Goethe University bundles its research on current issues and topics in six profile areas.
The CGC and the GRADE Center Gender are involved in the profile areas Universality & Diversity sowie Orders & Transformations.
Universality & Diversity
In view of the growing complexity of living together in post-migrant societies, experiences of diversity and the question of unifying aspects of cultural difference are becoming increasingly important. Multilingualism is becoming as common in Western societies as it already is in many areas of the global South. Moreover, a growing diversity of religious convictions and cultural practices can be observed, whereby these sometimes also demarcate themselves from one another and require new translation services. Previously established categorical systems of order and forms of government, especially in Western societies, are sometimes put to an existential test by these dynamics. In this context, beyond the primarily present-oriented and prognostic analyses of the social sciences, the basic knowledge of linguistics, religious studies, and history, the conceptual differentiation and reflection skills of philosophy and cultural studies, and the intra- and intercultural translation competence of literary, linguistic, and cultural studies prove to be decisive social resources.
Against this background, the profile area "Universality and Diversity: Linguistic, Religious and Cultural Dynamics" bundles the relevant competencies of the above-mentioned disciplines at Goethe University and provides answers to these urgent challenges of the present with methods and approaches from the humanities and with the necessary historical depth.
The founding speakers are Christian Wiese (Jewish Philosophy of Religion) and Cornelia Ebert (Linguistics).
Orders & Transformations
The profile area "Orders & Transformations" deals with social structures and orders and their upheavals. Upheavals occur when existing structures can no longer cope with changed circumstances. This is evident in such diverse areas as human-induced climate change, financial crises, the Corona pandemic, growing inequality and the associated resurgence of populism that is changing democratic orders, migration and the challenges it poses, and persistent gender inequalities. The war in Ukraine will permanently change the international order. Research in the profile area aims to comprehensively analyze these changes in orders at different levels.
Thus, the profile area is entirely in the tradition of the Goethe University Frankfurt. Since its founding as a foundation of the middle classes, the university has developed a specific profile in its efforts to pursue science independently of conventional political and cultural constraints, characterized by the spirit of enlightenment, criticism and progressiveness. This led to a blossoming of all fields of science, but especially to the development of groundbreaking research foci in the social sciences, law, economics and the humanities - far beyond the "Frankfurt School", which is still internationally influential today. This spirit, based in particular on interdisciplinary cooperation, has survived to this day. This is reflected in the research profile of the university as a whole, but especially in the profile area "Orders & Transformations".
The profile area is backed by internationally renowned, third-party-funded alliances and connects scientists who have received many awards. It comprises two established research foci and a number of potential fields that are interlinked with them.
The founding spokespersons are Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln (Macroeconomics and Development) and Rainer Forst (Political Theory and Philosophy).