Review: Peter Berger (2001). Computer und Weltbild. Habitualisierte Konzepte von der Welt der Computer [Computer and Worldview. Habitualized Concepts of the World of Computers]

Authors

  • Till Westermayer Universität Freiburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-4.2.743

Keywords:

computer science, computer science at school, computer science teacher, computer culture, worldview, habitus, thinking style, qualitative research

Abstract

Computer and worldview is not an ethnology of computer culture as a whole, even though the description on the dustcover promises this. Instead, it consists of four more or less separate parts, each not uninteresting on its own. About a third of the book is dedicated to the construction of a detailed, multi-facetted model of worldviews, based on philosophy, social psychology and cognition science. BERGER also describes and legitimates his choice of qualitative research in detail. A methodological innovation is the use of "incubation questionnaires" preceding the interview itself. The third section of the book informs the reader about the history of computer science, about computer science at school—especially in North Rhine Westphalia—, and about computer culture in everyday life. In the last section he presents empirical results based on interviews (N=28) with computer science schoolteachers. This part concentrates on their habitualized worldview, especially in regard to the role computers play, their view on computer science and the various styles of teaching and thinking, which he classifies as either "creative" or "formal". Both the construction of a differentiated model of worldviews and the empirical results concerning the teaching of computer science in schools have value. Seen as a whole, however, BERGER's work lacks some cohesion. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0302152

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Author Biography

Till Westermayer, Universität Freiburg

Till WESTERMAYER (Jg. 1975) hat in Freiburg Soziologie, Informatik und Psychologie studiert und sein Studium mit einer qualitativ orientierten Magisterarbeit über soziologische Zugänge zum "Virtuellen Parteitag" von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Baden-Württemberg abgeschlossen. Er ist zur Zeit wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Forstbenutzung und Forstliche Arbeitswissenschaft der Universität Freiburg und beschäftigt sich dort im Rahmen eines vom BMBF geförderten Forschungsprojektes mit den Arbeits- und Lebensumständen von forstlichen Dienstleistern. Parallel dazu arbeitet er im Rahmen seines Promotionsvorhabens "Technik und Alltagskultur" und im Netzwerk Neue Medien e.V. an techniksoziologischen Fragestellungen.

Published

2003-05-31

How to Cite

Westermayer, T. (2003). Review: Peter Berger (2001). Computer und Weltbild. Habitualisierte Konzepte von der Welt der Computer [Computer and Worldview. Habitualized Concepts of the World of Computers]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-4.2.743