Soziologie der Aufmerksamkeit

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the theoretical relevance of the concept of “attention” for understanding the social. Against the backdrop of neurological, psychological and philosophical insights into this subject matter, and drawing on both classical as well as current theories on this phenomenon, the article will examine the term’s respective meanings and develop genuinely sociological questions in order to underline the heuristic value of research on this topic. Furthermore, it will be argued that the (post-)modern subject oscillates between being at liberty to bestow his attention at will and being forced to do so, and the social processes accounting for attention gradually becoming an ever more scarce resource will be identified. The field of science is then drawn upon as an example to illustrate the fight for attention, followed by a plea for the comprehensive treatment of attention as a key sociological issue.