HabitusAnalysis: Epistemology, theory, and methodolgy for the sociological study of the mutual relation between mental orientation and material living conditions exempliefied by religious movements. Vol. 3, Models and methods.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Heinrich Schäfer
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies ; Sociological Theory
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280696086

The project is aimed at finishing the third, and last, volume of a wider cycle of research. It is part of an innovative approach to methodologically grasp and theoretically understand the mutual interdependencies between (religious, cultural, etc.) interpretation, experience, action, and socio-structural conditions. Based on Bourdieus sociology, the approach is a synthesis of empirical, methodological, and theoretical research of the applicant (since 1983) and his team (since 2006). The unique feature of this advancement of Bourdieus concept of habitus is that the operational modes of the >schemes of perception, judgment, and action< (Bourdieu) are modeled as a generative deep structure of cognition that processes experiences and relates them meaningfully to the conditions of existence of the actors studied. Thus, the creative processes in the formation of identities and strategies of social actors can be empirically reconstructed and the-oretically understood within their social context. In terms of methodology, the project presents a proprietary praxeological procedure of habitus analysis, hitherto missing in the >Bourdieu-school<, and controlled under epistemological (volume 1) as well as theoretical (volume 2) criteria. With regard to religion, the method grasps the relation between religious convictions and social conditions of existence. Moreover, by its focus on generativity and cognitive mapping, the approach mediates between theories of identity and of strategy as well as a new conceptualization of socially situated creativity. The overall program consists of three volumes: 1) Epistemology (440 p.), produced as Lichtenberg Kolleg (DFG), in print. 2) Praxeological theory of habitus and semantics (420 p.), to be finished during research leave (summer term 2015, except for English editing). 3) Applied for here: Method for reconstruction and triangulation of habitus, fields, and social space (aprox. 450 p.) to be produced between October 1st 2015 and September 30th 2016; furthermore the English editing of volume 2.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants