The work of the Institute of European Cultural History can be categorised into three closely interlinked focus areas, which open up access to numerous and diverse fields of research and projects.

Central to the definition of these perspective axes is the basic understanding of cultural history shared by the members of the Institute. Accordingly, cultural history is not defined by a specific subject area, but by an understanding of history that interprets actors, processes and structures in their own temporal conditionality, in their social constructedness and thus also in their fundamental controversial nature. Culture is therefore not understood as a social phenomenon alongside others (such as the state/politics and the economy), but rather as a comprehensive network of meaning creation and attribution of meaning, which in principle affects all areas of human life and coexistence. Processes of negotiation, communication and mediality thus move to the centre of interest. Societies, social organisations, larger and smaller groups of people charge their world with meaning and significance, negotiate their values and norms with each other and communicate with each other about reality(ies). In their concepts, their narratives, their actions they create identities and social cohesion, they negotiate knowledge, they establish or contest hierarchies and much more. Communication (oral, performative, written, visual) and mediality are therefore not only the basis of all fundamental processes of culture, but must also always be considered in the fields identified here as research perspectives of the Institute's work.