Mark S. Weiner

Mark S. Weiner received an $18,000 BIAAS grant for his project, “A Social Theory of Emergency Medical Services: Mountain Rescue in Austria and the United States.”

What lessons can be learned from the everyday work and cultural role of the Austrian mountain rescue service for democratic social and political theory? This project explores that seemingly unusual question by placing the Bergrettung in comparative context alongside the history of mountain rescue services in the United States. The central work of the project will involve field observation and interviews with the Bergrettung throughout Austria and, at the University of Salzburg, the construction of a philosophical framework for understanding its implications for democratic society. By developing an interpretive account of this well-known first-responder service from the perspective of the needs of democratic society, the project seeks to contribute to the conceptualization and reform of structures of social solidarity in the face of the weakening of the post-war welfare state.

Mark S. Weiner is Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Salzburg, Austria in 2015, a Fulbright Scholar to Akureyri, Iceland in 2009, and the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies in Uppsala, Sweden in 2018-19.