Chris­ti­ane Mossin

My research explores political, legal and cultural aspects of societal transformations while building on interdisciplinary approaches in the intersection between political philosophy and sociology, structural anthropology, law and legal history.

Currently, I am engaged in studying different forms of collectivity with a view to their implications for social order and change.

These studies are conducted through three overall prisms:

- contemporary manifestations of collectivity — from mass phenomena of capitalism to particularized constellations of civil society

- inherited discourses of collectivity — such as private law discourses of ‘legal persons’, anthropological discourses of ‘primitive’ versus ‘modern’ societies, or sociological discourses of ‘modern masses’ — and the demonizations/ idealizations they have engendered

- fundamental issues of collective subjectivity vis-à-vis individual subjectivity— including tensions between life and language, ambiguities of categorical distinctions, and the role of sacralization and mythological exchange.

Theoretically, I draw on a variety of thinkers from the continental traditions of political, social and legal ideas. However, main sources of inspiration are: GWF. Hegel, Carl Schmitt, Theodor Adorno, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben.

Primary research fields:

Political theory and philosophy

Civil society and forms of collectivity

Constitutional principles of modern states

Legal history

Political theology