Crime and delinquency, diversity and ethnicity, action theory, social networks

Clemens Kroneberg is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of Cologne. He is an elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sociology and serves on the research board of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office. Kroneberg has played a key role in developing the Model of Frame Selection, a dual-process theory of action, and has applied it to topics such as altruism, crime, trust, and political participation. In recent years, he has led large-scale longitudinal studies in schools, including the DFG project “Friendship and Violence in Adolescence” and the ERC-funded project “Social Integration and Boundary Making in Adolescence.” His research has appeared in leading journals such the American Journal of Sociology, the Annual Review of Sociology, Criminology, or the Annual Review of Criminology.

Published papers

• The Ethnic Lens: Social Networks and the Salience of Ethnicity in the School Context

  Kroneberg, C., & Wittek, M. (2023). The Ethnic Lens: Social Networks and the Salience of Ethnicity in the School Context. Sociological Science, 10, 613-639.

• On the Rise in Child and Juvenile Delinquency in Germany After the End of the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Nägel, C., & Kroneberg, C. (2023). On the Rise in Child and Juvenile Delinquency in Germany After the End of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Criminology – The Online Journal.

• Gütekriterien in der Soziologie. Eine analytisch-empirische Perspektive

  Otte, G., Sawert, T., Brüderl, J., Kley, S., Kroneberg, C., & Rohlfing, I. (2023). Gütekriterien in der Soziologie: Eine analytisch-empirische Perspektive. Zeitschrift für Soziologie.

• “Action” in Research Handbook on Analytical Sociology

  Kroneberg, Clemens and Andreas Tutić, 2021: Action. In: Gianluca Manzo (Ed.): Research Handbook on Analytical Sociology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 186-203.

• Contextualizing Oppositional Cultures: The Variable Significance of Gender and Ethnic Minority Status Across Schools

  Kruse, H. & Kroneberg, C. (2022) Contextualizing Oppositional Cultures: The Variable Significance of Gender and Ethnic Minority Status Across Schools. Social Networks.

• Analytic Criminology: Mechanisms and Methods in the Explanation of Crime and its Causes

  Wikström, P. O. H., & Kroneberg, C. (2021). Analytic Criminology: Mechanisms and Methods in the Explanation of Crime and its Causes. Annual Review of Criminology.

• When Ethnicity and Gender Align: Classroom Composition, Friendship Segregation, and Collective Identities in European School

  Kroneberg, C., Kruse, H., & Wimmer, A. (2021). When Ethnicity and Gender Align: Classroom Composition, Friendship Segregation, and Collective Identities in European Schools. European Sociological Review.

Discussion papers

• Contextualizing Oppositional Cultures: A Multilevel Network Analysis of Status Orders in Schools

Policy briefs

• Zur Entwicklung der Jugendkriminalität im Dunkelfeld 2025: Neue Ergebnisse der Dunkelfeldstudie der Universität zu Köln

• Zur Entwicklung der Kinder- und Jugenddelinquenz in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Abschlussbericht zum Teilprojekt „Dunkelfeld“

• Zur Entwicklung der Kinder- und Jugenddelinquenz in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Zwischenbericht zum Teilprojekt „Dunkelfeld“

• Zum Anstieg der Kinder- und Jugenddelinquenz nach Ende der Corona-Pandemie

• Classroom assignment and social cohesion: Why ethnic origin and gender of students should be considered together