Martina Löw
Martina Löw (*9th January 1965 in Würzburg, Germany) is a German sociologist.
Vita
Since January 2002, Martina Löw has been professor for sociology at the Darmstadt University of Technology, specialising in space-related social analysis, urban and regional sociology, women’s and gender studies. She had previously held the positions of privatdocent and associate professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle/Saale after working in the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt am Main and as visiting and substitute professor at the Technical Universities of Berlin and Darmstadt. In 2000 she was awarded the Christian Wolff Prize for her work to date, especially her habilitation thesis on the concept of space.
Works
In 2001, Marina Löw published a Sociology of space, which understands the origination of space as a social phenomenon that depends of societal developments. Löw understands space as a relational ordering of social goods and living beings that is generated by the synthesis and placing of these elements. Such a processual concept of space contrasts with the view that has hitherto prevailed in sociology of space as a rigid backdrop to social processes. On this basis, Löw is conducting empirical research into how spatial constructions change in and through electronic networks. Other focuses of research are “space, power, and social differentiation” and ethnographic urban studies.
In the field of urban research, a range of studies in the topic areas "public security" and "theatre and city" have been carried out. An empirical study on the interactional web of space and gender that examines prostitution in Frankfurt am Main complements the topic area. Among her latest research ventures is the analysis of the intrinsic logic of cities. The intrinsic logic of cities refers to a complex ensemble of knowledge stocks and forms of expression which interrelate internally, are based on rule-governed, routinized and resource-stabilised forms of action and which condense cities into provinces of meaning.
Books and Articles
- Löw, Martina (2007), Raumsoziologie. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft, 4th Edition.
- Löw, Martina; Steets, Silke; Stoetzer, Sergej (2007), Einführung in die Stadt- und Raumsoziologie. Opladen: Barbara Budrich.
- Löw, Martina (2008), »The Constitution of Space: The Structuration of Spaces Through the Simultaneity of Effects and Perception«, in: European Journal of Social Theory, 1, 11.
External links
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