Sociological theories of society; media history, media culture and media theory; evolution and structures of media society; media anthropology; sociology of space; culture sociology.
The brothel question — a historical and sociological analysis Human existence does not take place in a vacuum, but is produced by society, negotiated via communication and fixed by media. The experience of otherness and the production of difference towards other people, cultural circles and societal spheres thereby form a relevant influence value and lead to culturally and historically changing ideals and norms of human duty, intention and ability.
Ultimately, these also enable and stabilize social order in general. Special attention is given to two questions.
How have human modes of life been norma- tively and morally negotiated until the modern era; first in an oral way, second in a written and published way? Which images of excluded human beings and marginal groups are produced and discursively legitimated? Using the concrete case of brothel- prostitution, this research project questions on the one hand normative models of human existence — in contrast to marginal groups and moral deviation — and on the other hand mechanisms of human exclusion and spatial control.
It is my ambitious aim to reconstruct the various historical stages in the establishment and also the abolition of brothels in their socio-cultural context from their earliest beginnings, and to explain their spatial structures and social practices, as well as the heterotopical form of this institution. Furthermore, I intend to contrast this with the contemporary dis- course on prostitution and brothels, using the plurality and multi-perspectivity of antago- nistic stances, of moral attitudes and of political, legal and medical reasoning.
