I am curious about how digitalization processes are negotiated and become effective in societies. In my research and teaching, I employ frameworks of economic and organisational sociology to engage with this question. My dissertation project examines how political, economic and civil society actors shape the embedding of platform companies into local contexts. To this end, I compare the field around Airbnb in Cape Town and Berlin, analyzing how the actors struggle for spatial and temporal order— and who prevails in the process. While I primarily conduct qualitative research, I am also interested in exploring the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches in mixed-methods designs.
Forschungsschwerpunkte
- Digitalization and Social Order
- Economic & Organizational Sociology
- Qualitative Methods and Comparative Case Studies
Curriculum Vitae
| since 10/2025 | Research Associate Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Sociology Chair of Transnational Labor |
| 05/2022 until 09/2025 | Research Associate Technical University Berlin, Collaborative Research Centre “Refiguration of Spaces” Project “Platform Economy: Spacial Conflicts around Airbnb” Research stays in Cape Town: March 2023 and March 2024 |
| 03/2022 | M.A. Social Sciences Humboldt-University Berlin |
| 03/2019 | B.A. Social Sciences Humboldt-University Berlin |
| 01/2017 until 03/2022 | Student Assistant Positions at – Weitenbaum Institute for the Networked Society Berlin – Institute of Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin – Berlin Social Science Center |
Presentations
| 23.09.2025 | „Raum und Zeit als Ankerpunkte für Felder in Transition“ Conference of the German Sociological Association, Section of Organisational Sociology Duisburg |
05.09.2025 | „The Field around Airbnb in Cape Town. On Spatial and Temporal References“ Conference of the Research Network Economic Sociology, European Sociological Association Berlin |
| 09.11.2024 | Invited talk: „Sharing and the Cities. Airbnb in Cape Town and Berlin“ Annual Conference of the Collaborative Research Centre “Structural Change of Property” Jena |
| 27.06.2024 | „Airbnb in Cape Town: Of Imagined Futures and Spatial Relations in a Contested Field“ Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, Research Network Digital Economy Limerick |
| 18.04.2024 | „A Welcoming State. The Field around Airbnb in Cape Town“ Conference of mid-level scientific staff, Section of Economic Sociology, German Sociological Association Berlin |
Memberships
since 01.2024 German Sociological Association
since 05.2025 Section of Economic Sociology & Section of Organizational Sociology of the German Sociological Association
Reviewed Journals
Pohl, S., Hecht, C., Kirchner, S. (i. E.): Regulation Ends at the Interface. A Digital Mixed-Methods-Study of Airbnb Market Structures in Berlin and Cape Town. In: Historical Social Research.
Papers in Collections and Journals
Kirchner, S., Ametowobla, D., Hecht, C. (i. E.): Methoden und Daten zur Erforschung spezi-eller Organisationen: Plattformorganisationen. In: Liebig, S., Matiaske, W., Rosenbohm, S. (Hrsg.). Handbuch Empirische Organisationsforschung. Wiesbaden: Springer.
Pohl, S., Ducke, E., Hecht, C. (i. E.): Airbnb’s Digital Colonialism in Cape Town. In: Sön-mez, S., Steets, S. (Eds.). Refiguration of Cyberspace. London: Routledge.
Hecht, C. (2025): Superhosts Don’t Cry (About a Room They Would Rather Use Themselves. In: Farías; I., Steets, S., Gansterer, N. (Eds.). Atlas of Spatial Figures. Berlin, Boston: Jovis, S. 46-47.
Hecht, C. (2025): Who’s Hacking the Neighbourhood. In: Farías; I., Steets, S., Gansterer, N. (Eds.). Atlas of Spatial Figures. Berlin, Boston: Jovis, S. 83-84.
Hecht, C. (2025): Torn between Autonomy and Algorithmic Management. (Dis)Obedience of Solo Self Employed Working via Digital Platforms. In: Quadflieg, S., Neuburg, K., Nestler, S. (Eds.). (Dis)Obedience in Digital Societies. Bielefeld: Transkript, S. 172-193.
Further
Hecht, C. (2023): Algorithmic Management und Fitnesstracking. Datafizierte Situationen und Gesellschaftsbilder. In: FIfF Kommunikation 01/2023, S. 65-67.
Hecht, C. (2022): Plattform Kapitalismus. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsy-chologie 74, S. 553-556. (Rezension zu: Altenried, M., Dück, J, Wallis, M. (Hrsg.): Plattform-kapitalismus und die Krise der sozialen Reproduktion. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 20211