How is knowledge about society, economy, culture, and politics produced, disseminated and valued in an increasingly interconnected world? This project explores the transformation of social science knowledge production and dissemination across Germany, Canada, and China—three countries with distinct political systems, historical legacies, and positions in the global knowledge economy.
Moving beyond nation-bound and discipline-centered perspectives, the project highlights how contemporary social science is shaped by transnational, multilevel dynamics—where economic, geopolitical, and cultural forces intersect. In particular, it examines how the emergence of a global academic and scientific evaluation contributes to the changes in working conditions, research ecosystems, academic governance, and science management. In particular, it investigates how standardized indicators, such as university rankings and bibliometrics, influence not only academic career paths but also what types of knowledge are produced and recognized. In addition, this project examines the emergence and increasing use of alternative metrics (especially social media indicators) as tools for evaluating knowledge dissemination and scientific impact in the digital age.
Drawing on insights from the sociology of knowledge and the history of science, the project develops a new multidimensional, multiscale theory of how social sciences evolve. At the heart of this theory is the concept of a global knowledge value chain, which sheds light on how various forces, structures and practices create hierarchies and exclusions of knowledge of social sciences. It also connects knowledge production and dissemination across global, national, regional, and local levels.
At its core, this research seeks not only to trace these transformations but also to uncover the mechanisms driving growing inequality and unsustainability within the global knowledge system.