Title of the project: Sociology of failure: coupling social infrastructures and personal experiences

Principal Investigator: Martin Hájek
Team members: Ivan Cuker, Eva Soares Moura, Tereza Svobodová, Kristián Šrám
Duration: 2022-2024
Funding: The Czech Science Agency, n. 22-12099S

Annotation
The project aims to understand the social organization of failure in contemporary society by identifying social infrastructures of failure (procedures and narratives) and associated subjective experiences. In classical sociology, the concept of failure played an important role (e.g., anomie or protestants' economic anxiety); however, it was marginalized to mere dysfunction or deviation in modern sociology. To restore disciplinary interest in failure as a normal phenomenon, we will investigate the link between the social organization and the experience of failure in four areas of human activity: business incubators, platform work, environmental education, and development projects. We will conduct empirical research in these areas, combining textual, observational and institutional data analysis with an emphasis on using transparent research methods to increase the reproducibility of results.