In our course we will read and discuss Stefan Kühl’s book “Ordinary Organizations”. Kühl asks, why so many Germans actively participated in the extermination of the European Jews. He proposes the theory of the ‘ordinary organisation’ - a bundle of organisational mechanisms and norms that ensured the willingness of members without political motives to participate.
While prior sociological explanations of the Holocaust have often emphasized individual motivations or broad cultural factors, Kühl's approach shifts the focus to the organizational dimensions of social action and structure.
After some introductory sessions outlining key theoretical contributions to the sociology of the Holocaust (e.g. by Zygmunt Bauman), we will turn to Stefan Kühl’s Normal Organizations. We will read and discuss selected chapters to examine how formal organizations shape behavior and meaning in this specific historical contexts. Special attention will be given to how organizational mechanisms—such as rules, hierarchies, and membership boundaries—can illuminate dynamics that individualistic or purely cultural accounts might overlook.