Contact: Anja Weiß

Project at the Centre

How can sociologists study global inequalities from a transnational perspective?

The capabilities that people can achieve depend on resources, such as economic and cultural capital. But they also depend on the socio-material contexts in which they put their resources to use. In a transnational perspective, global social inequalities cannot be well framed by nation-states. Instead, they are structured by inequalities of access, that is, the greater opportunity on the part of some individuals to reach and connect with desired contexts, be they state-bound or transnational. Inequalities of access are politically contested (e.g., boundaries, race relations, or graduated citizenship), but they also have a socially differentiated (e.g., skill- or language-related) and geographical component.

Until recently, the transnational empirical study of global inequalities was impossible due to data and methodological constraints. With the advent of AI-based qualitative analysis and mixed-methods, it has become feasible to conduct in-depth sociological analyses on a global scale. During my fellowship at the center, I am working on a proof-of-concept for this innovative approach and will take the first steps towards applying it to the several billion people who belong to the global “middle classes” but have received very little attention from the empirical social sciences.

Research Interests

• Global inequalities
• Sociological theory
• Highly skilled migration and professional knowledge
• Transnational research design
• Discrimination and anti-racism