Interpretations play an important role in the construction of reality. By attributing meaning they can define what is to be considered as “real”, highlight or conceal certain aspects, suggest actions or attitudes and stabilize social practices. Consequently, an inquiry into the power of interpretation – encompassing both the power to establish or influence interpretations and the power of interpretations themselves – is an important task for sociological research, especially for the sociology of (scientific) knowledge (SoK); even more so as studies on this subject are rare.

My PhD project focuses on interpretations of social inequality in order to explore a concept of power of interpretation that is compatible with findings in the field of SoK. Taking “precariat” as an example, I have chosen a popular interpretation in recent German (scientific) discourse on social inequality. I will search for the associations stabilizing this concept, examine its dissemination and reflect on reasons for its implementation. Finally, I will discuss how this interpretation affects the perception of social inequality. A mixed methods design, composed of bibliometrics, content analysis and rhetorical analysis, is the basis of the empirical work and takes the semantic and structural components of interpretational power into consideration.