Mikaela Sundberg Professor of Sociology

My research spans several substantive and theoretical fields, including science and technology studies, sociology of science, organizational sociology, microsociology, sociology of religion, and military sociology.

My current research deals with the production of knowledge on cause of death, in particular on how cause of death data is achieved in everyday practice. I have a longstanding interest in various aspects of knowledge production, in particular modelling and numerical simulations as scientific practices. Based on two research grants funded by the Swedish research council, I have published work on this in, for example, Social Studies of Science, Science, Technology and Human Values, and Science & Technology Studies.

Voluntary total institutions is another area of expertise. Based on two grants from the Swedish research council, I have studied the French Foreign Legion and Catholic monasteries and published work in this in monographs, articles and book chapters. Based on extensive ethnographic work, the book A Sociology of the Total Organization: Atomistic Unity in the French Foreign Legion (Routledge, 2015) examines the organization of everyday life inside the regiments of the French Foreign Legion as a total institution. Fraternal Relations in Monasteries: The Laboratory of Love (Routledge, 2022) explores social relations in French monasteries of the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance, one of the strictest cloistered orders of the Catholic Church. People enter Catholic monasteries to dedicate themselves to religious life and the relationship with fellow monks and nuns is essential for this vocation. Conceptualizing fraternal relations as a decided, collectivist, egalitarian form of relation prescribing brotherly love, this book shows the tensions between monastic ideals and everyday cloistered life.

Selected publications

Sundberg, M. (forthcoming) Perspectives on knowledge-producing responsibility in forensic death investigations: A new way to approach knowledge work. Journal of Professions and Organization. Accepted.

Sundberg, M (2025) Why forensic pathologists maintain uncertainty in reporting causes of death: How communicative uncertainty devices shape reasoning. Sociology of Health and Illness. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.70105

Sundberg, M. (2022) Fraternal Relations in Monasteries: The Laboratory of Love. Routledge.

Sundberg, M. (2022) "Total Institutions" in Hviid Jacobsen, M. and Smith, G. (eds) Routledge International Handbook of Goffman Studies. Routledge.

Sundberg, M.  (2021) Differences in Secondary Adjustments among Monks and Nuns. Current Sociology 69 (6).

Sundberg, M. (2020) The Politics of Monastic Life. Opportunities for Exit and Voice in a Voluntary Total Institution. European Journal of Sociology 61 (1).

Sundberg, M. (2019) "You can't just stick with those you like"- Why friendship practices threaten fraternal life in Cistercian monasteries. Sociology 53(6).

Sundberg, M (2019) Work practices, normative control and ascetic responsibilization in Cistercian monasteries. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion. 16 (5).

Sundberg, M. (2015) A Sociology of the Total Organization: Atomistic Unity in the French Foreign Legion. Routledge.

Sundberg, M. (2012) Creating Convincing Simulations in Astrophysics, Science, Technology and Human Values, 37(1).

Sundberg, M. (2011) The Dynamics of Coordinated Comparisons: How simulationists in Astrophysics, Oceanography and Meteorology create Standards for Results, Social Studies of Science, 41(1).

Sundberg, M. (2009) The Everyday World of Simulation Modelling: The Construction of Parameterizations in Meteorology, Science, Technology and Human Values, 34 (2).

Sundberg, M. (2007) Parameterizations as Boundary Objects on the Climate Arena, Social Studies of Science 37 (3).

Sundberg, M. (2006) Credulous Modellers and Suspicious Experimentalists? Comparison of Model Output and Data in Meteorological Simulation Modelling, Science & Technology Studies, 19(1).