Prof. Dr. Armin Beverungen

21335 Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, C5.237
Fon +49.4131.677-2020, armin.beverungen@leuphana.de
Professor, Professorship of the Sociology of Organisation and Economy
Associated member, Centre for Digital Cultures
Associated member, Leuphana Center for Organization & Social Transformation

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Vita

Armin Beverungen is professor for the sociology of organization and economy. Previously, he has held research and teaching positions at the University of the West of England, Leuphana University and the University of Siegen. From September 2022 to August 2023, he was on leave at Leuphana and a visiting professor at the Institute for Media Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum. He regularly teaches in the technologies section of the contextual studies program at the University of St. Gallen. He is an organization scholar and sociologist by training, and received his PhD for a history of critical management studies from the University of Leicester. His research interests have included the financialization of the university, corporate governance and business ethics, the politics of labour, and open access publishing. At Leuphana, he has been involved over most of the last nearly ten years in establishing the Centre for Digital Cultures. In this context, his research has increasingly engaged with media studies and science and technology studies.

Armin’s current research revolves around digital (media) technologies and organization; algorithmic management, automation and artificial intelligence; and smart, logistical cities. He is currently occupied with three projects in particular: as co-speaker of the key subject area „Climate Futures in Digital Cultures“ he is setting up a new strategic research area as part of the Centre for Digital Cultures. In a consortial research project funded by the VolkswagenFoundation on “Smartness as Wealth” Armin explores with Randi Heinrichs, Orit Halpern (TU Dresden), Marc Steinberg (Concordia University, Montreal), Liza Cirolia (African Center for Cities, Kapstadt) and Anindita Nag (Jindal Global, Delhi) the promises of wealth associated with smart technologies in cities. In a research project funded by the VolkswagenFoundation and the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Education (as part of zukunft.niedersachsen) entitled Automating the Logistical City: Space, Algorithms, Speculation (2021-2025) Armin explored with his collaborators how Amazon’s logistical urbanism speculates on urban, automated futures.

Armin is the director of the international BA program in „Cultural Studies: Organization, Society, and the Arts“, deputy director of the MA program in Cultural Studies: Culture and Organization, and a member of the study commission for the MA programs in the School of Culture and Society. He teaches regularly in the school’s programs and regularly supervises BA and MA theses. Armin is available for PhD supervision in his field of research.

Projects

  1. Smartness as Wealth
    Armin Beverungen (Project manager, academic) , (Project manager, academic) , (Project manager, academic) , (Project manager, academic) , (Project manager, academic)
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    Project: Research

  2. Automating the Logistical City: Space, Algorithm, Speculation
    Armin Beverungen (Project manager, academic) , Ilia Antenucci (Project staff) , Maja-Lee Voigt (Project staff) , Laura Hille (Project staff) , (Partner) , (Partner) , (Partner)
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    Project: Research

  3. Digital Cultures Research Lab (2017 - 2022)
    Götz Bachmann (Project manager, academic) , Andreas Bernard (Project manager, academic) , Erich Hörl (Project manager, academic) , Claus Pias (Project manager, academic) , Armin Beverungen (Project manager, academic) , Timon Beyes (Project manager, academic) , Martina Leeker (Project staff)
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    Project: Research

  4. Digital Cultures Research Lab (2013 - 2016)
    Götz Bachmann (Project manager, academic) , Claus Pias (Project manager, academic) , Timon Beyes (Project manager, academic) , Martina Leeker (Project manager, academic) , Armin Beverungen (Project staff) , Paula Bialski (Project manager, academic) , Irina Kaldrack (Project manager, academic) , Sascha Simons (Project manager, academic) , Florian Sprenger (Project manager, academic) , Nadine Sander (Partner) , Samantha Gupta (Coordination) , Paul Feigelfeld (Project manager, academic)
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    Project: Research

  5. Hybrid Publishing
    Martin Warnke (Project manager, academic) , Timon Beyes (Project manager, academic) , Armin Beverungen (Project staff) , Mercedes Bunz (Project manager, academic) , Christian Heise (Project staff) , Heinz-Günter Kuper (Project staff) , Jens-Martin Loebel (Project staff) , Simon Worthington (Project staff) , (Partner) , (Partner) , (Partner) , Nishant Nikunj Shah (Project staff) , Johannes Amorosa (Project staff) , Marcus Burkhardt (Project staff) , Michael Dieter (Project staff) , (Project staff) , Yuk Hui (Project staff) , Andreas Kirchner (Project staff) , Christina Kral (Project staff) , Minuette Le (Project staff) , Helge Peters (Project staff)
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    Project: Research

View all projects

Publications

Books and anthologies

  1. Media Organize: A Companion to Technological Objects
    Lisa Conrad (Editor) , Timon Beyes (Editor) , Armin Beverungen (Editor) , Claus Pias (Editor) , Simon Denny (Editor) , Bettina Steinbrügge (Editor) , 2021 Hamburg , 196 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Conference proceedings › Transfer

  2. Politics of Reproduction
    Ben Trott (Editor) , Armin Beverungen (Editor) , Clemens Apprich (Editor) , Inga Luchs (Editor) , Laura Hille (Editor) , Randi Michaela Heinrichs (Editor) , Sascha Simons (Editor) , 2020 Lüneburg

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Special Journal issue › Research

  3. Neue Rechte und Universität
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , Pablo Abend (Author) , Marcus Burkhardt (Author) , Timo Kaerlein (Author) , Tatjana Seitz (Author) , Nadine Taha (Author) , 2019 , 162 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Special Journal issue › Research

  4. Organization: The Critical Journal of Organization, Theory and Society
    Armin Beverungen (Editor) , Timon Beyes (Editor) , Lisa Conrad (Editor) , 2019 London , 127 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Special Journal issue › Research

  5. Markets
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , Philip Mirowski (Author) , Edward Nik-Khah (Author) , Jens Schröter (Author) , 2019 Minneapolis und Lüneburg , 116 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologies › Monographs › Research › peer-review

View all publications

Journal contributions

  1. Automated Delivery: Amazon's Urban Stack
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.10.2024 , in: Navigationen, 24, 2 , p. 47-62 , 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  2. Medienpraxislehre in der Medienwissenschaft. Empirie und Exploration
    Paul Heinicker (Author) , Armin Beverungen (Author) , Paul Hoffstiepel (Author) , Mace Ojala (Author) , Antonia Wulff (Author) , 01.09.2023 , in: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, 15, 29-2 , p. 149-158 , 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Education › peer-review

  3. The Invisualities of Capture in Amazon’s Logistical Operations
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.08.2022 , in: Digital Culture & Society, 7, 2 , p. 185-202 , 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  4. The wonderfully organized and mediated endurance of ephemera
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.12.2021 , in: Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 21, 4 , p. 289-306 , 18 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  5. Collective Chronopolitics: Beyound measure
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.08.2020 , in: Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 20, 3 , p. 235-244 , 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Critical reviews › Research

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Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

  1. Automatisiertes Verhalten?: Regierungskünste bei Amazon
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 13.01.2025 Berlin , p. 557-577 , 21 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

  2. Collectivizing Convenience?: From Delivery to Logisticality
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.12.2024 Amsterdam , p. 66-81 , 16 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Chapter › Research › peer-review

  3. Kybernetischer Kapitalismus?: Amazon, algorithmisches Management und Aneignung
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 24.03.2021 Berlin , p. 95-109 , 15 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research

  4. Remote Control: Algorithmic Management of Circulation at Amazon
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 01.01.2021 Lüneburg , 18 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review

  5. Executive Dashboard
    Armin Beverungen (Author) , 12.12.2019 Oxford , p. 225-237 , 13 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research

View all publications

Activities

  1. Researching around the Brown Box - Notes from a Critical Ethnography of Amazon’s Urbanism
    Armin Beverungen (presenter) , Maja-Lee Voigt (presenter)

    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  2. Justice at the End of the Supply Chain: Interrogating Amazon’s Logistical Urbanism from the Cloud to the Curb
    Armin Beverungen (Speaker) , Maja-Lee Voigt (Speaker) , Ulf Treger (Speaker)

    Activity: Guest lectures › Research

  3. Circulation Obsession – Following the Flows and Flaws of Big Tech’s Urban Logistical Infrastructures
    Maja-Lee Voigt (Coauthor) , Armin Beverungen (Coauthor) , Ilia Antenucci (Coauthor)

    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  4. Amazon's Urban Speculation
    Ilia Antenucci (Speaker) , Maja-Lee Voigt (Speaker) , Armin Beverungen (Speaker)

    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

  5. sub-theme convenor: Digital Capitalism: Grappling with Silicon Valley
    Timon Beyes (Speaker) , Armin Beverungen (Speaker) , Paula Bialski (Speaker)
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    Activity: Conference Presentations › Research

View all activities

Press / Media

  1. Arbeitgeber Amazon: "Viele Verstimmungen"
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  2. Amazon kreiert den ferngesteuerten Konsumenten
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

  3. Stokes Croft: The saga of one British neighbourhood reveals the perverse injustices of gentrification
    1 Media contribution

    Press/Media: Press/Media

View all press/media coverage

Courses

History of Cultural Studies and its Methods II
Armin Beverungen, Luca Scheunpflug
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Organized as a lecture series, this course focuses on central themes and thinkers in the globalized sphere of cultural theorizing within the humanities and social sciences. The concerns, debates and methodologies of international cultural theorizing in part also draw upon different traditions and geographies of thought, or take the form of ›mobile theories‹ and ›travelling concepts‹ translated into different contexts, and change as they travel. The lecture series is, as suggested by the cultural theorizing explored, based on an understanding of culture as plural, as cultures that are continouously produced through, and made manifest in, embodied practices, discourses, spaces, emotional registers, technologies and organizational forms. In a globalized world, these cultural constellations are also geographically and linguistically plural, shaped by both global proceses and local conditions. They are thus contested and to some degree contingent. The terms and methods of cultural theorizing, its history and present, are invariably part of this ›cultural production and contestation‹. We hope that the lectures and discussions will therefore allow us to defamiliarize and enrich our ways of seeing and understanding, to make sense (differently) about how invariably globalized cultures take place.
Next appointment:
Thursday, 2026-04-30 at 12:15
Room: C 14.027 Seminarraum
Media Technologies of Organization
Armin Beverungen, Lisa Conrad
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The class brings together students from the MA "Media and Digital Cultures" and the MA "Culture and Organization" and is focused on the organizational powers of media technologies. ‘Media organize’, as the architectural theorist Reinhold Martin put it, and this is particularly true for digital media, according to the media theorist John Durham Peters. The class thus focuses on the way media organize, i.e. on their organizational capacities, on the kinds of organizational forms and processes associated with particular media technologies, as well as on the way these media technologies themselves are organized.

The course is broadly split into three parts: in a first part the class explores histories of media technologies of organization; in a second part students embark on a group exercise in which they research particular media technologies and their associated organizational forms and processes; and in a third part the class explores current instantiations of media technologies of organization in writing about them.
Next appointment:
Thursday, 2026-04-30 at 08:15
Room: C 14.001 Seminarraum
Research colloquium sociology and cultural organisation
Armin Beverungen, Timon Beyes, Serhat Karakayali, Andrea Kretschmann, Anna Lisa Ramella, Stephan Scheel
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Das Promotionskolloquium dient der Präsentation und vertieften Diskussion der Forschungsvorhaben im Kreise der Mitglieder des Promotionskollegs. Pro Kandidat*in steht üblicherweise 1 Stunde für Vortrag und Diskussion zur Verfügung. Die Präsentationen und Diskussion finden in deutscher oder englischer Sprache statt.
Next appointment:
Wednesday, 2026-06-10 at 13:00
Room: C 14.102 a Seminarraum