Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Sociology and Political Science

German Social Sciences and History

German Social Sciences and History is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 7.6k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics in sociological history, epistemic practices, refugee studies, social innovation, cultural sociology, and population studies. It also delves into themes such as historical sociology, social theory, ethnographic research, and philosophical anthropology.

  • Sociological History
  • Epistemic Practices
  • Refugee Studies
  • Social Innovation
  • Cultural Sociology
  • Historical Sociology
  • Population Studies
  • Social Theory
  • Ethnographic Research
  • Philosophical Anthropology
Research works
7.6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
764
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Germany
70% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
German Social Sciences and History

Which countries lead German Social Sciences and History research?

By volume, Germany and Austria publish the most (1k and 127 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Germany 1k works
  2. 2 Austria 127 works
  3. 3 United States 95 works
  4. 4 Switzerland 65 works
  5. 5 France 43 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 38 works
  7. 7 Italy 20 works
  8. 8 Russia 13 works
  9. 9 China 11 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 11 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Germany: 70.4%Austria: 8.9%United States: 6.7%Switzerland: 4.6%6 others listed: 9.5%70%largest
Germany1,007 · 70.4%Austria127 · 8.9%United States95 · 6.7%Switzerland65 · 4.6%6 others listed136 · 9.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead German Social Sciences and History research?

By volume in 2022-now, Goethe University Frankfurt publishes the most German Social Sciences and History research, followed by University of Vienna and Leibniz Association.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 33 works
  2. 2 University of ViennaAustria 29 works
  3. 3 Leibniz AssociationGermany 25 works
  4. 4 Bielefeld UniversityGermany 25 works
  5. 5 LVR-Klinik KölnGermany 25 works
  6. 6 Ruhr University BochumGermany 23 works
  7. 7 Freie Universität BerlinGermany 22 works
  8. 8 University of CologneGermany 22 works
  9. 9 University of KasselGermany 21 works
  10. 10 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 20 works

Who are the leading researchers in German Social Sciences and History?

The most-cited researchers publishing on German Social Sciences and History include Pierre Bourdıeu, Wolfgang K. Huber and Michel Foucault.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  3. 3 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  4. 4 Stefan Schreiber Germany 163k citations
  5. 5 Michael Tomasello Germany 135k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in German Social Sciences and History?

The most cited paper in German Social Sciences and History is "Grundelemente einer Theorie sozialer Praktiken / Basic Elements of a Theory of Social Practices" (Andreas Reckwitz, 2003), with 1,590 citations. Next come "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (1,333) and "Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie, Tübingen 1922" (940).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Grundelemente einer Theorie sozialer Praktiken / Basic Elements of a Theory of Social Practices Andreas Reckwitz · Zeitschrift für Soziologie Aug 2003 1,590
2 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Marek Loužek · Politická ekonomie Open access Oct 2010 1,333
3 Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie, Tübingen 1922 Marcus Llanque · VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften eBooks Book chapter 8 May 2008 940
4 Eine Theorie der Gerechtigkeit (1971/1975) Otfried Höffe · J.B. Metzler eBooks Book chapter 2023 786
5 Strukturen der Lebenswelt Gerhard Preyer Book chapter 2018 535
All 94 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is German Social Sciences and History research done?

The largest centres of German Social Sciences and History research in 2022-now are Berlin (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Cologne (Germany) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wiesbaden, Kassel and Bielefeld.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BerlinGermany 76 works
  2. 2 ViennaAustria 68 works
  3. 3 CologneGermany 55 works
  4. 4 Frankfurt am MainGermany 53 works
  5. 5 MunichGermany 46 works
  6. 6 HamburgGermany 31 works
  7. 7 BielefeldGermany 27 works
  8. 8 MünsterGermany 25 works
  9. 9 EssenGermany 24 works
  10. 10 GrazAustria 23 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WiesbadenDE · 21.0 works108×
  2. KasselDE · 21.2 works79×
  3. BielefeldDE · 26.8 works62×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in German Social Sciences and History than the world average.

See German Social Sciences and History on the map

Where is the best place to study German Social Sciences and History?

Among universities, judged by research, Bielefeld University, University of Vienna and Goethe University Frankfurt score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 11.99%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Bielefeld UniversityFriedrich Schiller U…Goethe University Fr…University of Vienna
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Bielefeld UniversityGermany 75.816.3%83.4×25 +14.4%
2University of ViennaAustria 62.810.4%44.1×29 +26.8%
3Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 56.411.0%56.8×33 -3.0%
4Friedrich Schiller University JenaGermany 54.214.9%42.0×18 +25.0%
5Ruhr University BochumGermany 53.59.6%42.6×23 +42.2%
6Freie Universität BerlinGermany 53.09.0%41.0×22 +112.7%
7Technische Universität DresdenGermany 52.514.9%20.2×15 +21.1%
8Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergGermany 52.29.8%22.8×17 +96.0%
9University of GrazAustria 48.915.1%74.6×17 -22.7%
10TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 47.58.9%47.0×16 +68.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in German Social Sciences and History, country by country

Is German Social Sciences and History research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are German Social Sciences and History.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is German Social Sciences and History as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0068% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%German Social Sciences and History0.0048% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of German Social Sciences and History over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%German Social Sciences and History9.4% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about German Social Sciences and History. Posts are plain text and can be reported.