In my research I am interested in the interplay between science, scientific knowledge, and technology on the one hand and society on the other. Overall, the premise I am starting from is that the production of scientific knowledge is a social and relational activity and not something done by isolated, fully rational acting individuals. Rather, scientists -- no matter if they work on natural, economical, or social topics -- are socially and culturally embedded. And the social context they act in shapes the outcomes of scientific processes.
In contemporary societies, that are often characterized as knowledge societies, the between science and and the social is a broad and manifold field. Thus, until the last few years, I am focusing on one scientific discipline: economics and on the knowldege ecnomics prooduces and spreads into the social word. I am using terms and concepts of the social studies of sciene to analyze the institutions, practices, and cultures of economics. In other words: I try to do something like social studies of economics.
At the moment, I am conducting empirical research in three fields of economics: (1) First, I inquire the practices and epistemic foundations of economic forecasts and the role the economic future plays in society. This field includes the transnational production of economic forecasts by economists in national institutes, in forecasting associations, and in international organizations. (2) Second, I analyze national debt managers in Germany and their use of digital and visual technologies I call "scopic media" to execute and co-ordinate thes state's debt embedded in a global financial market. (3) And third, I am interested in the epistemic strategies and the resulting visual practices in the quite recent field of neuro-economics.
The fields mentioned are very diverse. The first one is located at academic institutes (frequently) outside of universities. The second one is a very applied field of economics, that is close connected with the states' institutions. And the third one is a young scientific field in-the-making that brings together several scientific disciplines such as economics, medicine, and computer sciences.
Major Research Interests