Hans Joas (DEU)

is Professor of sociology and Director of the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt. He is Vice-President of International Sociological Association. After receiving his Ph.D. at the Free University of Berlin he was Research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education in Berlin, Heisenberg fellow of the DFG, Professor of sociology at the University of Erlangen and Co-director of the DFG Research Training Group “Problems of Democracy”. From 1993 to 1995 he was Director of the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies in Berlin. Joas won the René König Prize of the German Sociological Association for the best textbook in German Sociology 2002. From 2005 to 2006 he was Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. His publications include Braucht der Mensch Religion? (Freiburg 2004); Sozialtheorie. Zwanzig einführende Vorlesungen with Wolfgang Knöbl (Frankfurt 2004); Kriege und Werte. Studien zur Gewaltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts(Weilerswist 2000); Die Entstehung der Werte(Frankfurt 1997);Pragmatismus und Gesellschaftstheorie(Frankfurt 1992) and Die Kreativität des Handelns(Frankfurt 1992). He co-edited with Klaus Wiegandt, Säkularisierung und die Weltreligionen(Frankfurt 2007) and Die kulturellen Werte Europas(Frankfurt am Main 2005). With Hans Kippenberg he published, Interdisziplinarität als Lernprozess. Erfahrungen mit einem handlungstheoretischen Forschungsprogramm(Göttingen 2005).