Ass.-Prof.in Dr. Bettina Mahlert

Research

Bettina Mahlert specializes in sociological theory, political sociology, and the sociology of knowledge. She is primarily interested in understanding the guiding problems of concepts and theories, their potential uses, and their heuristic value. In this context, she seeks to understand and support learning processes, including those enabled through interaction with neighboring disciplines and sociologists in Africa.

Following her dissertation on global inequality, she examined global development policy documents, approaches, concepts, and indicators. These included the SDG’s inequality goal, the Human Development Index and its underlying human development and capability approaches, the concept of poverty, and the concept of basic needs.

In these and other contributions, Bettina Mahlert frequently draws on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. She employed his differentiation theory to uncover Eurocentrism in the Human Development Index, and she brought together the concept of basic needs with Luhmann’s equivalence functionalism to offer a tool for addressing perspectivity biases in policy analysis and other areas. Using Luhmann’s memory theory, she analyzed sociological textbooks to understand how their authors present Talcott Parsons’ work to facilitate specific learning processes in students. Several of her articles address the development of Parsons’ work and its current relevance.

Bettina Mahlert and her colleagues at the Department for Sociology are collaborating with sociologists from Debre Markos University in Ethiopia and the University of Lagos in Nigeria. The goal of this collaboration is to enhance the quality of MA sociology teaching and learning at the three participating institutions through joint activities and mutual exchange. An ongoing project, carried out in collaboration with colleagues from Debre Markos University and the University of Innsbruck, addresses land tenure and institutions in Africa from an interdisciplinary perspective. Planned projects include one on the legacy of Talcott Parsons (led by Helmut Staubmann), one on the rural population as a target group for postal services (in collaboration with Austrian Post), and one on urban mobility.

Externally funded research

Land Tenure and Institutions in Africa (2025-2026)

The issue of land tenure is a critical and multifaceted challenge Africa, with profound implications for social equity, economic development, and political stability. Land tenure systems determine who has access to land, under what conditions, and with what rights. These systems are deeply embedded in historical, institutional, and social contexts, and they vary significantly across and within countries.

This project targets the issue of land tenure in Africa by different analytical lenses (land tenure regimes, Boone; limited access orders, North et al.; citizen and subject, Mamdani) to develop an integrated comparative approach. Land tenure is an issue of economic, social, political, as well as cultural relevance, which is also crucial to determine power relations, especially in African economies (comparably agrarian) and societies (land access being a central resource of subsistence and participation). Ethiopia will be taken as a case in order to ensure that our analysis speaks to the realities on-the-ground. The literature synthesis will be brought to application by drawing careful conclusions for policy. To this end, experts from the Ethiopian Government Policy Institute will be involved, and expert interviews with Austrian field workers will be carried through. A teaching session will be developed and integrated into an ongoing course at each institution, to be taught jointly.

The project will be carried through by researchers from Debre Markos, Ethiopia, the Management Center Innsbruck, and the University of Innsbruck.

Team:

Amsalu Almaw Admasu, PhD (Department of Sociology, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia)

Dessalegn Mekuriaw, MA (Department of Sociology, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia)

Assoz.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Exenberger (Department of Economics, University of Innsbruck)

Prof. Dr. Belachew Gebrewold (Department of Social Work, Management Center Innsbruck)

Ass.-Prof. Dr. Bettina Mahlert (Department of Sociology, University of Innsbruck)

The project is part of the newly founded Network of Areas (NoA) and is funded by the University of Innsbruck.

Enhancing the Quality of Sociology Postgraduate Teaching and Learning through Staff Exchange and Collaboration among Three Universities (2021-2024)  

This project aimed at building a partnership between the Sociology Departments of Debre Markos University in Ethiopia, the University of Lagos in Nigeria and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Its overall goal was to support high-quality and contextually adequate teaching in the postgraduate programs at the three institutions. To this end, the nine-person overall team was divided into three sub-teams based on expertise in applied sociology, research methods and sociological theory. Each sub-team comprised one person from each institution. The partnership aimed at enabling intensive collaboration within sub-teams, intercultural team-building and critical reflection of different scientific cultures and local conditions; exploring how curricula and teaching practices at each department are carried out, as well as what gaps need to be filled to enable students to develop their competences in an optimal way.

Activities included developing a new MA sociology curriculum at Debre Markos University; advising MA and Ph.D. candidates, conducting joint teaching, hosting a webinar series with theory lecturers and practitioners from the three countries, delivering public lectures and providing peer feedback. Additionally, research on diversity policies at the three institutions has been carried out.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for further collaboration in joint teaching, advising and research activities has been established in 2025.

Participating Institutions:

University of Debre Markos, Ethiopia (project leadership)

University of Innsbruck, Austria

University of Lagos, Nigeria

Funding: Africa-UniNet

Decoloniality of Research and Learning Methods in the Global South: A Transdisciplinary Book Project (2021-2024) 

This book project starts from the observation that a need to ‘decolonize’ knowledge and learning systems is widely recognized. However, concrete proposals for achieving this goal are rare beyond the specific area of ‘decolonizing the curriculum.’ Some argue that the decolonization movement has reached an impasse and remains a largely superficial trend rooted in Northern discourses. Against this backdrop, the book will offer concrete tools and strategies for decolonization in various fields, including mental health, vocational training, human rights, and diversity policies in universities. While each chapter presents proposals based on the author’s professional experience, commentaries by the editors discuss how these strategies might be generalized to be applicable to other fields. Thus, the book will provide an interdisciplinary audience with a ‘toolbox’ for decolonialization.

Participating Institutions:

African Centre for Technology Studies, Nairobi (project leadership)

University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Wien

Funding: Africa-UniNet

Publications

2025

Mahlert, Bettina (2025): Value(s) and (e)valuation in sociological systems theories. In: Krüger, Anne; Peetz, Thorsten; Schäfer, Hilmar (eds.): The Routledge international handbook of valuation and society. London; New York: Routledge, pp. 71 - 78.

Mahlert, Bettina (2025): Talcott Parsons (1902-1979). In: Endreß, Martin; Rampp, Benjamin (eds.): Politische Soziologie. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

2023

Mahlert, Bettina (2023): Discussing basic human needs: Insights into collective reflexivity in Global Social Policy. Global Social Policy 23(3): 499 - 515. (DOI)

2022

Mahlert, Bettina (2022): Norms, interests, and desirable futures. Exploring contemporary political upheavals through the voluntaristic theory of action. In: Trevino, A. Javier; Staubmann, Helmut (eds.): Routledge international handbook of Talcott Parsons studies. London; New York: Routledge, pp. 183 - 195. (DOI)

Mahlert, Bettina (2022): From per capita income to the Human Development Index: a pathway for imagining development through numbers. In: Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (eds.): Imagining pathways for global cooperation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 188 - 208. (DOI)

Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (eds.) (2022): Imagining pathways for global cooperation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. (DOI)

Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (2022): Imagining pathways for global cooperation. An introduction. In: Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (eds.): Imagining pathways for global cooperation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 1 - 28. (DOI)

Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (2022): Creating, challenging, and changing pathways for cooperation through imagination. In: Freistein, Katja; Mahlert, Bettina; Quack, Sigrid; Unrau, Christine (eds.): Imagining pathways for global cooperation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 229 - 251. (DOI)

2021

Mahlert, Bettina (2021): Addressing Parsons in sociological textbooks: Past conflicts, contemporary readers, and their future gains. The American Sociologist 52(1): 88 - 106. (DOI)

Mahlert, Bettina (2021): Needs and satisfiers: A tool for dealing with perspectivity in policy analysis. The European Journal of Development Research 33(6): 1455 - 1474. (DOI)

2020

Mahlert, Bettina; Kron, Thomas (2020): Methodologischer Kosmopolitismus in der Ungleichheitssoziologie. In: Soziologische Phantasie und kosmopolitisches Gemeinwesen. Perspektiven einer Weiterführung der Soziologie Ulrich Becks. Soziale Welt Special Volume 24, edited by Römer, Oliver; Boehncke, Clemens; Holzinger, Markus, pp. 156-179. (DOI)

Mahlert, Bettina (2020): Poverty, wealth, and aid: A sociological perspective. In: Beck, Valentin; Hahn, Henning; Lepenies, Robert (eds.): Dimensions of poverty. Measurement, epistemic injustices, activism. New York: Springer, pp. 177 - 193. (DOI)

Mahlert, Bettina (2020): In honour of Amartya Sen, initiator of global cooperation par excellence. Global Cooperation Research. A Quarterly Magazine 3(2020). Duisburg: Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research. https://www.uni-due.de/imperia/md/images/inef/2020-12-newsletter_en.pdf

Further publications

Teaching

Regular courses

BA Sociology

„Sociological perspectives and ways of thinking 1: Introduction to sociology” (lecture)

“Theory” (seminar course)

MA Sociology

„Theories of state, democracy and power” (lecture and seminar course)

PhD Sociology

“Theory workshop” (seminar course)

Course descriptions accessible via the course catalog

PhD Supervision

I am happy to supervise PhD theses within my areas of theoretical and methodological expertise. Here are some examples of possible topics arising from my current work:

Teaching, acquiring, and using skills in sociological theory: An investigation into how sociological theory is being taught, what theory skills students acquire, and how they apply these skills in their later careers. These questions can be pursued in various ways, such as examining the teaching practices of renowned scholars, comparing sociology programs with that of other disciplines, or scrutinizing the professional activities of sociology alumni.

Digitization of research practices, growth and sustainability (in collaboration with a candidate from computer or environmental science): An investigation into how social scientists use digital resources (online conferences, generative AI), how these practices are incentivized and what are their ecological consequences. The study could draw on research on the digitalization of science, academic capitalism and evaluation studies.

Creating alternatives to GDP - the UNDP’s Human Development Approach: An investigation into how evaluation practices shape the construction of development and global inequalities, taking the Human Development Approach and/or related international development agendas as a case. This study might specifically focus on the interrelationship between science and politics, and it might fruitfully adapt Parsons’ concept of instrumental activism.

Everyday mobility as a dimension of social inequality: An investigation into mobility-related inequalities, with the specific focus chosen depending on the candidate’s individual interests. The thesis should contribute to understanding the relevance of spatial mobility for social inequality, and/or to the conceptualization of spatial mobility. It may pursue a more empirical or a more theoretical epistemic interest.

In/security as a dimension of global inequality: An investigation into how people in the Global South and North translate past experiences into future expectations and how insecurity is central to understanding inequality in a global context. These questions can be explored through diverse comparative case studies. Concepts used to understand insecurities in the Global South, such as livelihood and informality, or in the Global North, such as career and precariousness, could tentatively be applied to the other region.

Current PhD projects:

Ella-Maria Daschütz: “The influence of biographically acquired role understanding and resources on the deradicalization process”

Sarah von Karger: “Diaspora and development. The potential of diaspora organizations as development actors”

Mathias Weiss: “Geoengineering vs. civil society”