Team Michaela Pfadenhauer

Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Pol. Univ. Dr. Michaela Pfadenhauer

T: +43-1-4277-49260

michaela.pfadenhauer@univie.ac.at

https:\\www.soz.univie.ac.at\michaela-pfadenhauer

News: LILI - Life-worlds meet Life Science in Public Health and Social Measures – Seed Funding

Science has taken on a prominent role in tackling the challenges posed by the covid-19 pandemic. Analogous to other global challenges, e.g. climate change, the measures have been facing skepticism by considerable fractions of society which has produced a high potential for societal conflict. Assuming that the protests are rooted in science skepticism and distrust towards the public communication of science, the project focuses on the lifeworlds of people rejecting the covid-19 vaccination to explain patterns of interpretation of scientific knowledge and public health and social measures (PHSM).

The expert knowledge informing political strategies to combat challenges like the pandemic or climate change requires multiple circles of interpretation and translation to reach the population. Taking mathematic modelling as case study, the project conceptualizes these translations as a multi-step process involving scientists, politics, the media, public health; and citizens interpreting their communication according to the structures of their lifeworld(s). The project, thus, aims to understand and reconstruct patterns of interpretation of science/institutions scepticism. Furthermore, the study aims to explore sceptics’ perspectives on scientific results and PHSM in solution-oriented focus groups regarding the transformation of scepticism to compliance.

The project is based on interpretative methods and funded by a start-up grant from the University of Vienna as well as the Vienna University of Economics and Business. In addition to the development of a full proposal, initial field work is carried out, results are elaborated and prepared for publication.

Project Team University of Vienna:
Michaela Pfadenhauer | Arthur Buckenleib

Partners:
Vienna University of Economics and Business | Institute of Mathematics, University of Vienna | LMU Munich

Consultation hours: by appointment via e-mail: kultur.wissen.soziologie@univie.ac.at

Michaela Pfadenhauer

Professor

Department of Sociology

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

2002	Ph.D. in Sociology, Technical University Dortmund, Germany
1994	Diplom (equivalent to a Master's degree) in Political Sciences, University of Bamberg, Germany

POSITIONS (since 1995)

since 2014	Professor of Sociology, University of Vienna
2007–2014	Professor of Sociology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
2003–2007	Post-doctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, TU Dortmund University
2002–2003	Research assistant, Sociology Department, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
1997–2002	Research fellow at the Department of Sociology, TU Dortmund University
1995–1997	Research fellow at the Institute for Sociology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

VISITING POSITIONS

2019	Visiting professor at the Keio University Tokyo, Japan
2019	Visiting professor at the University of South Florida, USA
2018	Visit at Exeter University, UK
2017	Teaching Mobility at the King’s College London, GB
2014	Visiting professor at the Boston University, USA
2011	Visiting lecturer at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland
2009–2013	Visiting professor at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

since autumn 2020	Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences for Research and Infrastructure
2020	Evaluator at the European Commission for the Marie Skadowska Curie Individual Fellowships
since SuSe 2020	Mentor in the postdoc program
since January 2020	Standing Commission of the Ombudsman for Good Scientific Practice

2018-2020	Head of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna
2016–2018	Deputy head of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna
since 2018	Member of the Research Priority Program “Mediatized Lifeworlds. Young people's narrative constructions, connections and appropriations” at the University of Vienna
since 2017	Chairwoman of the Sociology of Knowledge section of the German Sociological Association (DGS)

MAIN RESEARCH AREAS

sociology of knowledge, social constructivism, mediatisation, social robotics

Miko-Schefzig, K., Trimmel, M., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2025). Wer spricht im illegitimen Wissen? Über die Relevanz epistemischer Autoritäten in den Lebenswelten von Impfskeptiker:innen. Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, 50(1), Article 18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-025-00603-8

Knopp, P., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2025). De/Professionalisierung und Kompetenzkonflikte in Digitalisierungsprozessen: Der Fall des Polizeinotrufs. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie (ÖZS), 50(1), 1-23. Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-024-00587-x

Bogner, A., Kirchner, A., Miko-Schefzig, K., Partheymüller, J., Pfadenhauer, M., & Trimmel, M. (2025). Wie lässt sich konstruktiv mit verhärteten Wissenskonflikten umgehen? Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW). ITA Project Reports No. ITA-25-02 https://doi.org/10.1553/ITA-25-02

Pfadenhauer, M., Schwarz, C., & Bau, P. (2024). The Social Construction of Sustainable Reality by Cultural Engagement with Climate Change. Symbolic Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.1213

Pfadenhauer, M., Miko-Schefzig, K., Buckenleib, A. F. W., & Reiter, C. (2024). Vertraute Lebenswelten der Wissenschaftsskepsis. Die Kritik an der Corona-Impfpflicht als Präludium für den Widerstand gegen interventionistische Nachhaltigkeitspolitik. Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 34, 403-441. Article 34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11609-024-00534-3

Spitzmüller, J., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2024). Der 'digital-öffentliche Raum' als kommunikative Figuration und vergemeinschaftungsideologische Imagination. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik: Deutsche Sprache in Gegenwart und Geschichte (ZGL), 52(1), 14-33. https://doi.org/10.1515/zgl-2024-2002

Pfadenhauer, M., & Vollmer, T. (Accepted/In press). 50+ Stimmen á 8+1 Stimmlagen = 1 Perspektive? Perspektivierung der (viel-)stimmigen kommunikativen Konstruktion des gemeinsamen Chorklanges. In Tagungsband der 9. Feldarbeitstage „Perspektivendifferenz. Zur Ethnographie des kommunikativen Handelns“ Oldib Verlag.

Pfadenhauer, M. (Ed.), & Kusenbach, M. (Accepted/In press). ELGAR Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Miko-Schefzig, K., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2024). »Travels of ideas« als Basis zukünftiger gesellschaftlicher Bruchlinien: Das Beispiel Institutionenskepsis. In M. Kumlehn, J. Gärtner, & S. Wodianka (Eds.), Zukunftsnarrative: Zur Deutungsmacht kultureller Erzählmuster (Vol. 295, pp. 91-106). transcript.

Knoblauch, H., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2023). Construction versus Realism? The Unrealized Potential of Communicative Constructivism. Sociologica, 17(1), 119-136. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/16725

Pfadenhauer, M. (2023). Objectivation: The material heritage of Peter L. Berger. In J. B. Imber (Ed.), The Anthem Companion to Peter Berger (pp. 87-98). Anthem Press.

Hepp, A., Loosen, W., Dreyer, S., Jarke, J., Kannengießer, S., Katzenbach, C., Malaka, R., Pfadenhauer, M., Puschmann, C., & Schulz, W. (2023). ChatGPT, laMDA, and the hype around communicative AI: The automation of communication as a field of research in media and communication studies. Human-Machine Communication, 6, 41-63. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.4

Buckenleib, A. F. W., Pfadenhauer, M., Miko-Schefzig, K., & Reiter, C. (2023). Corpora non gratae. Zum komplizitären leiblichen Erleben des ungeimpften Körpers. In A. Poferl, N. Schröer, R. Hitzler, & S. Kreher (Eds.), Leib-Körper-Ethnographie: Erkundungen zum Leib-Sein und Körper-Haben (pp. 157-169). Oldib Verlag.

Pfadenhauer, M. (2023). Feeling at Home in Small Lifeworlds: Benita Luckmann in der »Konstanzer Schule«. In M. Endreß, & S. Moebius (Eds.), Zyklos 7: Jahrbuch für Theorie und Geschichte der Soziologie (pp. 261-273). Springer VS.

Pfadenhauer, M., & Mittlmeier, A. (2023). Sozialität von Robotern aus wissenssoziologischer Perspektive. In F. Muhle (Ed.), Soziale Robotik: Eine sozialwissenschaftliche Einführung (pp. 139-163). De Gruyter.

Pfadenhauer, M., Schlembach, C., & Helling, I. (2023). Toleranz als Interaktionsregel. Sozialwissenschaftliche Kreise im Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit. In Jahrbuch für Europäische Ethnologie (pp. 241-261). Brill Ferdinand Schöningh.

Antony, A., Steets, S., & Pfadenhauer, M. (2022). Politics of Crisis: Threatening and Defending Journalistic Expertise—A Processual Account. Symbolic Interaction, 45(4), 541-569. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.598

Pfadenhauer, M., Hepp, A., Loosen, W., Dreyer, S., Jarke, J., Kannengießer, S., Katzenbach, C., Malaka, R., Puschmann, C., & Schulz, W. (2022). Von der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion zur kommunikativen KI: Automatisierung von Kommunikation als Gegenstand der Kommunikations- und Medienforschung. Publizistik: Vierteljahreshefte für Kommunikationsforschung, 67, 449-474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-022-00758-4

Pfadenhauer, M., & Lehmann, T. (2022). Affects after AI: Sociological perspectives on artificial companionship. In A. Elliott (Ed.), The Routledge Social Science Handbook of AI (1 ed., pp. 91-106). Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

Pfadenhauer, M. (2021). Mediatisierte Welten und die Frage der Mittelbarkeit. Social Robotics auf der Folie der „Strukturen der Lebenswelt“. In J. Dreher (Ed.), Mathesis universalis - Die aktuelle Relevanz der "Strukturen der Lebenswelt" (pp. 371-383). Springer VS. https://doi.org/978-3-658-22328-1

Personal Sphere: Companionship and ComAI

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead) & Aistleitner, M. (Admin)

1/01/25 → 31/12/28

Project: Research funding

Corona, die Ökonomie der Menschenbilder und die Ordnung der Familie. Eine empirische Fallstudie zur Subjektivierung politischer Diskurse in Wien.

Krucsay, B. (Co-Lead) & Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead)

1/10/21 → 31/05/23

Project: Research funding

GGP: Generations and Gender Programme

Mazal, W. (Project Lead), Neuwirth, N. (Co-Lead), Hranek, I. (Co-Lead), Pfadenhauer, M. (Co-Lead) & Lutz, W. (Co-Lead)

1/04/21 → 31/12/23

Project: Research funding

Automatisierte Mobilität aus Sicht von Kindern und Jugendlichen: gestern – heute – morgen (AM 4 Kids)

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Schlembach, C. (Co-Lead) & Aistleitner, M. (Admin)

1/08/20 → 31/10/23

Project: Research funding

Gender-Integration-Gamification

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Flicker, E. (Co-Lead), Schlembach, C. (Co-Lead), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin), Schlembach, E. (Scientific Project Staff) & Finocchiaro, L. (Admin)

2/09/19 → 31/08/22

Project: Research funding

Automatic Mobility and Inclusion. Perspectives, Scenarios and Recommendations for Transport and RTI-Policy

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Schlembach, C. (Co-Lead), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin), Lehmann, T. (Scientific Project Staff) & Finocchiaro, L. (Admin)

1/09/19 → 31/08/20

Project: Contract research

SMARAGD: Smart Aggregation and Visualisation of Health Data

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Schlembach, C. (Scientific Project Staff), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin) & Finocchiaro, L. (Admin)

1/06/19 → 30/11/21

Project: Research funding

Boundaries in Transition

Schlechter, M. (Co-Lead), Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin) & Finocchiaro, L. (Admin)

1/10/17 → 30/09/20

Project: Research funding

Alfred Schütz and the Viennese Circles: Towards the communicative arrangement of incompatible knowledge

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Grenz, T. (Co-Lead), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin), Schlembach, C. (Scientific Project Staff) & Casata, R. (Scientific Project Staff)

1/04/17 → 31/08/19

Project: Research funding

Mediatisierte Welten

Pfadenhauer, M. (Project Lead), Kirsch, H. V. (Admin) & Grenz, T. (Project Coordinator)

15/09/14 → 30/06/17

Project: Research funding