Prof. Matthias Koenig (Max Planck Fellow), 2011-2021

In December 2011, Matthias Koenig joined the Institute as a Max Planck Fellow. He was a Full Professor of Sociology/Sociology of Religion at the University of Göttingen until September 2020 and now holds the Chair for Empirical Macrosociology at the Max Weber Institute of Heidelberg University. He studied at the Universities of Hamburg, Princeton (U.S.A.), and Marburg, and has worked at UNESCO‘s Division of Social Sciences in Paris. He holds a Masters and a Doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Marburg, as well as a habilitation in sociology from the University of Bamberg in Germany. Koenig was repeatedly Visiting Professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE-Sorbonne) in Paris, held the Hannah Arendt Visiting Chair (DAAD) for German and European Studies at the University of Toronto, and was Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs of Harvard University.

He has also received several research grants and scholarships from the DAAD, DFG, the Volkswagen Foundation, Era-Net/NORFACE and Era-Net/RUS, and was a Member of the Junge Akademie at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW). His research on sociological theory, human rights, religion, and migration has appeared in major journals, such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, Ethnicities, International Migration, International Migration Review, International Sociology, Law & Social Inquiry, Social Science History. His book publications include “International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity” (co-edited with Paul Bramadat, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009) and “Religion and National Identities in an Enlarging Europe” (co-edited with W. Knöbl and W. Spohn, Palgrave 2015).

Research projects

• Changing legal definitions of minority rights and nationhood in written constitutions (completed)
• ORA Joint Research Project ENCOUNTERS · Muslim-Jewish encounter, diversity & distance in urban Europe: Religion, culture and social model 
• International law and the politics of religious difference: a historical sociological account (completed)
• Judicial politics and the governance of religious diversity (with Lisa Harms) (completed)
• Post-imperial diversities – majority-minority relations in the transition from empires to nation-states (ImpDiv) (with Artem Galushko)

Publications

Collected Editions

Koenig, M., Knöbl, W., & Spohn, W. (Eds.). (2015). Religion and national identities in an enlarged Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Link

Issues

Koenig, M., & Wolf, C. (Eds.). (2013). Religion und Gesellschaft [Special Issue]. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 65 (1 Supp). Link

Contributions to a Collected Edition

Koenig, M. (2022). Hans Joas‘ Theorie der Sakralisierung und die Revision der Säkularisierungstheorie. In M. Schlette (Ed.), Idealbildung, Sakralisierung, Religion: Beiträge zu Hans Joas' Die Macht des Heiligen (pp. 187-202). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag. Link

Koenig, M. (2021). Religion. In B. Hollstein, R. Greshoff, U. Schimank, & A. Weiß (Eds.), Soziologie: Sociology in the German-Speaking World: Special Issue Soziologische Revue 2020 (pp. 331-343). Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. Link

Koenig, M. (2020). Emile Durkheim and the Sociology of Religion. In H. Joas, & A. Pettenkofer (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Émile Durkheim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Link

Koenig, M. (2019). Charles Taylor: A Secular Age. In: C. Gärtner, & G. Pickel (Eds.), Schlüsselwerke der Religionssoziologie (pp. 605-612). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

Koenig, M. (2019). Contentieux religieux, politique judiciaire et gouvernance de la diversité religieuse. In I. Becci, C. Monnot, & O. Voirol (Eds.), Pluralisme et reconnaissance. Face à la diversité religieuse (pp. 107-120). Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. Link

Koenig, M. (2019). Religion et identités nationales – reconfigurations dans l’Europe contemporaine. In: J. Baubérot, P. Portier, & J.-P. Willaime (Eds.). La sécularisation en question. Religion et laïcités au prisme des sciences sociales (pp. 675-688). Paris: Les Classiques Garnier.

Koenig, M. (2018). Religion und Recht. In D. Pollack, V. Krech, O. Müller, & M. Hero (Eds.), Handbuch Religionssoziologie (pp. 741-761). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Link

Koenig, M. (2018). Revising secularization Theory‘s paradigmatic core – David Martin on general processes, basic patterns and causal mechanisms of differentiation between Religion and Politics. In H. Joas (Ed.), David Martin and the Sociology of Religion (pp. 32-49). London: Routledge. Link

Koenig, M. (2017). Zur andauernden Aktualität des Durkheimianischen Forschungsprogramms. In: H.-P. Müller, & S. Sigmund (Eds.) Theoriegeschichte in systematischer Absicht: Wolfgang Schluchters Grundlegungen der Soziologie in der Diskussion (pp. 75-88). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.

Koenig, M. (2016). Beyond the paradigm of secularization? In F. Zemmin, C. Jager, & G. Vanheeswijck (Eds.), Working with a secular age: Interdisciplinary perspectives on Charles Taylor's master narrative (pp. 23-48). Berlin: de Gruyter.

Koenig, M. (2015). Between world society and multiple modernities: Comparing cultural constructions of secularity and institutional varieties of secularism. In M. Burchardt, M. Wohlrab-Sahr, & M. Middell (Eds.), Multiple secularities beyond the West: Religion and modernity in the global age (pp. 285-304). Berlin: de Gruyter. Link

Koenig, M. (2015). Dynamiken institutioneller Säkularisierung: Die Rechtsprechung des EGMR in Fragen religiöser Diversität. In H. M. Heinig, & W. Christian (Eds.), Religionsverfassungsrechtliche Spannungsfelder (pp. 147-170). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Link

Koenig, M. (2015). Governance of religious diversity at the European Court of Human Rights. In J. Boulden, & W. Kymlicka (Eds.), International approaches to governing ethnic diversity (pp. 51-78). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Link

Koenig, M. (2015). Incorporating Muslim migrants in western nation states: A comparison of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. In M. Burchardt, & I. Michalowski (Eds.), After integration: Islam, conviviality and contentious politics in Europe (pp. 43-58). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Link

Koenig, M. (2015). Neo-Institutionalistische Weltgesellschaftstheorie und die Perspektiven einer historischen Soziologie der Menschenrechte. In B. Heintz, & B. Leisering (Eds.), Menschenrechte in der Weltgesellschaft: Deutungswandel und Wirkungsweise eines globalen Leitwerts (pp. 98-129). Frankfurt/M: Campus. Link

Koenig, M., & Knöbl, W. (2015). Religion, nationalism and European integration: Introduction. In M. Koenig, W. Knöbl, & W. Spohn (Eds.), Religion and national identities in an enlarged Europe (pp. 1-16). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Link

Koenig, M., Trittler, S., & Mandes, S. (2015). Religious dimensions of national and european identities: Evidence from cross-national survey research. In M. Koenig, W. Knöbl, & W. Spohn (Eds.), Religion and national identities in an enlarged Europe (pp. 124-145). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Link

Koenig, M., & Knöbl, W. (2015). Varieties of religious nationalism. In M. Koenig, W. Knöbl, & W. Spohn (Eds.), Religion and national identities in an enlarged Europe (pp. 146-162). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Link

Koenig, M. (2014). Ambivalenzen der Sakralisierung: Zur Durkheim-Rezeption in Hans Joas’ affirmativer Genealogie der Menschenrechte. In H.-J. Große-Kracht (Ed.), Der moderne Glaube an die Menschenwürde (pp. 113-128). Bielefeld: Transcript. Link

Koenig, M. (2014). Minorités religieuses et droit international des droits de l'homme: Trajectoires historiques et dynamiques sociologiques. In D. Lacorne, J. Vaïsse, & J.-P. Willaime (Eds.), La Diplomatie au défi des religions: Tensions, guerres, médiations (pp. 241-255). Paris: Odile Jacob. Link

Koenig, M. (2014). Modernités multiples et mondialisation. In Postérités allemandes: Communication, transcendance, non-religion (pp. 127-145). Paris: Éditions de l'École de hautes études en sciences sociales. Link

Koenig, M., & Connor, P. (2014). Religion and the socio-economic integration of immigrants across Canada. In S. Lefebvre, & L. G. Beaman (Eds.), Religion in the public sphere: Canadian case studies (pp. 293-312). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Link

Koenig, M. (2014). The right to religious freedom: a modern pattern of differentiation and its development. In M.-C. Foblets, K. Alidadi, & J. S. Nielsen (Eds.), Belief, law and politics: What future for a secular Europe? (pp. 71-78). Farnham: Ashgate. Link

Koenig, M. (2012). Max Weber. In A. Pollmann, & G. Lohmann (Eds.), Menschenrechte: ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (pp. 57-59). Stuttgart: Metzler. Link

Koenig, M. (2012). Das Recht auf Religionsfreiheit – zur Entstehung eines neuzeitlichen Differenzierungsmusters. In K. Gabriel, C. Gärtner, & D. Pollack (Eds.), Umstrittene Säkularisierung: soziologische und historische Analysen zur Differenzierung von Religion und Politik (pp. 293-313). Berlin: Berlin University Press. Link

Journal Articles

Ozgen, Z., & Koenig, M. (2021). When global scripts do not resonate: International minority rights and local repertoires of diversity in southern Turkey. Qualitative Sociology, 2021. Link

Koenig, M. (2019). Reconfiguring cultural differences. Social Science History, 43(2), 369-378. Link

Burchardt, M., Yanasmayan, Z., & Koenig, M. (2019). The judicial politics of burqa bans in Belgium and Spain: socio-legal field dynamics and the standardization of justificatory repertoires. Law and Social Inquiry, 4(4), 333-358. Link

Koenig, M., Diehl, C., & Fick, P. (2018). Religion und ethnische Bildungsungleichheiten. Empirische Befunde zu einem strittigen Zusammenhang. Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform, 101(2), 112-139. Link

Koenig, M. (2017). Exploring the micro-politics of recognition. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(8), 1261-1270. Link

Koenig, M., Ohlendorf, D., & Diehl, C. (2017). Religion und Bildungserfolg im Migrationskontext: Theoretische Argumente, empirische Befunde und offene Fragen. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 69(4), 561-591.

Koenig, M., Maliepaard, M., & Güveli, A. (2016). Religion and new immigrants' labor market entry in Western Europe. Ethnicities, 16(2), 213-235. Link

Koenig, M., & Connor, P. (2015). Explaining the Muslim employment gap in Western Europe: Individual-level effects and ethno-religious penalties .Social Science Research, 49, 191-201. Link

Koenig, M., & Galembert, C. d. (2014). Gouverner le religieux avec les juges: Introduction. Revue française de science politique, 64(4), 631-645. Link

Koenig, M., & Connor, P. (2013). Bridges and barriers: religion and immigrant occupational attainment across integration contexts. International Migration Review, 47(1), 3-38. Link

Koenig, M., & Diehl, K. (2013). God can wait: new migrants in Germany between early adaptation and religious reorganization. International Migration, 51(3), 8-22. Link

Koenig, M., & Wolf, C. (2013). Religion und Gesellschaft: Aktuelle Perspektiven. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 65(1 Supp), 1-23. Link

Koenig, M., & Ostner, I. (2013). Religion und Sozialpolitik in Frankreich: Historisch-soziologische Annäherung an einen Sonderfall. Religion und Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit in Europa, 141-175. Link

Koenig, M., & Diehl, C. (2013). Zwischen Säkularisierung und religiöser Reorganisation: Eine Analyse der Religiosität türkischer und polnischer Neuzuwanderer in Deutschland. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 65(1 Supp), 235-258. Link

Working Papers

Burchardt, M., Yanasmayan, Z., & Koenig, M. (2017). The judicial politics of ‘burqa bans’ in Belgium and Spain – Socio-legal field dynamics and the standardization of justificatory repertoires. MMG Working Paper, (17-10). Link

Koenig, M., & Diehl, C. (2013). God can wait: new migrants in Germany between early adaptation and religious re-organisation. Norface Migration Discussion Paper, (2013-04). Link