Theory und History of Modernity

Masters programme

***Update: No students will be admitted to this Masters programme.***

The interdisciplinary study program "Theory and History of Modernity" deals with the phenomena of modernity from a critical social and cultural science perspective. The Master focuses on | Society, Power, Politics | Economy, Work, Money | Culture, Aesthetics, Knowledge |. It is characterised by its uniquely close links with an independent research institute and an intensive mentoring of the students, through which it provides special preparation for areas of work and study in the fields of science and research. The core modules offer advanced insights into the theory, history and aesthetics of modernity. The academic work, which is as research-based as it is source-based, covers subject areas such as capitalist dynamics, forms of coercion and protest, and the historical and media-based perception of modernity.

The Masters in the »Theory and History of Modernity« is offered in close cooperation with the highly regarded Hamburg Institute for Social Research (HIS). As an interdisciplinary research institute, the primary dialogue of the HIS is on topics in the field of social and cultural studies

Topics

The Masters programme focuses on the training of social and cultural researchers, who gain theoretical, methodological and empirical expertise. The cooperation between the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and the Hamburg Institute for Social Research as a key place of empirical research and theoretical reflection allows you to develop your own projects from the start of your degree in close contact with the current research. Supported by mentors from the two lead organisations, you make a quick start in developing a specialisation profile for your studies: you focus on either the developments, functional methods and effects of capitalist modernity (specialisation on Business, Work, Money), on the meaning, operation and transformation of the orders of perception and interpretation that are associated with modernity (specialisation on Culture, Aesthetics, Knowledge), or on the fluidity of the establishing, challenge and change of systems of order through protest and resistance, for example (specialisation on Society, Power, Politics). It goes without saying that the specialisation, which is chosen in agreement with the mentors, should by no means ignore the other elements of the theory and history of modernity.

Learning the craft of social and cultural research is at the heart of the Masters degree in the »Theory and History of Modernity«. It is important to convey a close interfacing between empirical work, methodological preparation and post-processing, and an analytically sensitive and argumentatively robust theory-based development and criticism. The acquisition, management and evaluation of research materials and sources is therefore at the heart of this programme.

Please note!

The language of this degree programme is German. For further information, please visit the German website of this degree programme.