Temporal Boundaries of the Present

Project lead:

• Prof Dr Hannes Krämer (Professor, University of Duisburg-Essen)
• Prof Dr Jochen Koch (European University Viadrina)
• Prof Dr Andreas Reckwitz (HU Berlin)

Research team:

• Dr Wasko Rothmann
• Dr Matthias Wenzel
• Corinna Maibier
• Christoph Oelrich

Cooperation partners:

• Prof. (em.) Dr Günter Ortmann, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg
• Prof. Dr Hartmut Rosa, University of Jena
• Prof. David Seidl, PhD, University of Zurich

Funding institution:

European University Viadrina

Project duration:

January 2014 - December 2017

Project discription:

The three-year research project ‘Temporal Boundaries of the Present’ investigated the temporality of social boundary-drawing processes. It focussed in particular on borders to the future. The initial hypothesis of the project was that borders are not only constituted spatially or socially, but also temporally. The concrete practice of these temporal demarcations was analysed using qualitative methods (participant observation, guided interviews, text analyses) in various areas. The areas of transport planning and strategic serendipity/innovativeness were analysed. In addition, a theoretical-conceptual framework for analysing the future was developed.

The project alternated between case-related individual research and regular discussions between all project participants to develop a theoretical framework for analysis. This was reflected, for example, in the outline of a future heuristic that outlines temporality in general and the future in particular in terms of practice theory (cf. Koch et al. 2016). The contingency of temporal settings thus becomes clear as the result of an interplay of heterogeneous practices and forms an extension of common analyses of the future. Numerous publications on the project have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and scientific anthologies. In addition, the project and individual results have been presented at various conferences in Germany and abroad. An anthology on the connection between organisations and the future, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018, documents the current state of the discussion on the practice of working with the future. In it, organisations are not conceived as a structural answer to the question of how to deal with the future, but rather the diverse organisational procedures with which organisations assure themselves of the future nature of their actions are reconstructed from various theoretical and empirical perspectives. In addition, the project activities were significantly integrated into the various activities of the Viadrina Centre B/ORDERS IN MOTION at various points. The analysis of the future thus emerged in constant correspondence with questions of border theory. The future task of analysing contemporary practices of the future is to further elaborate this connection.

Publications:

• Hannes Krämer/ Matthias Wenzel (Eds.): How Organizations Manage the Future. Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Insights, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2018
• Wenzel, Matthias/ Koch, Jochen (2018): Acceleration as Process: A Strategy Process Perspective on Startup Acceleration, in: Israel Drori and Mike Wright (Hg.): Accelerators, Cheltenham.
• Krämer, Hannes: Zukunftsdiagnosen. Zur Form gegenwärtiger Zukunftspraxis. In: Alkemeyer, Thomas/ Buschmann, Nikolaus/ Etzemüller, Thomas (Hg.): Gegenwartsdiagnosen. Kulturelle Formen gesellschaftlicher Selbstproblematisierung in der Moderne, Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2017.
• Wenzel, Matthias/ Wagner, Heinz-Theo/ Koch, Jochen (2017): The Funeral Industry and the Internet: The Historical Emergence and Destabilization of Strategic Paths, in: European Journal of Information Systems.
• Jochen Koch/ Hannes Krämer/ Andreas Reckwitz/ Matthias Wenzel: Zum Umgang mit Zukunft in Organisationen – eine praxistheoretische Perspektive, in: Managementforschung, 26/2016, S. 161-184.
• Andreas Reckwitz: Zukunftspraktiken. Die Zeitlichkeit des Sozialen und die Krise der modernen Rationalisierung der Zukunft, in: Frank Becker et al. (Hg.): Die Ungewissheit des Zukünftigen. Kontingenz in der Geschichte, Frankfurt (Main): Campus Verlag 2016, S. 31-54.
• Krämer, Hannes / Schindler, Larissa (Hrsg.):„Mobilität. Themenheft der Österreichischen Zeitschrift für Soziologie“ (Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Band 41 (1), 2016.
• Wenzel, Matthias/ Senf, Ninja Natalie/ Koch, Jochen (2016): Exploring Complex Phenomena with Qualitative Research Methods: An Examination of Strategic Innovation Trajectories in Haute Cuisine, in: Elisabeth S. C. Berger und Andreas Kuckertz (Hg.): Complexity in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Research: Applications of Emergent and Neglected Methods, Cham: Springer Science, S. 163-182. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27108-8_8 .