Andreas Folkers

Andreas Folkers

sociology | critical theory | sts

About

I’m a sociologist. Currently I’m Distinguished Fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt and member of the research council of the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt.

My work brings together Science and Technology Studies and critical theories to analyze topics such as bio- and technopolitics, capital, and climate. In previous projects I looked at disaster preparedness and critical infrastructures, microbes and symbio-socialitiesstranded assets and climate risks. In August 2025 I will start a new project on Negative Emission Technologies at Columbia University and the Institute for Social Research.

Currently, I’m finishing my second book on the rise, fall, and afterlives of Fossil Modernity.

I studied Social Sciences and Philosophy at the Goethe University Frankfurt and the New School for Social Research, New York. After completing my PhD in Frankfurt (2017), I transitioned to the Justus-Liebig University Gießen (2018-2024). I have been a Visiting Scholar at the New School (2013) and the London School of Economics (2022). I held Fellowships at the Max-Weber-Center, Erfurt (2018), and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2022-203).

I received funding by the Heinrich-Böll Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation, the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation, the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the European Research Council. I have published a monograph and numerous articles in journals such as Theory, Culture & Society, EPD: Society and Space, Economy and Society, European Journal of Social Theory, Security Dialogue, Social Studies of Science, and Sociological Review. 

Research Interests

Sociology

Political Sociology (governmentality, biopolitics, security); Economic Sociology (risk, finance, neoliberalism); Environmental Sociology (climate, energy, Anthropocene)

Social Theory

critical theories, sociological and political theory, poststructuralism, actor-network-theory, (new) and historical materialisms, systems theory

STS

Infrastructure, life sciences and biotechnology, social studies of finance / valuation / accounting, historical epistemology

Contact

Dr. Andreas Folkers

Max-Weber-Kolleg

Max Weber Allee 3

99089 Erfurt

e-mail: A.Folkers@em.uni-frankfurt.de

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