Department IV’s researchers investigate concepts, instruments and practices of societal control and mobilisation, the interrelation between mobilisation and society’s self-interests as well as processes of ‘self-mobilisation’.
The projects in this research area analyze how knowledge systems structure different spheres of human activity, in which they are simultaneously (re)produced. In particular, they analyze the change as well as the impact of different forms of knowledge in politics and the economy. Examining contemporary history as a whole, they place specigif emphasis on the importance of scientific knowledge for the transformation of worldviews and modes of action. In addition, they reflect upon the effects of past knowledge systems on historical scholarship and historiography.
Since the Second World War – and with an accelerating speed since the 1970s and again the 1990 – transnational economic interdependencies increased. How did entrepreneurial and business decisions as well national and international economic policies influence this process, which is often referred to as globalization? And which consequences did it have for business and politics? How did historical actors react to ensuing crises, structural changes and new political circumstances?
The ZZF's special library collects academic literature on German and European contemporary history since 1945, with a focus on social and economic history, political and cultural history and media history. International literature on the history of the division and reunification of Germany forms the core of the library, which is open to the public as a reference library in the centre of Potsdam and is available to ZZF researchers and anyone interested in contemporary history.
With Contemporary History Digital (Zeitgeschichte digital, www.search.zeitgeschichte-digital.de), the ZZF develops its own digital research infrastructure for contemporary history. It opens up the online projects developed and editorially supervised at the institute and consolidates them with a wealth of digital resources under one roof. The platform offers centralised access to its entire programme: all entries are searchable with the help of a comprehensive subject classification.
Given the growing interest in images and objects, the material culture of everyday life has been accepted as an authentic source for historiography. Its significance for historical research, however, has been underrated on the part of professional historians. Thus, the project’s objective is to mediate between academic and museum staff, and it aims at an enhanced dialogue between historical, material and cultural studies.
In the field of science, image research has steadily increased in scope and importance since the mid-1980s. Photography played a key role here. Unlike textual sources, it offers an immediate view - of people and things, of cities, landscapes and interiors. Up until now, the visual history itself often focused on the pictures themselves. But who produces them, who chooses them and distributes them?
The projects analyse the changes of society because of the process of computerisation and the use of information technology.
Since the late nineteenth century, modern mass media have increasingly shaped European societies. Whether politics, economics or culture, there is hardly an area of social life that has not been changed by the dissemination of newspapers, films, radio or the World Wide Web. The projects of this study area examine this process by analysing the interdependencies between the proliferation and transformation of media on the one hand and social changes on the other hand.
