Thomas Scheffer studied Sociology and received his Phd. for his work on the German Asylum Procedure. He is micro-sociologist, ethnographer, and conducted various studies of work. His interests range from concepts on temporality, the role of communication media in legal and political institutions to analytical ethnography.

Scheffer has been the director of the Emmy-Noether group "comparative micro-sociology of criminal procedures". In 2008, he became the spokesperson of the German sociology of law in the DGS. In 2009, he was fellow at the Centre for Interdisziplinary Studies (ZiF), Bielefeld University. Currently, he teaches and studies politcal ethnography as a Heisenberg-scholar at the Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University in Berlin.

His record of publication includes books and journal articles on legal and political culture, on welfare & migration, on various discourse practices, and on ethnographic and qualitiative methods. He teaches courses in social theory, methods, and legal/political anthropology.

Professional Education

1986 - 1989

Bank clerk at the Kreissparkasse Herford

Studies and Degrees

1990 – 1995

Sociology at Bielefeld University

1995

Dissertation on an Eastern German Foreigners’ Office:

„Aufenthaltsgenehmigung“

Passed with distinction („Mit Auszeichnung“), The Institute for Sociology at Bielefeld University

1995 – 1998

PhD Project on the Asylum Seeking Process in Germany, a multi-sited ethnography

1998

Doctoral Thesis:

„Asylgewährung. Eine ethnographische Verfahrensanalyse“

Passed with distinction („Mit Auszeichnung“), supervisors: Karin Knorr Cetina and Stefan Hirschauer, The Institute for Sociology at Bielefeld University

Applied Sociology

1998 - 1999

Off-the-job-training: „Migration und ihre Auswirkungen“ for Police Officers at the Polizeifortbildungsinstitut ‚Carl Severing’ Münster (PFI)

1999 – 2000

Ethnographic Evaluation of the Reorganisation Project „Umbau der Hilfen zur Erziehung“ at Youth Welfare Office, municipality of Stuttgart

Postdoc-Research

01.01 – 12.02

Research Associate at the University of Lancaster, The Institute for Sociology, Centre for Science Studies

02.03 – 8.09

Research Director of the Emmy-Noether Research Group

„Comparative Micro-Sociology of Criminal Procedures“

at the Collaborative Research Unit „Performative Cultures“ (SFB 447) at the FU Berlin

Awards

1995

3 years Grant by the Graduate College „Migration in Europe “ at the Institute for Migration and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), University of Osnabrück

1997

2nd Price by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for the best social scientific Journal Article in 1997:

„Dolmetschen als Darstellungsproblem. Eine ethnographische Studie zur Rolle der Dolmetscher in Asylanhörungen“

2001

Emmy-Noether Grant by the German Research Association (DFG)

Professional Commitment

Since 2002

Member of the Section “Qualitative Methods” (DGS/German Sociological Association)

Since 2003

Member of the Section “Sociology of Law” (DGS)

Since 2008

Spokesperson of the Section "Socioloy of Law" (DGS)

Member of International Advisory Board of the British Journal for Criminology