Born on July 21, 1967 in Frankfurt/M. Study of sociology and business administration in Berlin and New York, MA in sociology (1991), Master of Business Administration (1993), Dr. phil. in sociology (1996), German Habilitation in sociology (2003), both in Berlin, Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University, Department of Sociology (1994-95), John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow, Harvard University (2001-2002), Associate Professor of Sociology, International University Bremen (2002-2003), Fernand Braudel Fellow, European University Institute Florence (2007-2008), Professor of Sociology, University of Göttingen (2003-2005), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (since 2005).