Lars E.F. Johannessen
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larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Lars E.F. Johannessen
@larsjohannessen.bsky.social
3.1K followers 870 following 400 posts
Sociologist and Prof. in Knowledge, Expertise and Professions at Oslo Metropolitan University • Fellow at Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University • Digital culture • Qualitative methods • Theorizing • Microsociology • STS
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larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Reading list:

The promises and perils of AI for sociology (Au & Fong, 2025, published in Sociology)

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Abstract This article argues that in an age of artificial intelligence (AI), sociologists have not adequately thought about the challenges posed to their work and pedagogy. Drawing on examples from Hong Kong, we foreground the challenges that AI poses to sociological education, student success and working conditions, amid the marketization of higher education and broad shifts in funding toward STEM disciplines. We then suggest four tactical strategies for sociology to respond and live with AI: (1) incorporating computational training into sociological education; (2) incorporating AI into instrument design for sociological research; (3) incorporating AI into models of inference; and (4) incorporating AI into classroom and campus design. We contend that, in doing so, we may rethink the repertoires of professional sociology with new frontiers for AI applications and modalities of student education.
August 7, 2025 at 8:24 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Work-life (im)balance
A selfie of me trying to rock a dual monitor-setting in our couch while our new baby sleeps on my chest
July 31, 2025 at 12:30 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Optimal combo
First-person picture of our new baby sleeping on my chest while I'm reading a nice little book
July 3, 2025 at 8:24 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Time for day one of the Norwegian microsociology meeting! Look at this beautiful room of people 😍
30+ microsociologists in Trondheim
June 16, 2025 at 8:32 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
It's finally here: the second annual meeting of the Norwegian Microsociological Network! This year we're in Trondheim, with Gary Alan Fine and Iddo Tavory as special guests. The drinks reception is over; now we have two full days of talks to look forward to 🤠
Nice water view at 10 pm in Trondheim
June 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Hartmut Rosa just gave the Vilhelm Aubert memorial lecture at the University of Oslo. The guy packed two auditoriums (!) and half of us had to watch on livestream.
My not so impressive view of the livestream
April 24, 2025 at 1:43 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
📢 New paper 📢

We bust 5 myths about face-to-face vs. remote interviewing and argue for "interview mode pluralism" as a more context-aware way of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different interview modes.

Link: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

#Sociology #comsky #STS
Abstract New technology brings new methodological opportunities. While long limited to face-to-face interviewing, today’s interview researchers can choose from a plethora of options, including email, instant messaging, telephone, and video interviews. Consequently, the issue of interview modes and their relative strengths and weaknesses has received increased attention. In this article, we take stock of existing writings on interview modes in qualitative interview research. Drawing on key insights from more general theorizing about face-to-face and remote interaction, we identify and challenge five key assumptions in writings about interview modes: (1) that physical copresence ensures more and better data; (2) that interview modes have determinate effects on interaction; (3) that remote interviewing should seek to replicate face-to-face interviewing; (4) that interviews modes should be held constant within each study; and (5) that face-to-face interviewing is unmediated. We counter each assumption with a series of more productive methodological principles and advance instead a view we call interview mode pluralism, which offers a more nuanced and relational understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different interview modes. The article thus helps increase the methodological literacy of those conducting and evaluating qualitative interview research, enhancing the likelihood that researchers select those tools best suited for their tasks, and reducing the chance that evaluators dismiss research based on their methodological prejudice.
February 2, 2025 at 6:12 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Went skiing for the first time in 10+ years. Fell on my ass a handful of times. Met a horse. Good times.
Smug ski selfie Went off pist for a short while and left my mark in the snow A beautiful sunny day at Storefjell Random horse grassing (?) in the snow
February 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Got promoted to full professor today! AND I'm at a mountain resort for three days of sociological bliss. It's going to be one hell of a weekend!
Overall assessment Considering the submitted material and of the criteria for promotion laid down in the regulations, guidelines for assessment of competence in hiring and promotion at OsloMet, the Committee finds, based on the academic portfolio, education, academic degrees, scientific papers, participation in management of research and development projects, work experience, and pedagogical qualifications, that Lars Emil Fagernes Johannessen is highly qualified for promotion to the post of professor in knowledge, expertise and professions. The conclusion is unanimous and indubitable Mountain view from my hotel room at Storefjell
January 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Can I interest you in a Trolley Parton?
The trolley meme but with Dolly Parton controlling the lever
January 27, 2025 at 6:44 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
My department at @oslomet.bsky.social is hiring a postdoc for the project "Automating technologies and the future of work". Application deadline: 24 February 2025. Read more here: www.oslomet.no/en/work/job-...

#sts #commsky #philsky #sociology
Title: Automating Technologies and the Future of Meaningful Work When artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies change the content of people’s work, will people lose the link to what makes their work meaningful or will it free them up to do more meaningful work? The main objective of the AUTOMA project is to explore how AI and related technologies affect work and the opportunities and/or challenges this entails with regard to meaningful work. The project aims to develop a deeper philosophical understanding of the factors that make work meaningful, while also collecting new empirical data on how the perception of meaningful work is affected when tasks and skills that were previously reserved for people are digitalised to a greater degree. The AUTOMA project consists of two work packages: one aimed at a philosophical and normative analysis of ‘meaningful work’ and one aimed at an empirical examination of meaningful work in workplaces where AI and related technologies have been adopted.
January 26, 2025 at 8:18 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Looks like I ordered my White Christmas on Temu...
Fredrikstad's city center is painted white-ish by fog
December 25, 2024 at 7:34 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
This year's #DuvetKnowItsChristmas comes with a twist: we dodged an ongoing norovirus outbreak at my parents' house and went to my mother-in-law's instead ❤️
One crib, two inflatable mattresses, and one happy wife Blurry and goofy Christmas selfie
December 23, 2024 at 8:00 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Just realized that my Samsung Galaxy Tab can act as a second monitor for my Windows laptop 🤯🤯🤯
My laptop and a Galaxy Tab acting as a supporting monitor.
December 22, 2024 at 5:11 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Hazy Christmas in my home town Fredrikstad 🌲 Picture taken from the deck of its amazing, free-of-charge public ferry ❤️
Partly cloudy, partly hazy morning view of Fredrikstad's city center, as seen from the middle of the Glomma river.
December 21, 2024 at 9:05 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Reading list:

“Which Cases Do I Need?” Constructing Cases and Observations in Qualitative Research - Collins, Neely & Khan (Annual Review of Sociology, 2024)

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
ABSTRACT This methodological review starts one step before Small's classic account of how many cases a scholar needs. We ask, “Which cases do I need?” We argue that a core feature of most qualitative research is case construction, which we define as the delineation of a social category of inquiry. We outline how qualitative researchers construct cases and observations and discuss how these choices impact data collection, analysis, and argumentation. In particular, we examine how case construction and the subsequent logic of crafting observations within cases have consequences for conceptual generalizability, as distinct from empirical generalizability. Drawing from the practice of qualitative work, we outline seven questions qualitative researchers often answer to construct cases and observations. Better understanding and articulating the logic of constructing cases and observations is useful for both qualitative scholars embarking on research and those who read and evaluate their work.
November 21, 2024 at 4:45 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
🚨New publication🚨
My interview with Randall Collins has been published in Theory and Society. In it, we discuss the relevance of his interaction ritual theory in our increasingly digital age. The interview can be read open access here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#Sociology #commsky
Abstract: This interview with Randall Collins explores the role of interaction rituals (IR) in our increasingly digital world. For Collins, IR is a micro-sociological mechanism that provides both the glue that holds social groups together and the energy that fuels disputes and domination. Crucially, Collins posits that IRs are most effective under face-to-face or “bodily copresent” conditions. The pivotal question of this interview is how well this proposition holds in an age where interaction increasingly takes place through and with technologies. The interview begins with Collins explaining how he became interested in IR, before moving on to consider topics such as whether bodily copresence is as important today as it was when he wrote Interaction Ritual Chains (2004); the relative importance of online and offline IRs; how AI might change our ritual landscape; the role of materiality in the ritual process; and whether IR theory will continue to be as relevant in the future.
November 20, 2024 at 6:29 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
👇👇👇
Eat, sleep, Skeet, repeat
November 19, 2024 at 3:58 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Reading list:

David Silverman (2017): How was it for you? The Interview Society and the irresistible rise of the (poorly analyzed) interview

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1... #sociology #commsky #STS
Abstract Atkinson and Silverman’s (1997) depiction of the Interview Society analysed the dominance of interview studies that seek to elicit respondents ‘experiences’ and ‘perceptions’. Their article showed that this vocabulary is deeply problematic, assuming an over-rationalistic account of behaviour and a direct link between the language of people’s accounts and their past and present psychic states. In this article, using a Constructionist approach, I develop these ideas, by asking what sort of data are we trying to retrieve through interviews, i.e. what do interviews reveal? I go on to examine and discount the claimed intellectual auspices for most interview studies and the way in which interview data are usually analysed. I conclude by showing how the reliability of interview transcripts can be improved and the analysis of interview data made more robust.
November 19, 2024 at 8:19 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
I refuse to join Bluesky - I don't wanna help build an Umberto Eco chamber
B/w picture of Umberto Eco
November 17, 2024 at 1:08 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
An intriguing aspect of getting tenure is finding time to read books about all the shit you had to endure to get tenure. Pictured below are my top three reads so far. #AcademicSky
Berg & Seeber: The slow professor: challenging the culture of speed in the academy Collini: What are universities for? Alvesson, Gabriel & Paulsen: Return to meaning: a social science with something to say
November 11, 2024 at 10:45 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Incentives for academics have grown increasingly perverse over the last 50 years #AcademicSky

www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...
A table with all the perverse incentives listed in the paper. Click the link in the post to read more.
November 10, 2024 at 10:55 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
Learn to write badly by Michael Billig. Perfect combo of funny and depressing 👌
November 9, 2024 at 7:02 PM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
My weekend read just arrived in the mail
Learn to write badly by Michael Billig
November 8, 2024 at 8:50 AM
larsjohannessen.bsky.social
"There's nothing like some data to mess up a perfectly good theory" (Luker 2008: 244)
October 21, 2024 at 4:18 PM