Widerstehen Ferdinand Sutterlüty Interviews of people who resist HC 2025 IN GERMAN ( Deutsch)

“There is another way” is emblazoned across the blurb of his book “Widerstehen. Versuche eines richtigen Lebens im falschen” [Resisting. Attempts at a Right Life in the Wrong One]. Sociologist Ferdinand Sutterlüty has spoken with people who not only criticize but existentially stand up for what they believe is right.

What compels a scholar to write an “ethnographic travelogue”? Why does renowned sociologist Ferdinand Sutterlüty visit people who want to actively change the social conditions they live in, and then publish his conversations with them? He spoke with a prison psychologist who volunteers in sea rescue operations; with a Polish hotel cleaner who stands up against humiliation and exploitation; with an artist who dedicates her work to trans women in the sex industry; with an introverted and highly qualified forest official who challenges rigid male dominance in the office with a lawsuit; and with a mountain farming couple who keep their farm afloat within an old communal structure.

The book “Widerstehen. Versuche eines richtigen Lebens im falschen” by Ferdinand Sutterlüty was published by Hamburger Edition in 2025.

Each interview begins with the author’s account of his journey – sometimes straightforward, sometimes multi-staged – through train stations where trains stop only on request, to remote alpine huts, vocational school classrooms, and rustic kitchen living rooms. He meets people who are nervous, aloof at first, or warmly welcoming. What follows are moving and thought-provoking conversations that revolve around the question of what drives these people to act in defiance.