Student assistant (f/m/d) 41 h/month limited to 2 years reference code: StudentRA_Sociology_2026

The sociology department at the John F. Kennedy Institute teaches and studies the political economy of the United States in comparative and historical perspective combining data-driven computational approaches with informed institutional analyses of capitalism, insurance finance, housing and welfare states while drawing on theories from Comparative Political Economy, historical and economic sociology.

Job Description

• Assist the instructors of the sociology department in teaching and research, especially in researching and obtaining literature for research purposes, data collection, maintenance and analysis.
• The student will be expected to contribute in locating, collecting, harmonizing, and systematizing historical data from primary sources of various countries and cities, in analyzing data using statistical software and in writing texts.

Desirable

• Familiarity with quantitative data and, ideally, with historical data sources
• Knowledge of descriptive statistics and experience with statistical software (e.g. R, Stata or Python)
• Interest in economic sociology and political economy
• English language proficiency at level C1 or above; proficiency in more than one additional European language at level B1 or above is an advantage
• Enrollment in a North American Studies programme with an interest in sociology, a sociology programme or a related social science programme, particularly economics
• Enrollment at a German higher education institution