Guest lecture – Monika Krause: “Theorizing from cases”

Name: Guest lecture – Monika Krause: “Theorizing from cases”
Start: 2026-03-11T14:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-03-11T15:30:00+01:00
Location: P173, Pilestredet 48, Oslo, Norway

Schedule

Wed Mar 11 2026 at 02:00 pm to 03:30 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

P173, Pilestredet 48, Oslo, Norway | Oslo, OS

How do the cases we choose shape the theories we develop – and how might greater reflection on those choices strengthen our theoretical work?
Social scientists have long privileged certain cases above others in the development of theory and concepts – often without fully recognizing the implications of doing so.
In this talk, Professor Monika Krause will discuss strategies for making more reflective use of cases in theorizing.
First, she will argue for more conscious use of privileged cases, showing how these can benefit scholarly communities when acknowledged and reflected upon as particular objects.
Second, she will make a case for the heuristic value of neglected cases, demonstrating how attention to understudied exemplars can help refine our conceptual vocabulary and develop more precise descriptions, explanations, and critiques of social phenomena.
Biography
Monika Krause is Professor of Sociology at London School of Economics, with a PhD in sociology from New York University. She has written several books and articles on theorizing, and is the recipient of the 2019 Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda Setting in Sociology.
Additional information
Introduction: Lars E. F. Johannessen, Professor, OsloMet
Comment: Fredrik Thue, Professor, OsloMet.
The lecture will be recorded but not streamed, with the recording to be made available online later.
Organizers
The event is organized in collaboration between the Qualitative Research Forum (Oslo Metropolitan University) and the Norwegian Sociological Association.
Foto: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold/OsloMet