Dr. Florian Stoll (Leipzig University) is a cultural sociologist with research experience in the Global South (fieldwork in Kenya, Ghana & Brazil) and Global North (mainly Germany & UK).
He wants to make research on the Global South part of international sociology´s everyday business. His main interest are ways of life of (“middle-class”-) milieus and inequalities in the Global South. Other fields of expertise are cultural sociology and the research on different types of work. He works with Prof. Marian Burchardt in the research project “Fluctuation in industrializing developing countries in West Africa (Ghana). New dynamics of employment biographies. For more information on Florian: http://sozweb.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/de/personen/dr-florian-stoll.html

His project at MIASA “Does urbanization change the political order in Africa? A case study on cities, new middle-classes and policy in Kenya” examines how social change affects political processes. Urbanization and the emergence of new groups – in particular, middle-income strata – with permanent residence in cities may shake in the long run the foundations of established socio-political arrangements. Most African countries have seen in the last decades a significant growth of cities. Political systems rely, however, frequently on the networks of societies with a rural majority. This project examines by the case of Kenya how urbanization influences the existing political system.