CV

Sophia Cramer studied sociology at the University of Bielefeld. She completed her Bachelor studies with a thesis about the globalization of a commercial microfinance model, which is based on sociological concepts of world society and communication. Within her master studies she achieved a specialization on organizations and sociological theory. From 2012 to 2016 she has been working as a research assistant in the DFG-funded project „Observing the World. The contribution of international statistics and UN world conferences to the rise of a global comparative order, 1949-2009“, led by Prof. Dr. Bettina Heintz. In May 2014 she finished her Master studies with a thesis about the organizing capacities of universities and their management implementing an overall research strategy (Exzellenzinitiative). In June 2014 she started to work at the University of Lucerne on her PhD-Project which focuses on the effects of global public comparisons within the microfinance sector on the organizational practices of microfinance organizations. From 2018 to 2020 she worked as a research associate at the Department of Sociology at the University of Tübingen teaching world society theories and organizational sociology. Since 2020 she is working as a research assistant in the DFG-funded project “’Making up people’ in world society: analyzing the institutionalization of global social categories”, led by Prof. Dr. Marion Müller and Dr. Hannah Bennani and equally based at the University of Tübingen. Additionally, since 2021 she is working as a lecturer at the University of Lucerne and in the field of education for sustainable development facilitating workshops, e.g., about central results of her dissertation project.

List of Publications, Talks, Teaching

Research

Subject of Dissertation Project: 
Commercialization or poverty reduction? Effects of global comparative evaluation on organizational processes in microfinance organizations

PhD Project Description

Research interests:

• Performance evaluation in microfinance organizations
• Sociology of (performance) comparison and quantification
• Sociology of World Society and Globalization
• Organizational sociology
• Methods of qualitative social research, in particular ethnography in organizations

Research assistant within the DFG-funded research project “’Making up people’ in world society: analyzing the institutionalization of global social categories” (University of Tübingen, led by Prof. Dr. Marion Müller and Dr. Hannah Bennani)