Nora Binder

Visiting Fellow

German Historical Institute Washington
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW | Washington DC 20009
Phone

binder@ghi-dc.org

Biographical Summary

Nora’s research centers on the history of psychology as well as on the history of modern behavioral and social sciences with a special interest in their approaches to governing subjectivity. After completing degrees in Media Studies, Cultural Studies and History at Weimar, Lyon, Konstanz and Berkeley, Nora was awarded her doctorate in 2019 at the Cluster of Excellence (EXC16) of Konstanz University. Published in 2023, her monograph Kurt Lewin und die Psychologie des Feldes. Zur Genese der Gruppendynamik (Mohr Siebeck) sheds light on the influential works of Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) – founding figure of social psychology and pioneer of democratic social engineering during the 20th century. In her book, Nora reconstructs the history, epistemology, and early applications of group dynamics that still resonate in today’s consulting industry and participatory management theories, but also inform the current methodologies of action research and citizen science.

During her fellowship at the GHI, Nora will work on her second book project, which explores the genealogy of the concept of “social competence” and its career (1930–1980). Starting with David McClelland’s competence turn of the 1970s, social competence has not only become a prime goal of psychological test and training programs within applied and business psychology, the successful handling of interpersonal relationships has also come to be seen as a prerequisite for mental health and happiness in the late 20th century. As will be shown, the concept of social competence draws heavily on the practical knowledge the emerging psychological, behavioral, and social sciences in the US began to create when they became more and more interested in researching and steering the new social figuration of “human relations” from the 1930s on.

Prior to starting the fellowship, Nora was the coordinator of the research initiative “Transforming Infrastructure. Cultural Perspectives” at Konstanz University. She has previously researched and taught at the Cluster of Excellence EXC 16 (Konstanz University), the Max Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt, the University of Lucerne, and the Hochschule Ludwigsburg among others. She is a member of the DFG-network “Wissensgeschichten des Unverfügbaren Selbst.”

Main Areas of Interest

  • History of psychology and modern subjectivity
  • History of behavioral and social sciences
  • History of mental health and work
  • Media history
  • History of democratic social engineering
  • History of science / historical epistemology of the 19th and 20th century