@article{HustedtSeyfried2017, author = {Hustedt, Thurid and Seyfried, Markus}, title = {Inside the EU Commission}, series = {JCMS - Journal of common market studies}, volume = {56}, journal = {JCMS - Journal of common market studies}, number = {2}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0021-9886}, doi = {10.1111/jcms.12605}, pages = {368 -- 384}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This article studies the perception of the EU Commission's Secretariat General in policy-making. Recently, research on EU institutions devotes increasing attention to analyzing structures and procedures of decision-making in EU institutions, most notably the EU Commission. Conventionally, the EU Commission is portrayed as a fragmented organization, divided along the lines of staff nationality, sectoral responsibilities and cabinets and General Directorates (DGs). The Secretariat General has long been viewed a weak actor that is hardly able or motivated to steer internal decision-making. However, recent research indicates a changing role of the Secretariat General as a pro-active broker and last arbiter. This article studies how the Secretariat General is perceived by the DGs in policy coordination and argues that this perception depends on the pattern of political authority, bureaucratic roles and the relevance and the alternatives prevailing in the policy field. The article is based on data from a survey among Commission officials.}, language = {en} } @article{JantzKlenkLarsenetal.2018, author = {Jantz, Bastian and Klenk, Tanja and Larsen, Flemming and Wiggan, Jay}, title = {Marketization and Varieties of Accountability Relationships in Employment Services}, series = {Administration \& society}, volume = {50}, journal = {Administration \& society}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {Thousand Oaks}, issn = {0095-3997}, doi = {10.1177/0095399715581622}, pages = {321 -- 345}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In the past decade, European countries have contracted out public employment service functions to activate working-age benefit clients. There has been limited discussion of how contracting out shapes the accountability of employment services or is shaped by alternative democratic, administrative, or network forms of accountability. This article examines employment service accountability in Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain. We find that market accountability instruments are additional instruments, not replacements. The findings highlight the importance of administrative and political instruments in legitimizing marketized service provision and shed light on the processes that lead to the development of a hybrid accountability model.}, language = {en} } @article{Hickmann2017, author = {Hickmann, Thomas}, title = {The reconfiguration of authority in global climate governance}, series = {International Studies Review}, volume = {19}, journal = {International Studies Review}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1521-9488}, doi = {10.1093/isr/vix037}, pages = {430 -- 451}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Much of the literature in the field of international relations is currently concerned with the changing patterns of authority in world politics. This is particularly evident in the policy domain of climate change, where a number of authors have observed a relocation of authority in global climate governance. These scholars claim that multilateral treaty making has lost much of its spark, and they emphasize the emergence of transnational governance arrangements, such as city networks, private certification schemes, and business self-regulation. However, the different types of interactions between the various transnational climate initiatives and the intergovernmental level have not been studied in much detail and only recently attracted growing scholarly interest. Therefore, the present article addresses this issue and focuses on the interplay between three different transnational climate governance arrangements and the international climate regime. The analysis in this article underscores that substate and nonstate actors have attained several authoritative functions in global climate policy making. Nevertheless, the three case studies also demonstrate that this development does not imply that we are witnessing a general shift of authority away from the intergovernmental level toward transnational actors. Instead, what can be observed in global climate governance is an ongoing reconfiguration of authority, which apparently reaffirms the centrality of the international climate regime. Thus, this article points to the need for a more nuanced perspective on the changing patterns of authority in global climate governance. In a nutshell, this study shows that the international climate regime is not the only location where the problem of climate change is addressed, while it highlights the persistent authority of state-based forms of regulation.}, language = {en} } @article{KnothKiyMuelleretal.2020, author = {Knoth, Alexander Henning and Kiy, Alexander and M{\"u}ller, Ina and Klein, Mathias}, title = {Competences in context}, series = {Technology, knowledge and learning}, volume = {25}, journal = {Technology, knowledge and learning}, number = {4}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {2211-1662}, doi = {10.1007/s10758-019-09407-8}, pages = {707 -- 731}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Mobile applications are suitable as a structural possibility for students beginning their studies. Using the appReflect.UP,students are encouraged to reflect on the organization, contents, and objectives of their studies. This article focuses on how students can acquire the academic ability to consider their own actions, which is an intrinsic component of academic professionalization. The work examines how a competency framework is derived through study regulations and module descriptions, and how subsequent questions for students' reflection are systematically created using this framework. Next, the hybrid mobile applicationReflect.UPand its underlying software components are introduced, stimulating students' reflections on study content and objectives. The data gathered through the practical use ofReflect.UPis evaluated, and then the ensuing conclusions drawn from students' problems and learning processes for organizing the course of studies are explored. In addition, this paper reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of a mobile application as a sociological and technological compound for structural support of the introductory phase of education.}, language = {en} } @article{ZiesemerHuettelBalderjahn2021, author = {Ziesemer, Florence and H{\"u}ttel, Alexandra and Balderjahn, Ingo}, title = {Young people as drivers or inhibitors of the sustainability movement}, series = {Journal of consumer policy : consumer issues in law, economics and behavioural sciences}, volume = {44}, journal = {Journal of consumer policy : consumer issues in law, economics and behavioural sciences}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0168-7034}, doi = {10.1007/s10603-021-09489-x}, pages = {427 -- 453}, year = {2021}, abstract = {As overconsumption has negative effects on ecological balance, social equality, and individual well-being, reducing consumption levels among the materially affluent is an emerging strategy for sustainable development. Today's youth form a crucial target group for intervening in unsustainable overconsumption habits and for setting the path and ideas on responsible living. This article explores young people's motivations for engaging in three behavioural patterns linked to anti-consumption (voluntary simplicity, collaborative consumption, and living within one's means) in relation to sustainability. Applying a qualitative approach, laddering interviews reveal the consequences and values behind the anti-consumption behaviours of young people of ages 14 to 24 according to a means-end chains analysis. The findings highlight potential for and the challenges involved in motivating young people to reduce material levels of consumption for the sake of sustainability. Related consumer policy tools from the fields of education and communication are identified. This article provides practical implications for policy makers, activists, and educators. Consumer policies may strengthen anti-consumption among young people by addressing individual benefits, enabling reflection on personal values, and referencing credible narratives. The presented insights can help give a voice to young consumers, who struggle to establish themselves as key players in shaping the future consumption regime.}, language = {en} } @article{BobzienKalleitner2020, author = {Bobzien, Licia and Kalleitner, Fabian}, title = {Attitudes towards European financial solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic}, series = {European societies}, volume = {23}, journal = {European societies}, number = {Sup. 1}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1461-6696}, doi = {10.1080/14616696.2020.1836669}, pages = {S791 -- S804}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic affects all European countries, the ways in which these countries are prepared for the health and subsequent economic crisis varies considerably. Financial solidarity within the European Union (EU) could mitigate some of these inequalities but depends upon the support of the citizens of individual member states for such policies. This paper studies attitudes of the Austrian population - a net-contributor to the European budget - towards financial solidarity using two waves of the Austrian Corona Panel Project collected in May and June 2020. We find that individuals (i) who are less likely to consider the Covid-19 pandemic as a national economic threat, (ii) who believe that Austria benefits from supporting other countries, and (iii) who prefer the crisis to be organized more centrally at EU-level show higher support for European financial solidarity. Using fixed effects models, we further show that perceiving economic threats and preferring central crisis management also explain attitude dynamics within individuals over time. We conclude that cost-benefit perceptions are important determinants for individual support of European financial solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserVockWojciechowicz2021, author = {Kayser, Daniela Niesta and Vock, Miriam and Wojciechowicz, Anna Aleksandra}, title = {Example of best practice}, series = {Intercultural education}, volume = {32}, journal = {Intercultural education}, number = {1}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1467-5986}, doi = {10.1080/14675986.2021.1851513}, pages = {108 -- 118}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The Refugee Teachers Program, established at the University of Potsdam, Brandenburg, in 2016, represents a successful model for training and integrating individuals with foreign teaching qualifications through an 18-month teaching and language course. Initially created to help meet the demand for teachers in Germany, the Refugee Teachers Program has been further refined over the course of the last three years in the light of expert meetings, theoretical considerations, and negotiations with the Brandenburg Ministry of Education. This was the first program of its kind in Germany, following an influx of people being forced to migrate from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq in 2015. The program responded to these international events by providing training, work, and refuge for migrants who already had teaching experience in their home countries. More than 85 participants successfully completed the program and many have taken up newly created positions as teachers and pedagogical assistants in German schools. However, a number of hurdles still remain before most of the program's graduates can be granted full employment as teachers in Germany.}, language = {en} } @article{PraegFritschRichard2022, author = {Pr{\"a}g, Patrick and Fritsch, Nina-Sophie and Richard, Lindsay}, title = {Intragenerational social mobility and wellbeing}, series = {Social forces : SF ; an international journal of social research associated with the Southern Sociological Society}, volume = {101}, journal = {Social forces : SF ; an international journal of social research associated with the Southern Sociological Society}, number = {2}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1534-7605}, pages = {665 -- 693}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Social theory has long predicted that social mobility, in particular downward social mobility, is detrimental to the well-being of individuals. Dissociative and "falling from grace" theories suggest that mobility is stressful due to the weakening of social ties, feelings of alienation, and loss of status. In light of these theories, it is a puzzle that the majority of quantitative studies in this area have shown null results. Our approach to resolve the puzzle is two-fold. First, we argue for a broader conception of the mobility process than is often used and thus focus on intragenerational occupational class mobility rather than restricting ourselves to the more commonly studied intergenerational mobility. Second, we argue that self-reported measures may be biased by habituation (or "entrenched deprivation"). Using nurse-collected health and biomarker data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2010-2012, N = 4,123), we derive a measure of allostatic load as an objective gauge of physiological "wear and tear" and compare patterns of mobility effects with self-reports of health using diagonal reference models. Our findings indicate a strong class gradient in both allostatic load and self-rated health, and that both first and current job matter for current well-being outcomes. However, in terms of the effects of mobility itself, we find that intragenerational social mobility is consequential for allostatic load, but not for self-rated health. Downward mobility is detrimental and upward mobility beneficial for well-being as assessed by allostatic load. Thus, these findings do not support the idea of generalized stress from dissociation, but they do support the "falling from grace" hypothesis of negative downward mobility effects. Our findings have a further implication, namely that the differences in mobility effects between the objective and subjective outcome infer the presence of entrenched deprivation. Null results in studies of self-rated outcomes may therefore be a methodological artifact, rather than an outright rejection of decades-old social theory.}, language = {en} } @article{BergerFritschMader2022, author = {Berger, Christian and Fritsch, Nina-Sophie and Mader, Katharina}, title = {Transformation und Krise der Sorgearbeit}, series = {Kurswechsel : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r gesellschafts-, wirtschafts- und umweltpolitische Alternativen}, journal = {Kurswechsel : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r gesellschafts-, wirtschafts- und umweltpolitische Alternativen}, number = {2}, publisher = {BEIGEWUM}, address = {Wien}, issn = {1016-8419}, pages = {40 -- 50}, year = {2022}, language = {de} } @article{LiedlWiesbroeckFritschetal.2020, author = {Liedl, Bernd and Wiesbr{\"o}ck, Laura and Fritsch, Nina-Sophie and Verwiebe, Roland}, title = {The structure of social capital in Austria}, series = {{\"O}sterreichische Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Soziologie}, volume = {45}, journal = {{\"O}sterreichische Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Soziologie}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Wiesbaden}, doi = {10.1007/s11614-020-00403-2}, pages = {115 -- 138}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This paper seeks to address the relationship between social capital and perceived social origin in contemporary Austria. While the concept of social capital has been widely adopted in social sciences, so far research on the (pre)structured shape of social capital by social origin is scarce. Our aim is to close this gap. Therefore, we use the network-as-capital approach by following the "position generator" and apply latent class analysis (LCA) and path modelling on the basis of the 2018 Austrian Social Survey. The dataset comprises a representative sample of the Austrian residential population aged 18 and older. Our findings show that the diversity of social capital, and access to networks of people in more highly ranked positions is strongly influenced by one's social background. The higher respondents assess their social origin, the greater the probability of being in this type of network. Furthermore, education and occupation have effects on membership in a class-specific network.}, language = {en} }