The analysis of moving and still images with regard to their social, cultural and political role is becoming increasingly important in the social sciences. In the meantime, a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to image and film analysis are available, which also spur each other. While some of them are already established in the German-speaking and/or international scientific world, others are breaking new theoretical and methodological ground.In this volume, scientists of the research focus "Visual Studies in the Social Sciences" at the University of Vienna present various approaches that are applied in the disciplines of political science, sociology, media and communication studies as well as cultural and social anthropology. They range from sociological-hermeneutic approaches and reconstructions using the documentary method to multimodal analysis and ethnographic analyses as well as film analyses to participatory approaches and a visual essay. Based on theoretical considerations, their implementation is shown using a concrete example in each case. The aim is to demonstrate concrete empirical analyses and their methodological foundations. The examples relate to different visual media, different social contexts and a variety of subject matters. The volume contains contributions in German and English and provides an insight into the wide field of approaches to the analysis of visuals in the social sciences.

The analysis of moving and still images with regard to their social, cultural and political role is becoming increasingly important in the social sciences. In the meantime, a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to image and film analysis are available, which also spur each other. While some of them are already established in the German-speaking and/or international scientific world, others are breaking new theoretical and methodological ground.In this volume, scientists of the research focus "Visual Studies in the Social Sciences" at the University of Vienna present various approaches that are applied in the disciplines of political science, sociology, media and communication studies as well as cultural and social anthropology. They range from sociological-hermeneutic approaches and reconstructions using the documentary method to multimodal analysis and ethnographic analyses as well as film analyses to participatory approaches and a visual essay. Based on theoretical considerations, their implementation is shown using a concrete example in each case. The aim is to demonstrate concrete empirical analyses and their methodological foundations. The examples relate to different visual media, different social contexts and a variety of subject matters. The volume contains contributions in German and English and provides an insight into the wide field of approaches to the analysis of visuals in the social sciences.