Maria Pfeiffer

Maria Pfeiffer studied sociology at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Since July 2021, she has been a research assistant in the Department of Environmental Sociology at the University of Jena. There, she is writing her dissertation on energy justice and property conflicts in the German wind energy expansion as part of the SFB “Structural Change in Property.” From May 2022 to August 2024, she was also a research assistant at the Research Center for Work, Technology, and Culture (F.A.T.K.) in Tübingen. There, she conducted research on municipal infrastructure operations and examined the climate and environmental protection requirements they face, the role of employees in the transformation process, and the potential of municipal companies as key players in the socio-ecological transformation. The project was funded by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation.

A picture of Maria Pfeiffer.

Activities

Publications

Scientific publications
  • Pfeiffer, M.; Sonnberger, M. (2025): "Rushing for the gold of the energy transition: An empirical exploration of the relevance of landownership for the wind energy expansion in Germany", in: Energy Research & Social Science, 123, 104030, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104030.
  • Sonnberger, M.; Pfeiffer, M.; Groß, M. (2024): “Who owns the wind? Understanding wind energy production through a property chains perspective”, In: Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486241282544.
  • Sonnberger, M.; Pfeiffer, M.; Bleicher, A.; & Gross, M. (2024): "Wake effects and temperature plumes: Coping with non-knowledge in the expansion of wind and geothermal energy", In: Social Studies of Science, 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127241246551
  • Müller, A.; Pfeiffer, M. (2023): “Gemeinwohl statt Gewinnmaximierung. Kommunale Unternehmen in der sozial-ökologischen Transformation”, In: Politikum 9(3): 41-47.
  • Pfeiffer, Maria (2023): “Natur zu Hause”, In: Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A., Groß, M. (eds.) Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37222-4_19-1.
  • Pfeiffer, Maria (2023): Im Dschungel zu Hause. Private Entschleunigung und öffentliche Aushandlung des Wohnraums durch Zimmerpflanzen, Baden-Baden: Nomos.
  • Otto, D.; Pfeiffer, M.; de Brito, M. M.; Groß, M. (2022): “Fixed Amidst Change: 20 Years of Media Coverage on Carbon Capture and Storage in Germany”, In: Sustainability 14, no. 12: 7342. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127342
  • Horn, D.; Groß, M.; Pfeiffer, M.; Sonnberger, M. (2022): “How Far Is Far Enough? The Social Constitution of Geothermal Energy through Spacing Regulations”, In: Sustainability 14 (1): 496. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010496
  • Groß, M.; Pfeiffer, M. (2020): “Die Überraschung des Gärtnerns. Freude und Enttäuschung durch die Tugend des Nichtwissens”, In: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg (eds.), Historische Gärten und Gesellschaft. Kultur – Natur – Verantwortung (257-259). Potsdam: Schnell + Steiner.
Media and podcasts

Lectures

  • „Kommunales Eigentum: Eine Frage der Energiegerechtigkeit im Windenergieausbau“; Lecture by Maria Pfeiffer at the joint spring conference of the DGS sections for Science and Technology Studies and Environmental and Sustainability Sociology; TU Dortmund (26.-27.06.2025).

  • „Who owns the Wind? Uncommoning the Commons“; Lecture by Maria Pfeiffer and Marco Sonnberger at the annual conference of SFB/TRR 294 “Structural Change of Property”; Universität Jena (07.11.2024).

  • „Energiedemokratie im deutschen Windenergieausbau? Zur Ungleichverteilung der Entscheidungsmacht in der Energiewende“; Lecture by Maria Pfeiffer and Marco Sonnberger at the conference of the DGS-Arbeitskreis „Soziologie der Nachhaltigkeit“ (SONA) and the DGS-Sektion Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitssoziologie; Universität Stuttgart (06.-07.06.2024).

  • „Leaking in or leaking out – Conceptual thoughts on underground leakage”; Lecture by Danny Otto, Alena Bleicher, Matthias Groß, Marco Sonnberger and Maria Pfeiffer at Leakage – Inaugural Conference of stsing; TU Dresden (19.03.-22.03.2024).

  • „Landeigentum als entscheidende Weichenstellung für die Partizipation an der Windenergie“; Lecture by Maria Pfeiffer and Marco Sonnberger at the workshop „Energiekrise, Eigentum und Daseinsvorsorge – das Energiesystem im Wandel“; Universität Jena (29.02.2024).

  • „Wem gehört der Wind? Soziologische Betrachtungen zu Eigentumsverhältnissen in der Energiewende“; Lecture by Marco Sonnberger and Maria Pfeiffer at the Kolloquium Infrastruktur & Gesellschaft; Universität Stuttgart (13.12.2023).

  • „Wake Effects and Temperature Plumes: Coping with Nonknowledge in the Expansion of Wind and Geothermal Energy“; Lecture by Marco Sonnberger and Maria Pfeiffer at the 6th Energy and Society Conference; University of Trento (06.-08.09.2023).

  • „Wind energy, property regimes and nature-society-technology relations: an empirical exploration of the social perception of wind as an property object“; Lecture by Maria Pfeiffer and Marco Sonnberger at the 6th Energy and Society Conference; University of Trento (06.-08.09.2023).

  • „Grenzen der Inwertsetzung von Wind und Untergrundwärme als Grenzen des Wissens“; Lecture by Marco Sonnberger and Maria Pfeiffer at the 41th DGS-congress of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS); Universität Bielefeld (26.-30.09.2022).

Subprojects

C03 Change in Energy as a Change in Ownership? Dynamics of Appropriation in European Wind Energy Expansion

Researcher