Abstract (eng)
This thesis is the outcome of a theoretical, methodological and ethnographic investigation into the relationships between sonic perception, acoustic environments and processes of socialization. After clarifying sensuous perception as sociologically relevant material in the first chapter, and by elucidating how our interaction with, and interpretation of sound is in a historically changing state of constant negotiation, construction and re- appropriation in the second one, the third chapter is a theoretical exploration of the multilayered sonic dynamics that produce the contemporary city as a boundless, processual and profoundly sensorial experience. After a detailed account of six ethnographic methods and methodologies for an investigation of soundscapes in the fourth chapter, this thesis concludes with an empirical and practitioner-led application of soundscape-studies, hereby providing an extensive account on the city of Vienna as it is experienced sonically by the people who move in and through its various soundscapes, highlighting distinct urban places and situations that are perceived as troublesome and unhealthy on the one hand, or uniquely comforting and pleasurable on the other, and, finally, proposing suggestions for architectural, political and social improvement and interventions as to make the city a more harmonious, embodied and sensually appealing place.