Prof. Dr. Jörg Rössel, born in 1968, since 2008 Ordinarius of Sociology at the University of Zurich and since August 2013 director of the Institute of Sociology. He studied sociology and history at the Freie Universität Berlin. He was occupied at the Institute of Cultural Science at the University of Leibzig, the International University of Bremen, the University of Erfurt and the University of Cologne. In 2003/2004, he became a Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Research focus areas: sociological theory, empirical cultural sociology, social stratification, political sociology, comparative historical sociology.