Two Neighbors, One Vision? The Impact of the European Union's Accession on the Development of Sociology in the Common Border Region Slovenia and Southern Austria. PhD thesis, University of Graz.

This dissertation thesis in the sociology of knowledge investigates the impact of European Union's research policies on the formation of sociology as a scientific discipline. From a comparative perspective, Slovenia and Austria as two small Central European neighbour states and their common border region are taken as a case study, applying a mixed methods design. Based on extensive empirical data analyses with a strong focus on scientific institutions, findings show enabling and constraining effects of opportunity structures given by Europeanization of research policies. Transnational cooperation of scholars contributes to a stock of knowledge more and more known as European sociology.