Author: Dr. Stephan Pflaum

Teaser Artificial intelligence alignment often fixates on technical controls and oversight mechanisms, but James Coleman’s rational choice sociology suggests a different path: stable AI ecosystems emerge when micro-level incentives align with macro-level patterns through social capital—specifically, through reputation systems and… read more / weiterlesen Coleman’s Social Capital: Why AI Alignment Needs Reputation, Not Just Rules

Teaser When we say AI “hallucinates,” “learns,” or “understands,” are we describing technical reality or projecting human qualities onto mathematical systems? This analysis maps the top phrases, metaphors, and narratives dominating AI discourse—revealing where language helps us grasp new technology… read more / weiterlesen AI Bullshit Bingo: The Top 100 Phrases and Narratives Shaping How We Talk About AI

Opening Hook You’re staring at a blank document at 2 AM, thesis deadline looming. You open Claude, type a desperate prompt, and watch as paragraphs materialize. Relief floods through you—but then doubt creeps in. Did you write this? Are you… read more / weiterlesen Master and Servant: The Sociology of Human-AI Collaboration

Opening Hook You’re watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Captain Picard has been assimilated by the Borg. “We are the Borg,” the collective intones. “Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.” The camera shows thousands of identical drones working… read more / weiterlesen Durkheim and the Borg: When Perfect Solidarity Becomes Dystopia

Opening Hook You’re sitting in a seminar room, and the professor asks everyone to share their weekend plans. As each student speaks, you notice a pattern: gym, brunch with friends, Netflix, maybe some studying. When your turn comes, you hesitate…. read more / weiterlesen The Power to Define Normal: Who Decides What’s Abnormal?

Teaser Who decides where the line between sanity and madness falls? From medieval fool’s freedom to modern psychiatric wards, the boundary between “normal” and “abnormal” has shifted dramatically—yet the mechanisms of exclusion persist. Michel Foucault revealed how institutions don’t just… read more / weiterlesen The Friction Between Normal and Abnormal: From Foucault’s Asylum to Maté’s Toxic Culture

Teaser Want to learn real sociological research methods—not just read about them, but actually do them? The Grounded Theory Academy teaches you systematic qualitative analysis through the world’s most passionate cultural phenomenon: football fandom. Over 12 intensive lessons, you’ll move… read more / weiterlesen Grounded Theory Academy: Learn Sociology Through Football Fandom

Teaser Anthony Giddens transformed sociology by rejecting the structure-versus-agency divide: social systems don’t simply constrain individuals, nor do autonomous actors freely create society. Instead, people continuously reproduce and transform structures through routine practices—a process Giddens termed “structuration.” When generative AI… read more / weiterlesen AI and Reflexive Modernity: Giddens on Structural Duality in Datafied Life

Teaser Robert Putnam’s diagnosis of collapsing civic engagement in Bowling Alone (2000) documented how television and suburban sprawl dissolved the associational fabric that once sustained American democracy. A quarter-century later, generative AI systems promise unprecedented connectivity—yet threaten to deepen the… read more / weiterlesen Can AI Rebuild Social Capital? A Putnamian Framework for Digital Civic Life

When fictional neighbors sort their recycling and fall in love with the “wrong” people, they’re rehearsing tomorrow’s normal—a sociological analysis of progressive seriality Opening Hook December 8, 1985. Millions of German viewers watched as Benni Beimer carefully separated glass, paper,… read more / weiterlesen Soap Operas as Reflexive Mirrors: How Serial Drama Teaches Society to See Itself

The Cultural Contradiction of Utopian Imagination When fictional post-scarcity communism inspires, but real-world redistribution terrifies—a sociological analysis of selective utopianism Opening Hook The United Federation of Planets has no money. Captain Picard explains this matter-of-factly in Star Trek: First Contact:… read more / weiterlesen Why Do Americans Love Star Trek But Fear It’s Socialist Vision of Future

How three types of capital shape your life chances—and why Marx and Weber were both right Alt text: Abstract composition showing three overlapping zones in blue, orange, and light grey, representing economic, human, and social capital with small silhouettes at… read more / weiterlesen Skilled Out? Why Your Degree, Network, and Bank Account All Matter (And Fight Each Other)

Opening Hook You’re sitting in a café, scrolling through Instagram. A friend walks by—someone you actually like—but they don’t say hello. Later, you see them post about being at that same café. Why didn’t they acknowledge you? Were you invisible?… read more / weiterlesen Why Does Everyone Ignore You When You’re on Your Phone? An Introduction to Sociology

Teaser For decades, Western democracies celebrated their trajectory toward openness—expanded rights, recognition of difference, cosmopolitan solidarity. Yet today we witness a rollback: borders harden, authoritarian gestures return, and pluralism faces renewed hostility. Is this merely a Foucauldian pendulum—power’s predictable oscillation… read more / weiterlesen The Pendulum of Open Society: Between Foucault’s Oscillation and Poe’s Descent

Der KI Karriere Kompass – Ein Buch entsteht. Mach mit! Teaser Du stehst vor Studienwahl, Berufseinstieg oder Orientierungsfragen – und KI verändert gerade alles? Das neue Buchprojekt „Der KI Karriere Kompass” will Studierenden helfen, sich in dieser Transformation zurechtzufinden. Noch… read more / weiterlesen Mach mit! Beim nächsten KI-Kompass-Buchprojekt

“Ich war mal zwei Wochen in London…” – schön, aber das macht im Lebenslauf noch keinen Unterschied. Lass uns ehrlich sein: Nicht jede Auslandserfahrung ist gleich wertvoll für deine Karriere. Die Faustregel: Mindestens 1 Monat Alles darunter ist meist zu… read more / weiterlesen Auslandserfahrung im CV: Wann zählt sie wirklich?