gift of Life. Parsons' Late Sociology of Religion, in: Journal of Classical Sociology 1 (2001), pp. 127-141.
3.38 George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), in: International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 14 / Paul Baltes and Neil Smelser (eds.), Oxford: Elsevier, 2001, pp. 9424-9428.
3.39 Pragmatist Social Thought, History of, in: International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 17 / Paul Baltes and Neil Smelser (eds.), Oxford: Elsevier, 2001, pp. 11958-11961.
3.40 Values versus Norms: A Pragmatic Account of Moral Objectivity, in: The Hedgehog Review 3 (2001), pp. 42-56.
3.41 Hans Joas / Jens Beckert. Action Theory. In: Jonathan H. Turner (ed.), Handbook of Sociological Theory. New York: Kluwer Academic, 2001, pp. 269-285.
3.42 On Articulation, in: Constellations 9 (2002), pp. 506-515.
3.43 Review James L. Heft (ed.), A Catholic Modernity? Charles Taylor's Marianist Award Lecture, in: European Journal of Social Theory 5 (2002), pp. 291-294.
3.44 Philosophical Justification and its Limits – Comment on Alexandro Ferrara, Two Notions of Humanity and the Grounding of Human Rights, in: Eckart Klein/ Christoph Menke (eds.), Menschheit und Menschenrechte. Probleme der Universalisierung und Institutionalisierung. Berlin 2002, pp. 213-217.
3.45 Hans Joas/Jens Beckert, A Theory of Action: Pragmatism and the Creativity of Action, in: Transactional Viewpoints 1 (2002) Nr. 4, pp. 1-4.
3.46 Foreword, in: John Ryder/Krystyna Wilkoszewska (eds.), Deconstruction and Reconstruction. Amsterdam/New York 2004, pp. XI/XII.
3.47 The Changing Role of the Social Sciences. An Action-Theoretical Perspective, in: International Sociology September 2004, Vol 19(3): SAGE, pp. 301-313.
3.48 Cultural Trauma? On the Most Recent Turn in Jeffrey Alexander’s Cultural Sociology, in: European Journal of Social Theory 8 (2005), pp. 365-374.
3.49 Rezension Larry T. Reynolds/Nancy Herman-Kinney (eds.), Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism. Walnut Creek, CA, 2003, in: Symbolic Interaction 28 (2005), pp. 597-599.
3.50 Max Weber and the Origin of Human Rights: A Study of Cultural Innovation, in: Charles Camic/ Philip S. Gorski/David M. Trubek (eds.), Max Weber’s Economy and Society. A Critical Companion. Stanford, Ca. 2005, S. 366-382.
3.51 Creativity and Society, in: John R. Shook/Joseph Margolis (eds.), A Companion to Pragmatism. Oxford 2006, pp. 323-335 (with Erkki Kilpinen).
3.52 Transformations of German Civil Society: Milieu Change and Community Spirit, in: John Keane (ed.), Civil Society. Berlin Perspectives. New York/Oxford 2006, pp. 103-138 (with Frank Adloff).
3.53 Religion in the age of contingency, in: W.B.H.J. van de Donk et al (eds.), Geloven in het publieke domein. Amsterdam 2006, S. 55-63.
3.54 Europe: Its Cultural Values. In: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Årsbok MMVI, (2006), S. 207-221.
3.55 Introduction to the Special Issue on Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Religion, in: Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 82 (2006), pp. 1-3.
3.56 Introduction to the English Translation of Emil Lederer, on the Sociology of World War, in: Archives européennes de sociologie 47 (2006), p. 241-242.
3.57 Does Modernization Lead to Secularization?, in: Gerhard Kruip/Helmut Reifeld (eds.), Church and Civil Society. The Role of Christian Churches in the Emerging Countries of Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa. (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung) St. Augustin/Berlin 2007.
3.58 Punishment and Respect. The Sacralization of the Person and Its Endangerment, in: Journal of Classical Sociology 8 (2008), pp. 159-177.
For articles in German, French, and other languages and for contributions to newspapers etc. see my publication list in German.