D02Reflexive Humandifferenzierung

This subproject examines how individuals problematize, transform, or redefine their belonging to gender- and sexuality-related categories. The focus is on processes of “self-formation,” in which people question their categorical affiliations—whether by challenging binary gender orders, interrogating sexual orientations, or engaging with physical and social constraints on gendered or sexual expression. Empirically, three constellations are analyzed comparatively: sexual counseling and therapy as individual spaces of reflection, peer groups as collective contexts of negotiation, and digital discourses as transsituational spaces of self-positioning. Methodologically, the project combines ethnography, biographical-narrative interviews, and digital discourse analysis to capture the dynamics of reflexive human differentiation.

Self-Formation between Individuality and Collectivity

The project contributes to the study of subjectivation processes by analyzing the interplay between individual self-problematization, social communalization, and collective interpretive patterns. By comparing therapeutic, peer-based, and digital settings, it becomes evident how social contexts shape the development of self-understandings—through professional discourses in counseling, shared experiences in peer groups, or the dynamic negotiation of categories in online communities. Of particular relevance is the question of how societal norms and cultural interpretive frameworks are translated into biographical self-concepts, and what scope exists for the (re)construction of identities.

Societal Relevance: Self-Determination and Social Recognition

The increasing pluralization of gender and sexuality categories challenges individuals to actively negotiate their affiliations. At the same time, gender and sexuality remain contested societal fields—between legal recognition, conservative counter-movements, and demands for inclusive spaces. The project investigates how people shape their self-understandings within these tensions and what role social support, institutional discourses, and digital communalization play in this process. The findings offer not only scientific insights into the dynamics of reflexive human differentiation but also practical impulses for educational, counseling, and therapeutic contexts to foster inclusive and responsible support for self-problematization processes.