Nikolai Genov

Nikolai Genov (Bulgarian: Николай Генов / Nikolaj Genow) (born January 13, 1946 in Pawlikeni , Bulgaria ) is a sociologist of Bulgarian origin.

Life

Genov was in 1975 at the University of Leipzig Dr. phil. PhD and in 1986 at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as Dr. sc. 1990 he was appointed professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 2002 to 2011 he held a professorship for sociology at the Institute for Sociology and at the Institute for Eastern European Studies at the Free University of Berlin . Since 2011 he has headed the Institute for Global and Regional Development at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Slovenia. During his career, he conducted research and teaching at the universities of Berkeley, Bielefeld, Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Lund, Moscow, Rome, Seoul and Warsaw.

From 1980 to 1990 Genov hosted the International Varna Sociological School. From 1990 to 1992 he was the co-director of the Center for Research and Documentation in the Social Sciences (at the Vienna Center). From 1994 to 1996 he was Vice President of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) program. Between 2003 and 2008 he was a board member of the program. From 1996 to 1998 he was a member and from 1998 to 2002 Vice President of the International Social Science Council (ISSC) in Paris. From 2000 to 2010 he was director of the UNESCO / ISSC International Summer School Comparative Research in the Social Sciences. From 2003 and 2005 he was director of the Eastern European Institute at the Free University of Berlin.

Research and Teaching

Until 1989, Genov's research and teaching was mainly focused on questions of sociological theory and the history of ideas. During this period he published the monographs Talcott Parsons and the Theoretical Sociology (1982) and Rationality and Sociology (in Bulgarian) (1986). After 1989, his professional interest focused more and more on the transformation processes in different regions of the world, especially in Eastern Europe. The monographs The United States at the End of the XXth Century (1991) and The Rise of the Dragon: The Modernization of South Korea (1994) as well as an anthology Risks of the Transition (in Bulgarian) (1994) dealt extensively with these topics . The theoretical core of these studies was the idea of ​​four global trends: improving the rationality of organizations, individualization, spreading instrumental activism and universalizing value-normative systems. These concepts were later operationalized and directed a series of Genov's-led international comparative research projects: Personal and Institutional Strategies for Coping with Transformation Risks ”(UNESCO / MOST, 1997-2001); Ethnic Relations in South Eastern Europe (Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, 2003-2005); Interethnic Integration (EU, 2005–2007); Migration in the Post-Soviet Space (Volkswagen Foundation, 2008–2010).

Publications

Nikolai Genov is the author of more than 300 scientific articles and books. Selected publications in English:

• 1989: National Traditions in Sociology, SAGE (ed.) ISBN 0-8039-8197-X .
• 1999: Managing Transformations in Eastern Europe, UNESCO / MOST, ISBN 954-8443-08-2 .
• 1999: Unemployment: Risks and Reactions (ed.) UNESCO / MOST, ISBN 954-8443-07-4 .
• 2000: Continuing Transformation in Eastern Europe (ed.), Trafo, ISBN 3-89626-216-5 .
• 2001: Recent Social Trends in Bulgaria (co-ed.) McQueens University Press, ISBN 0-7735-2022-8 .
• 2004: Advances in Sociological Knowledge Over Half a Century (ed.), VS-Verlag, ISBN 3-8100-4012-6 .
• 2005: Ethnicity and Educational Policies in South Eastern Europe (ed.), LIT-Verlag, ISBN 3-8258-8594-1 .
• 2006: Ethnicity and Mass Media in South Eastern Europe. LIT-Verlag (ed.) ISBN 3-8258-9348-0 .
• 2007: Upgrading the Rationality of Organizations. FU, Institute of Eastern European Studies, ISSN  1864-533X
• 2007: Comparative Research in the Social Sciences (ed.), ISSC, ISBN 978-954-8443-13-5 .
• 2008: Interethnic Integration in Five European Societies, (ed.) Krämer, ISBN 978-3-89622-096-7 .
• 2010: Global Trends in Eastern Europe. Ashgate, ISBN 978-1-4094-0965-6 .
• 2011: Transboundary Migration in the Post-Soviet Space (co-ed.), Peter Lang, ISBN 978-3-631-61485-3 .
• 2012: Global Trends and Regional Development, (ed.), Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-89763-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Nikolaj B. Genov in the catalog of the German National Library
• Nikolai Genov on the FU Berlin website
• Genov's résumé (PDF file; 54 kB)