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- Fachgruppe Soziologie (152) (remove)
Social institutions
(2024)
Social institutions are a system of behavioral and relationship patterns that are densely interwoven and enduring and function across an entire society. They order and structure the behavior of individuals in core areas of society and thus have a strong impact on the quality of life of individuals. Institutions regulate the following: (a) family and relationship networks carry out social reproduction and socialization; (b) institutions in the realm of education and training ensure the transmission and cultivation of knowledge, abilities, and specialized skills; (c) institutions in the labor market and economy provide for the production and distribution of goods and services; (d) institutions in the realm of law, governance, and politics provide for the maintenance of the social order; (e) while cultural, media, and religious institutions further the development of contexts of meaning, value orientations, and symbolic codes.
Does working in a gender-atypical occupation reduce individuals’ likelihood of finding a different-sex romantic partner, and do such occupational partnership penalties contribute to occupational gender segregation? To answer this question, we theorized partnership penalties for working in gender-atypical occupations by drawing on insights from evolutionary psychology, social constructivism, and rational choice theory and exploited the stability of occupational pathways in Germany. In Study 1, we analyzed observational data from a national probability sample (N= 1,634,944) to assess whether individuals in gender-atypical occupations were less likely to be partnered than individuals who worked in gender typical occupations. To assess whether the observed partnership gaps found in Study 1 were causally related to the gender typicality of men’s and women’s occupations, we conducted a field experiment on a dating app (N = 6,778). Because the findings from Study 2 suggested that young women and men indeed experienced penalties for working in a gender-atypical occupation (at least when they were not highly attractive), we employed a choice-experimental design in Study 3 (N = 1,250) to assess whether women and men were aware of occupational partnership penalties and showed that anticipating occupational partnership penalties may keep young and highly educated women from working in gender-atypical occupations. Our main conclusion therefore is that that observed penalties and their anticipation seem to be driven by unconscious rather than conscious processes.
Citizenship
(2024)
Im Vergleich zu Umfragen an Wahrscheinlichkeitsstichproben bieten Umfragen an Access-Panels, die auf Nicht-Wahrscheinlichkeitsstichproben basieren, unbestreitbare wirtschaftliche Vorteile. Diese Vorteile gehen jedoch mit unvermeidbaren Qualitätseinbußen einher, die auch dann bestehen bleiben, wenn Erstere sehr niedrige Responseraten haben. Daher müssen die wirtschaftlichen Vorteile und die methodischen Einschränkungen gegeneinander abgewogen werden. Es wird argumentiert, dass diese Abwägung anhand normativer Festlegungen erfolgen muss. Unter Anwendung der hier vorgeschlagenen Maßstäbe kommt der Beitrag zu dem Schluss, dass die Qualitätsansprüche an über Massenmedien verbreitete Meinungsumfragen höher sein sollten als für rein (sozial)wissenschaftliche Zwecke.
A review of all research papers published in the European Sociological Review in 2016 and 2017 (N = 118) shows that only a minority of papers clearly define the parameter of interest and provide sufficient reasoning for the selected control variables of the statistical analysis. Thus, the vast majority of papers does not reach minimal standards for the selection of control variables. Consequently, a majority of papers interpret biased coefficients, or statistics without proper sociological meaning. We postulate that authors and reviewers should be more careful about control variable selection. We propose graphical causal models in the form of directed acyclic graphs as an example for a parsimonious and powerful means to that end.
Soziale Schließung
(2023)
Diese Masterarbeit zielt darauf ab, exemplarisch an zoologischen Gärten für das politische Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Mensch und Tier zu sensibilisieren sowie die damit einhergehenden Aushandlungsprozesse auf individueller bzw. gesamtgesellschaftlicher Ebene didaktisch anschlussfähig zu machen. Nach einer kurzen begrifflichen Einführung der titelgebenden Termini werden in diesem Sinne vier verschiedene Ausdrucksformen ambivalenter Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen erörtert: die Entwicklungsgeschichte und Architektur sowie die Artenschutz- bzw. Bildungsleistungen der Zoos. Dabei wird der historisch vorbelastete Balanceakt zoologischer Gärten deutlich, in Gegenwart und Zukunft menschliche und tierliche Interessen glaubhaft in Einklang bringen zu müssen. Als Grundübel dieses Dilemmas wird wiederum der menschliche Anspruch identifiziert, Naturzustände vor dem Hintergrund eines fragwürdigen Legitimationsnarratives kulturell nachstellen zu wollen.
Außerdem entfaltet der Autor die These, dass der Zoo gerade durch die ihn prägenden Ambivalenzen gegenüber anderen Problembereichen der Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen an Kontroversität gewinnt und somit prädestiniert ist, um als politikdidaktische Reibungsfläche zeitgemäßer Mensch-Tier-Beziehungen zu fungieren. Dementsprechend werden abschließend Zugänge vorgeschlagen, um den Zoo als außerschulischen politischen Lernort vor dem Hintergrund vielfältiger Streitfragen erkunden und produktiv erörtern zu können.
Indem Schülerinnen und Schüler demnach die Wert- und Zweckrationalität der Zoos auf den Prüfstand stellen, werden sie dazu angeregt, sich selbst- und gesellschaftskritisch mit dem politischen Verhältnis zwischen Tieren und Menschen auseinanderzusetzen. Die dabei exemplarisch am Zoo gewonnenen Erkenntnisse und Überzeugungen lassen sich in Bezug auf die ebenso drängende wie polarisierende Tierfrage abstrahieren. Durch den somit geschaffenen Orientierungsrahmen werden die Lernenden nicht zuletzt in die Lage versetzt, ihre gereiften Vorstellungen von einem angemessenen Umgang mit (nichtmenschlichen) Tieren öffentlich zu vertreten.
Der Beteiligungsimperativ
(2023)
Spätestens seit den 1990-er Jahren erscheint der Begriff Beteiligung in diversen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen als allgemein anerkannter Imperativ, der von unterschiedlichen Akteur*innen als Allheilmittel angepriesen wird. Doch wenn Beteiligung proklamiert wird, bedeutet das mitnichten eine Garantie für gesellschaftliche Teilhabe. Mit Hilfe einer dispositivanalytischen Untersuchung von top-down Beteiligungsmaßnahmen in der Berliner Quartiersentwicklung zeigt Magdalena Otto, wie der Begriff Beteiligung verschiedenartig anschlussfähig ist und dadurch eine kaum hinterfragte Legitimationskraft ausstrahlt. Im Zentrum der hier entwickelten Theorie über den Beteiligungsimperativ steht die Rekonstruktion von vier idealtypisch zu verstehenden Deutungsmustern zur Legitimation von Beteiligungsmaßnahmen sowie ihre intendierten und unbeabsichtigten Folgen. Der konstatierte Beteiligungsimperativ zeigt sich dabei als eine auf Aktivierung setzende, neoliberale Gouvernementalität in Reaktion auf städtische Segregations- und Marginalisierungsprozesse, die Krise des Kommunalstaats und damit einhergehende veränderte Steuerungserfordernisse für Regierungshandeln.
The US perennially has a far higher poverty rate than peer-rich democracies.1 This high poverty rate in the US presents an enormous challenge to population health given that considerable research demonstrates that being in poverty is bad for one’s health.2 Despite valuable contributions of prior research on income and mortality, the quantity of mortality associated with poverty in the US remains uknown. In this cohort study, we estimated the association between poverty and mortality and quantified the proportion and number of deaths associated with poverty.
Pulp Science?
(2023)
Digitalisation in industry – also called “Industry 4.0” – is seen by numerous actors as an opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of the industrial sector. The scientific assessments of the effects of digitalisation in industry on environmental sustainability, however, are ambivalent. This cumulative dissertation uses three empirical studies to examine the expected and observed effects of digitalisation in industry on environmental sustainability. The aim of this dissertation is to identify opportunities and risks of digitalisation at different system levels and to derive options for action in politics and industry for a more sustainable design of digitalisation in industry. I use an interdisciplinary, socio-technical approach and look at selected countries of the Global South (Study 1) and the example of China (all studies). In the first study (section 2, joint work with Marcel Matthess), I use qualitative content analysis to examine digital and industrial policies from seven different countries in Africa and Asia for expectations regarding the impact of digitalisation on sustainability and compare these with the potentials of digitalisation for sustainability in the respective country contexts. The analysis reveals that the documents express a wide range of vague expectations that relate more to positive indirect impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) use, such as improved energy efficiency and resource management, and less to negative direct impacts of ICT, such as electricity consumption through ICT. In the second study (section 3, joint work with Marcel Matthess, Grischa Beier and Bing Xue), I conduct and analyse interviews with 18 industry representatives of the electronics industry from Europe, Japan and China on digitalisation measures in supply chains using qualitative content analysis. I find that while there are positive expectations regarding the effects of digital technologies on supply chain sustainability, their actual use and observable effects are still limited. Interview partners can only provide few examples from their own companies which show that sustainability goals have already been pursued through digitalisation of the supply chain or where sustainability effects, such as resource savings, have been demonstrably achieved. In the third study (section 4, joint work with Peter Neuhäusler, Melissa Dachrodt and Marcel Matthess), I conduct an econometric panel data analysis. I examine the relationship between the degree of Industry 4.0, energy consumption and energy intensity in ten manufacturing sectors in China between 2006 and 2019. The results suggest that overall, there is no significant relationship between the degree of Industry 4.0 and energy consumption or energy intensity in manufacturing sectors in China. However, differences can be found in subgroups of sectors. I find a negative correlation of Industry 4.0 and energy intensity in highly digitalised sectors, indicating an efficiency-enhancing effect of Industry 4.0 in these sectors. On the other hand, there is a positive correlation of Industry 4.0 and energy consumption for sectors with low energy consumption, which could be explained by the fact that digitalisation, such as the automation of previously mainly labour-intensive sectors, requires energy and also induces growth effects. In the discussion section (section 6) of this dissertation, I use the classification scheme of the three levels macro, meso and micro, as well as of direct and indirect environmental effects to classify the empirical observations into opportunities and risks, for example, with regard to the probability of rebound effects of digitalisation at the three levels. I link the investigated actor perspectives (policy makers, industry representatives), statistical data and additional literature across the system levels and consider political economy aspects to suggest fields of action for more sustainable (digitalised) industries. The dissertation thus makes two overarching contributions to the academic and societal discourse. First, my three empirical studies expand the limited state of research at the interface between digitalisation in industry and sustainability, especially by considering selected countries in the Global South and the example of China. Secondly, exploring the topic through data and methods from different disciplinary contexts and taking a socio-technical point of view, enables an analysis of (path) dependencies, uncertainties, and interactions in the socio-technical system across different system levels, which have often not been sufficiently considered in previous studies. The dissertation thus aims to create a scientifically and practically relevant knowledge basis for a value-guided, sustainability-oriented design of digitalisation in industry.
Web scraping, a technique for extracting data from web pages, has been in use for decades, yet its utilization in the field of migration, mobility, and migrant integration studies has been limited. The field faces notorious limitations regarding data access and availability, particularly in low-income settings. Web scraping has the potential to provide new datasets for further qualitative and quantitative analysis. Web scraping requires no financial resources, is agnostic to epistemic divides in the field, reduces researcher bias, and increases transparency and replicability of data collection. As large providers of digital data such as Facebook or Twitter increasingly restrict access to their data for researchers, web scraping will become more important in the future and deserves its place in the toolbox of migration and mobility scholars. This short and nontechnical methods note introduces the fundamental concepts of web scraping, provides guidance on how to learn the technique, showcases practical applications of web scraping in the study of migrant populations, and discusses potential future use cases.
Ausgehend von Bourdieus Kapitaltheorie diskutieren wir in diesem Beitrag, inwiefern ökonomisch verwertbare personenbezogene Daten als Fundament einer eigenständigen Form eines neuen digitalen Kapitals gesehen werden können. Als wertvolles und umkämpftes Gut entfaltet es in spezifischen Feldern eine soziale Wirkmächtigkeit und spiegelt sich in den Reproduktionsstrategien von Akteur*innen und korrespondierenden Ungleichheitsstrukturen.
Risk perceptions of individuals living in single-parent households during the COVID-19 crisis
(2023)
The COVID-19 crisis had severe social and economic impact on the life of most citizens around the globe. Individuals living in single-parent households were particularly at risk, revealing detrimental labour market outcomes and assessments of future perspectives marked by worries. As it has not been investigated yet, in this paper we study, how their perception about the future and their outlook on how the pandemic will affect them is related to their objective economic resources. Against this background, we examine the subjective risk perception of worsening living standards of individuals living in single-parent households compared to other household types, their objective economic situation based on the logarithmised equivalised disposable household incomes and analyse the relationship between those indicators. Using the German SOEP, including the SOEP-CoV survey from 2020, our findings based on regression modelling reveal that individuals living in single-parent households have been worse off during the pandemic, facing high economic insecurity. Path and interaction models support our assumption that the association between those indicators may not be that straightforward, as there are underlying mechanisms–such as mediation and moderation–of income affecting its direction and strength. With respect to our central hypotheses, our empirical findings point toward (1) a mediation effect, by demonstrating that the subjective risk perception of single-parent households can be partly explained by economic conditions. (2) The moderating effect suggests that the concrete position at the income distribution of households matters as well. While at the lower end of the income distribution, single-parent households reveal particularly worse risk perceptions during the pandemic, at the high end of the income spectrum, risk perceptions are similar for all household types. Thus, individuals living in single-parent households do not perceive higher risks of worsening living standards due to their household situation per se, but rather because they are worse off in terms of their economic situation compared to individuals living in other household types.
Im Zentrum dieser Forschungsnotiz steht die Frage nach der Bewertung von Einkommensungleichheit in der österreichischen Gegenwartsgesellschaft. Anhand von ISSP- und SSÖ-Daten können unsere Analysen diesbezüglich zeigen, dass Einkommensungleichheit von einer großen Mehrheit aktuell als zu hoch wahrgenommen wird. Zudem sehen die Menschen in Österreich sehr häufig den Staat in der Verantwortung Einkommensungleichheit abzubauen; viel häufiger als das in anderen europäischen Ländern der Fall ist. Während der Bereich Gesundheit und Pension seit Mitte der 1980er von der überwiegenden Mehrheit als staatliche Aufgabe gesehen wurde, liegt die Verantwortung für den Abbau von Einkommensungleichheit auf einem niedrigeren Zustimmungsniveau. Die Befürwortung der Absicherung von Arbeitslosen als Verantwortung des Staats nimmt aktuell eher ab, trotz der gestiegenen Arbeitslosigkeit zu Beginn der Pandemie. Schließlich zeigen unsere Regressionsanalysen, dass Unterschiede in der Beurteilung von Einkommensungleichheiten u. a. durch sozio-demographische Faktoren, die berufliche Stellung, das Haushaltseinkommen aber auch durch persönliche Einstellungen und Gerechtigkeitsüberzeugungen erklärt werden können.
Schon früh während der Corona-Pandemie entwickelte sich die Idee einer Schutzimpfung gegen das Virus zu einem zentralen Motiv im Kampf gegen die globale und teils tödliche Seuche. Dies spiegelt sich auch in den medial ausgetragenen Debatten um Anti-Corona-Vakzine wider, in denen bestimmtes, teils konflikthaftes Wissen produziert und vermittelt wurde.
Die vorliegende Masterarbeit rekonstruiert den deutschsprachigen Diskurs um die Corona-Schutzimpfung in Form einer wissenssoziologischen Diskursanalyse. Sie untersucht, wie gesellschaftliches Wissen zur Impfung in meinungsführenden Tages- und Wochenzeitungen sowie in ausgewählten Blogs während der Pandemie von Anfang 2020 bis Mitte 2022 (re)produziert wird.
Ausgangspunkt sind – anknüpfend an aktuelle Beiträge der kritischen Soziologie – die politisch-ökonomischen Zusammenhänge und Voraussetzungen, wie beispielsweise globale Lebens-, Wirtschafts- und Konsumweisen, durch die diese Pandemie erst möglich wurde. Durch diese Perspektive kann die Pandemie als soziales Ereignis begriffen werden, anstatt als unvorhersehbare medizinische Katastrophe, wie es in den politischen und medialen Debatten den Anschein hatte. In der Analyse zeigt sich, dass diese Umstände in der medialen Auseinandersetzung keinerlei Widerhall fanden, was den Diskurs de-kontextualisiert und den herausgearbeiteten Radikalismen den Boden bereitet hat.
Die Analyse ermöglicht es, zwei Zugänge zum Diskurs zu unterscheiden: Ein Portal eröffnet den Zugang über gesellschaftlich mehrheitlich anerkanntes, also orthodoxes Wissen, das zweite über gesellschaftlich mehrheitlich nicht anerkanntes, also heterodoxes Wissen. Entlang von benannten Themen, Problemen und Lösungen lassen sich auf einer Pro-Kontra-Achse sieben Wissenstypen rekonstruieren, die von radikaler Impfbefürwortung bis radikaler Ablehnung reichen. Vier der Wissensbestände argumentieren für die Impfung, drei dagegen – der Raum des Indifferenten dazwischen bleibt medial unbesetzt. Anschließend werden diese Typen entlang von Werten, auf die rekurriert wird, und schließlich nach Ressourcen, Verantwortlichkeiten und Sprecher*innenrollen unterschieden, sodass eine klare und idealtypische Charakterisierung des jeweiligen Wissens entsteht.
Durch die Analyse werden überdies diskursive Verschiebungen im Zeitverlauf sichtbar. Es zeigen sich einerseits eine Polarisierung des Diskurses insgesamt, andererseits eine Ernüchterung innerhalb der Impfbefürwortung sowie die interdependente Radikalisierung von Positionen an beiden Enden des Spektrums.
Abschließend werden die Ergebnisse der Analyse komplementär zum Ausgangspunkt gesellschaftstheoretisch eingebettet. Zum einen werden Eigendynamiken de-kontextualisierter und sich infolgedessen radikalisierender Diskurse reflektiert, innerhalb derer sich die Extreme so weit voneinander entfernen, dass sie sich schlussendlich wieder berühren. Zum anderen wird die im Diskurs sichtbar dominante neo-soziale Anrufung der individuellen Verantwortung in einer gleichzeitig wenig solidarischen Gesellschaft im Kontext eines neoliberal geprägten Verständnisses von individueller Freiheit, Demokratie und sozialer Verantwortung diskutiert.
The long term relationship between medicaid expansion and adult life-threatening chronic conditions
(2023)
We test whether the expansions of children's Medicaid eligibility in the 1980s–1990s resulted in long-term health benefits in terms of severe chronic conditions. Still relatively rare in the field, we use prospective individual-level panel data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) along with the higher quality income measures from the Cross-National Equivalent File (adjusting for taxes, transfers and household size). We observe severe chronic conditions (high blood pressure/heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or lung disease) at ages 30–56 (average age 43.1) for 4670 respondents who were also prospectively observed during childhood (i.e., at ages 0–17). Our analysis exploits within-region temporal variation in childhood Medicaid eligibility and adjusts for state- and individual-level controls. We uniquely concentrate attention on adjusting for childhood income. A standard deviation greater childhood Medicaid eligibility significantly reduces the probability of severe chronic conditions in adulthood by 0.05 to 0.12 (16%–37.5% reduction from mean 0.32). Across the range of observed childhood Medicaid eligibility, the probability is approximately cut in half. Greater childhood Medicaid eligibility also substantially reduces childhood income disparities in severe chronic conditions. At higher levels of childhood Medicaid eligibility, we find no significant childhood income disparities in adult severe chronic conditions.
Führung in Teilzeit?
(2023)
Teilzeitarbeit in Führungsetagen ist eine Ausnahme, obwohl das Thema Arbeitszeitreduzierung durch veränderte Familienarrangements und zunehmende berufliche Belastung wichtiger geworden ist. Daran hat weder der seit mehr als 20 Jahren bestehende Rechtsanspruch auf einen Teilzeitarbeitsplatz noch das im Jahr 2019 eingeführte Rückkehrrecht auf einen Vollzeitarbeitsplatz nach zeitlich begrenzten Arbeitszeitreduktionen etwas geändert. Dieser Beitrag nutzt Daten der Europäischen Arbeitskräfteerhebung, um Teilzeitarbeit von Führungskräften in Deutschland sowohl im zeitlichen als auch im internationalen Vergleich einzuordnen und damit ein empirisches Fundament für die gesellschaftliche Diskussion um Teilzeitführungskräfte zu legen. Die Auswertungen zeigen: In Deutschland arbeiteten im Jahr 2019 laut eigener Aussage rund 14 % der Führungskräfte in Teilzeit. Im europäischen Vergleich gehört Deutschland damit zu den Ländern mit dem höchsten Anteil an teilzeitarbeitenden Führungskräften. Die Auswertungen zeigen auch, dass in Deutschland der Anteil der weiblichen Führungskräfte in Teilzeit mit rund 32 % deutlich über dem der männlichen Führungskräfte liegt (rund 3 %) und es große Unterschiede nach Altersgruppen gibt. Als Motiv für eine Arbeitszeitreduktion geben Führungskräfte, insbesondere Frauen, zumeist Pflege- und Betreuungsverpflichtungen an.
Hochwasser, Brände, Stromausfälle oder Vandalismus – Kulturgüter können durch verschiedene Ereignisse gefährdet oder gar zerstört werden. Die Notfallvorsorge für Kulturgüter gehört zwar zu den Kernaufgaben von Kultureinrichtungen, doch nach wie vor fehlen vielerorts die nötigen Ressourcen sowie eine konsequente Koordination aller für einen effektiven Kulturgutschutz notwendigen Partner. Das Diskussionspapier „Organisatorische Voraussetzungen der Notfallvorsorge für Kulturgüter“ fasst die bereits etablierten Methoden zur Notfallvorsorge zusammen und gibt Empfehlungen zur Weiterentwicklung.
Einleitung
(2023)
Ramadan in der Schule
(2023)
Wenn Schüler:innen im Ramadan fasten, müssen Schulen sowohl die Religionsausübung respektieren, als auch ihrem Bildungsauftrag nachkommen. Die daraus erwachsenden Herausforderungen werden vor allem an die Lehrkräfte und weniger an formale Bildungsstrukturen adressiert. Beim Versuch, diese widersprüchlichen Erwartungen als einzelne Lehrkraft zu bewältigen, entstehen Risiken für Diskriminierung. Unser Beitrag zeigt damit beispielhaft den Zusammenhang von schulorganisatorischen Rahmenbedingungen und Diskriminierungsrisiken auf.
Der Umgang mit Diversität in militärischen Organisationen wird auf drei Ebenen diskutiert: Auf der ersten geht es um Gemeinsamkeiten und die typischen Diskurse um Vielfalt in den Streitkräften. Auf der zweiten wird aufgezeigt, wie unterschiedlich in den Streitkräften um Diversität gerungen wird. Auf der dritten Ebene wird auf die mikropolitischen Auseinandersetzungen innerhalb von Streitkräften eingegangen. Deutlich gemacht wird in dem Beitrag, wie vielfältig der Umgang mit Diversität in den Streitkräften ist.
Background:
Like most countries, Germany is currently recruiting international nurses due to staff shortages. While these are mostly academic, the academisation of nursing in Germany has only just begun. This allows for a broader look at the participation of migrant nurses: How do care teams deal with the fact that immigrant colleagues are theoretically more highly qualified than long-established colleagues?
Methods:
Case studies were conducted in four inpatient care teams of two hospitals in 2022. Qualitative data include 26 observation protocols, 4 group discussions and 17 guided interviews. These were analysed using the documentary method and validated intersubjectively.
Results:
Due to current academisation efforts in Germany and the immigration of academised nursing staff from abroad, the areas of activity and responsibility of nursing in Germany are under negotiating pressure. This concerns basic care for example, which in Germany is provided by skilled workers, but in other countries is mostly provided by assistants or relatives. The question of who should provide basic care, whether all nurses or only nursing assistants, documents the struggle between an established and a new understanding of care. In this context, the knowledge and skills of migrant and academicised care workers become a crucial aspect in the struggle for a new professional identity for care in Germany.
Conclusions:
The specific situation in Germany makes it possible to show the potential for change that international care migration can constitute for destination countries. The far-reaching process of change of German nursing is given a further dimension not only by its academization, but by the immigration of international and academically trained nursing staff, where inclusive or exclusive effects can already be observed.
Key messages: The increasing proportion of migrant nurses accelerates the current discussion on nursing in Germany. Conflict areas show up in everyday work of care teams and must be addressed there.
Einleitung
Pflege in Deutschland befindet sich in einem Veränderungsprozess. Die politisch forcierte Zuwanderung von Pflegekräften sowie die Akademisierung führen zu einem enormen Anpassungsdruck bei allen Beteiligten. Wie wirkt sich dies auf den Arbeitsalltag aus?
Methoden
Die qualitative Datenbasis umfasst bisher 36 Tage Teilnehmende Beobachtung, 17 Themenzentrierte Leitfadeninterviews sowie vier Gruppendiskussionen in vier Pflegeteams zweier Krankenhäuser. Die Analyse erfolgt mit der Dokumentarischen Methode.
Ergebnisse
Am Beispiel der Grundpflege (u. A. dem „Waschen“) wird deutlich, wie die Pflegeteams ihren Arbeitsalltag neu aushandeln. Die Teams mit einer hohen migrationsbezogenen Diversität argumentieren eher, dass die Aufgaben der Grund- und Behandlungspflege entsprechend der Qualifikation als Hilfs- oder Fachkraft erledigt werden sollen. Hier treten stereotype (kulturalisierende) Zuschreibungen in den Hintergrund. Demgegenüber berufen sich Pflegeteams mit einer niedrigen migrationsbezogenen Diversität eher darauf, dass die Grundpflege in Deutschland – anders als in anderen Ländern – zu den Aufgaben einer examinierten Pflegefachkraft zählt. Kolleg*innen aus dem Ausland wird die pflegerische Kompetenz daher eher abgesprochen.
Schlussfolgerung
Die Frage nach der Aufteilung von Grund- und Behandlungspflege, ist auf allen Stationen virulent. Die Teams entwickeln jedoch in Abhängigkeit von ihrer spezifischen Heterogenität unterschiedliche Umgangsweisen. Demzufolge sollte sich Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung insbesondere an den Pflegeteams orientieren.
Militärische Organisationen
(2023)
Die Spezifik militärischer Organisationen als Organisationstypus lässt sich aus der Bestimmung von Kriegen als Trias von „Gewalt + Organisation + Legitimation“ ableiten. Der Kern des Typs liegt entsprechend zum einen darin, die Fähigkeit zum organisierten Kampf zu entwickeln, d. h., bei seinen Mitgliedern die Fähigkeit zu erzeugen, Gewalt strategisch einzusetzen und diese auch selbst zu ertragen, und zum anderen, die Etablierung dieser Fähigkeit und ihren Einsatz auch zu legitimieren. Der Beitrag arbeitet darüber hinaus die Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der drei Subtypen militärischer Organisationen – reguläre Streitkräfte, private militärische Organisationen und Guerilla – heraus. Die Unterschiede liegen darin, wie sie sich legitimieren und finanzieren, wie sie ihr Personal akquirieren und ausbilden, und welche Bedeutung militärische Symbole und Rituale haben.
Militärische Sozialisation
(2023)
Zwar gibt es für jeden Beruf und in vielen Betrieben spezielle Ausbildungs- oder Traineeprogramme. Zumeist aber unterscheiden sich diese in Inhalt und der Art ihrer Vermittlung von der Ausbildung, die Soldaten und Soldatinnen erhalten. In diesem Beitrag wird der Begriff der militärischen Sozialisation in Bezug zu den neueren Konzeptionen des Sozialisationsbegriffs gesetzt. Danach werden verschiedene Sozialisationskonzepte, die auf die militärische Sozialisation angewendet wurden, vorgestellt. Dazu gehören Goffmans Theorie der totalen Institution, Foucaults Idee der Disziplinierung und entwicklungstheoretische Ansätze. Gezeigt wird aber auch, wie schwierig es ist, militärische Sozialisation empirisch zu fassen.
Das Handbuch Organisationssoziologie liefert einen umfassenden Überblick über die Entwicklung, den Stand und die Zukunft der Organisationssoziologie als wissenschaftliche Disziplin. Dabei geht es sowohl um die systematische Aufnahme relevanter Theoriestränge, Methoden und Konzepte als auch um die Wechselbeziehungen, Überschneidungen und Komplementaritäten zu Nachbardisziplinen, die in einem Dialog aufgenommen werden. Das Handbuch vermittelt so einen eigenständigen Zugriff auf die Organisationssoziologie und bündelt gleichzeitig dessen Wissen auf dem neuesten Stand. Darüber soll es zu einem Standardwerk zur Organisationssoziologie im deutschsprachigen Raum werden.
In a comparison of three human service organisations in which the human body plays a key role, we examine how organisations regulate religious body practices. We concentrate on Muslim norms of dressing and undressing as a potential focal point of cultural and religious diversity. Inspired by Ray’s (2019) idea of racialized organizations, we assume that state-run organizations in Germany are characterized by a strong commitment to religious tolerance and non-discrimination but also marked by anti- Muslim sentiment prevalent among the German population. Our study looks for mechanism that explain how Human Service Organizations accommodate Muslim body practices. It draws on qualitative empirical data collected in state-run hospitals, schools and swimming pools in Germany. Our analyses show that the organizations draw on formal and informal rules at the organizational level to accommodate Islam. We identify five general organizational mechanisms that may hinder Muslim accommodation in human service organizations. In particular, we see a risk of decoupling between the expectation of religious tolerance and processes that lead to informal discrimination, driven mainly by the difficulty of controlling group dynamics among users.
A growing number of studies have recently postulated a so-called local turn in the study of immigrant and refugee integration policy. A fundamental, yet untested, assumption of this body of research is that local (sub-national) policies and administrations shape how migrants and refugees integrate into society. We develop and apply an analytical model using multilevel modeling techniques based on large-N, longitudinal survey data (N > 9000) with refugees (2012–2018) in a highly decentralized country (Germany) to estimate the scope for local policy effects net of individual-level and state- and district-level characteristics. We show that region and district-level variation in integration outcomes across multiple dimensions (employment, education, language, housing, social) is limited (∼5%) within 4–8 years after immigration. We find modest variation in policy indicators (∼10%), which do not appear to directly translate into outcomes. We discuss implications for the study of local policies and the potential for greater convergence between administrative and political science, interested in governance structures and policy variation, and sociology and economics, interested primarily in integration outcomes.
The digitization process has triggered a profound transformation of modern societies. It encompasses a broad spectrum of technical, social, political, cultural and economic developments related to the mass use of computer- and internet-based technologies. It is now becoming increasingly clear that digitization is also changing existing structures of social inequality and that new structures of digital inequality are emerging. This is shown by a growing number of recent individual studies. In this paper, we set ourselves the task of systematizing this new research within the framework of an empirically supported literature review. To do so, we use the PRISMA model for literature reviews and focus on three central dimensions of inequality - ethnicity, gender, and age - and their relevance within the discourse on digitization and inequality. The empirical basis consists of journal articles published between 2000 and 2020 and listed on the Web of Science, as well as an additional Google Scholar search, through which we attempt to include important monographs and contributions to edited volumes in our analyses. Our text corpus thus comprises a total of 281 articles. Empirically, our literature review shows that unequal access to digital resources largely reproduces existing structures of inequality; in some cases, studies report a reduction in social inequalities as a result of the digitization process.
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.
Neuroleadership
(2022)
Wie können notwendige Systemwechsel „gemanaged“ werden, wenn die etablierten Führungsansätze an heutigen Entwicklungen vorbeigehen? Das Buch beschäftigt sich mit dem Ansatz des Neuroleadership, der einen Beitrag leisten kann, Führungskonzepte weiterzuentwickeln.
Dieser neue Ansatz erweitert die bisherigen Konzepte durch die Verknüpfung von Neurosciences, Leadershiptheorie und Systemtheorie. Leadership wird dabei vor allem als beratende und unterstützende Funktion gesehen, für die Kompetenzen im hybriden systemischen Neurocoaching benötigt werden. Ein spezieller Fokus liegt auf den Einflüssen durch Digitalisierung, Intuitive, Künstliche und Web-Intelligenz.
Objective: This article analyzed gender differences in professional advancement following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic based on data from open-source software developers in 37 countries. Background: Men and women may have been affected differently from the social distancing measures implemented to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that men and women tend to work in different jobs and that they have been unequally involved in childcare duties, school and workplace closings may have impacted men's and women's professional lives unequally. Method: We analyzed original data from the world's largest social coding community, GitHub. We first estimated a Holt-Winters forecast model to compare the predicted and the observed average weekly productivity of a random sample of male and female developers (N=177,480) during the first lockdown period in 2020. To explain the crosscountry variation in the gendered effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on software developers' productivity, we estimated two-way fixed effects models with different lockdown measures as predictors - school and workplace closures, in particular. Results: In most countries, both male and female developers were, on average, more productive than predicted, and productivity increased for both genders with increasing lockdown stringency. When examining the effects of the most relevant types of lockdown measures separately, we found that stay-at-home restrictions increased both men's and women's productivity and that workplace closures also increased the number of weekly contributions on average - but for women, only when schools were open. Conclusion: Having found gender differences in the effect of workplace closures contingent on school and daycare closures within a population that is relatively young and unlikely to have children (software developers), we conclude that the Covid-19 pandemic may indeed have contributed to increased gender inequalities in professional advancement.
In diesem Beitrag wird der Versuch unternommen, anhand des Konzepts der Diffraktion die (neomaterialistischen) Arbeiten Donna Haraways und Karen Barads mit bestimmten Ansätzen der Black Studies in Kontakt zu bringen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen hier Texte von Saidiya Hartman und Christina Sharpe, die auf dem afterlife of slavery und der Grundlegung modernen Wissens und moderner Politik als antiblackness insistieren. Angestrebt ist ein nicht-integratives, wechselseitiges Beachten divergenter (Theorie-)Praktiken, um partielle Kollaborationen zu ermöglichen.
Studies from several countries suggest that COVID-19 vaccination rates are lower among migrants compared to the general population. Urgent calls have been made to improve vaccine outreach to migrants, however, there is limited evidence on effective approaches, especially using social media. We assessed a targeted, low-cost, Facebook campaign disseminating COVID-19 vaccine information among Arabic, Turkish and Russian speakers in Germany (N = 888,994). As part of the campaign, we conducted two randomized, online experiments to assess the impact of the advertisement (1) language and (2) depicted messenger (government authority, religious leader, doctor or family). Key outcomes included reach, click-through rates, conversion rates and cost-effectiveness. Within 29 days, the campaign reached 890 thousand Facebook users. On average, 2.3 individuals accessed the advertised COVID-19 vaccination appointment tool for every euro spent on the campaign. Migrants were 2.4 (Arabic), 1.8 (Russian) and 1.2 (Turkish) times more likely to click on advertisements translated to their native language compared to German-language advertisements. Furthermore, findings showed that government representatives can be more successful in engaging migrants online compared to other messengers, despite common claims of lower trust in government institutions among migrants. This study highlights the potential of tailored, and translated, vaccination campaigns on social media for reaching migrants who may be left out by traditional media campaigns.
Studies from several countries suggest that COVID-19 vaccination rates are lower among migrants compared to the general population. Urgent calls have been made to improve vaccine outreach to migrants, however, there is limited evidence on effective approaches, especially using social media. We assessed a targeted, low-cost, Facebook campaign disseminating COVID-19 vaccine information among Arabic, Turkish and Russian speakers in Germany (N = 888,994). As part of the campaign, we conducted two randomized, online experiments to assess the impact of the advertisement (1) language and (2) depicted messenger (government authority, religious leader, doctor or family). Key outcomes included reach, click-through rates, conversion rates and cost-effectiveness. Within 29 days, the campaign reached 890 thousand Facebook users. On average, 2.3 individuals accessed the advertised COVID-19 vaccination appointment tool for every euro spent on the campaign. Migrants were 2.4 (Arabic), 1.8 (Russian) and 1.2 (Turkish) times more likely to click on advertisements translated to their native language compared to German-language advertisements. Furthermore, findings showed that government representatives can be more successful in engaging migrants online compared to other messengers, despite common claims of lower trust in government institutions among migrants. This study highlights the potential of tailored, and translated, vaccination campaigns on social media for reaching migrants who may be left out by traditional media campaigns.
Richtig oder falsch?
(2022)
What are the consequences of unemployment and precarious employment for individuals' health in Europe? What are the moderating factors that may offset (or increase) the health consequences of labor-market risks? How do the effects of these risks vary across different contexts, which differ in their institutional and cultural settings? Does gender, regarded as a social structure, play a role, and how? To answer these questions is the aim of my cumulative thesis. This study aims to advance our knowledge about the health consequences that unemployment and precariousness cause over the life course. In particular, I investigate how several moderating factors, such as gender, the family, and the broader cultural and institutional context, may offset or increase the impact of employment instability and insecurity on individual health.
In my first paper, 'The buffering role of the family in the relationship between job loss and self-perceived health: Longitudinal results from Europe, 2004-2011', I and my co-authors measure the causal effect of job loss on health and the role of the family and welfare states (regimes) as moderating factors. Using EU-SILC longitudinal data (2004-2011), we estimate the probability of experiencing 'bad health' following a transition to unemployment by applying linear probability models and undertake separate analyses for men and women. Firstly, we measure whether changes in the independent variable 'job loss' lead to changes in the dependent variable 'self-rated health' for men and women separately. Then, by adding into the model different interaction terms, we measure the moderating effect of the family, both in terms of emotional and economic support, and how much it varies across different welfare regimes. As an identification strategy, we first implement static fixed-effect panel models, which control for time-varying observables and indirect health selection—i.e., constant unobserved heterogeneity. Secondly, to control for reverse causality and path dependency, we implement dynamic fixed-effect panel models, adding a lagged dependent variable to the model.
We explore the role of the family by focusing on close ties within households: we consider the presence of a stable partner and his/her working status as a source of social and economic support. According to previous literature, having a partner should reduce the stress from adverse events, thanks to the symbolic and emotional dimensions that such a relationship entails, regardless of any economic benefits. Our results, however, suggest that benefits linked to the presence of a (female) partner also come from the financial stability that (s)he can provide in terms of a second income. Furthermore, we find partners' employment to be at least as important as the mere presence of the partner in reducing the negative effect of job loss on the individual's health by maintaining the household's standard of living and decreasing economic strain on the family. Our results are in line with previous research, which has highlighted that some people cope better than others with adverse life circumstances, and the support provided by the family is a crucial resource in that regard.
We also reported an important interaction between the family and the welfare state in moderating the health consequences of unemployment, showing how the compensation effect of the family varies across welfare regimes. The family plays a decisive role in cushioning the adverse consequences of labor market risks in Southern and Eastern welfare states, characterized by less developed social protection systems and –especially the Southern – high level of familialism.
The first paper also found important gender differences concerning job loss, family and welfare effects. Of particular interest is the evidence suggesting that health selection works differently for men and women, playing a more prominent role for women than for men in explaining the relationship between job loss and self-perceived health. The second paper, 'Gender roles and selection mechanisms across contexts: A comparative analysis of the relationship between unemployment, self-perceived health, and gender.' investigates more in-depth the gender differential in health driven by unemployment.
Being a highly contested issue in literature, we aim to study whether men are more penalized than women or the other way around and the mechanisms that may explain the gender difference. To do that, we rely on two theoretical arguments: the availability of alternative roles and social selection. The first argument builds on the idea that men and women may compensate for the detrimental health consequences of unemployment through the commitment to 'alternative roles,' which can provide for the resources needed to fulfill people's socially constructed needs. Notably, the availability of alternative options depends on the different positions that men and women have in society.
Further, we merge the availability of the 'alternative roles' argument with the health selection argument. We assume that health selection could be contingent on people's social position as defined by gender and, thus, explain the gender differential in the relationship between unemployment and health. Ill people might be less reluctant to fall or remain (i.e., self-select) in unemployment if they have alternative roles. In Western societies, women generally have more alternative roles than men and thus more discretion in their labor market attachment. Therefore, health selection should be stronger for them, explaining why unemployment is less menace for women than for their male counterparts.
Finally, relying on the idea of different gender regimes, we extended these arguments to comparison across contexts. For example, in contexts where being a caregiver is assumed to be women's traditional and primary roles and the primary breadwinner role is reserved to men, unemployment is less stigmatized, and taking up alternative roles is more socially accepted for women than for men (Hp.1). Accordingly, social (self)selection should be stronger for women than for men in traditional contexts, where, in the case of ill-health, the separation from work is eased by the availability of alternative roles (Hp.2).
By focusing on contexts that are representative of different gender regimes, we implement a multiple-step comparative approach. Firstly, by using EU-SILC longitudinal data (2004-2015), our analysis tests gender roles and selection mechanisms for Sweden and Italy, representing radically different gender regimes, thus providing institutional and cultural variation. Then, we limit institutional heterogeneity by focusing on Germany and comparing East- and West-Germany and older and younger cohorts—for West-Germany (SOEP data 1995-2017). Next, to assess the differential impact of unemployment for men and women, we compared (unemployed and employed) men with (unemployed and employed) women. To do so, we calculate predicted probabilities and average marginal effect from two distinct random-effects probit models. Our first step is estimating random-effects models that assess the association between unemployment and self-perceived health, controlling for observable characteristics. In the second step, our fully adjusted model controls for both direct and indirect selection. We do this using dynamic correlated random-effects (CRE) models. Further, based on the fully adjusted model, we test our hypotheses on alternative roles (Hp.1) by comparing several contexts – models are estimated separately for each context. For this hypothesis, we pool men and women and include an interaction term between unemployment and gender, which has the advantage to allow for directly testing whether gender differences in the effect of unemployment exist and are statistically significant. Finally, we test the role of selection mechanisms (Hp.2), using the KHB method to compare coefficients across nested nonlinear models. Specifically, we test the role of selection for the relationship between unemployment and health by comparing the partially-adjusted and fully-adjusted models. To allow selection mechanisms to operate differently between genders, we estimate separate models for men and women.
We found support to our first hypotheses—the context where people are embedded structures the relationship between unemployment, health, and gender. We found no gendered effect of unemployment on health in the egalitarian context of Sweden. Conversely, in the traditional context of Italy, we observed substantive and statistically significant gender differences in the effect of unemployment on bad health, with women suffering less than men. We found the same pattern for comparing East and West Germany and younger and older cohorts in West Germany.
On the contrary, our results did not support our theoretical argument on social selection. We found that in Sweden, women are more selected out of employment than men. In contrast, in Italy, health selection does not seem to be the primary mechanism behind the gender differential—Italian men and women seem to be selected out of employment to the same extent. Namely, we do not find any evidence that health selection is stronger for women in more traditional countries (Hp2), despite the fact that the institutional and the cultural context would offer them a more comprehensive range of 'alternative roles' relative to men. Moreover, our second hypothesis is also rejected in the second and third comparisons, where the cross-country heterogeneity is reduced to maximize cultural differences within the same institutional context. Further research that addresses selection into inactivity is needed to evaluate the interplay between selection and social roles across gender regimes.
While the health consequences of unemployment have been on the research agenda for a pretty long time, the interest in precarious employment—defined as the linking of the vulnerable worker to work that is characterized by uncertainty and insecurity concerning pay, the stability of the work arrangement, limited access to social benefits, and statutory protections—has emerged only later. Since the 80s, scholars from different disciplines have raised concerns about the social consequences of de-standardization of employment relationships. However, while work has become undoubtedly more precarious, very little is known about its causal effect on individual health and the role of gender as a moderator. These questions are at the core of my third paper : 'Bad job, bad health? A longitudinal analysis of the interaction between precariousness, gender and self-perceived health in Germany'. Herein, I investigate the multidimensional nature of precarious employment and its causal effect on health, particularly focusing on gender differences.
With this paper, I aim at overcoming three major shortcomings of earlier studies: The first one regards the cross-sectional nature of data that prevents the authors from ruling out unobserved heterogeneity as a mechanism for the association between precarious employment and health. Indeed, several unmeasured individual characteristics—such as cognitive abilities—may confound the relationship between precarious work and health, leading to biased results. Secondly, only a few studies have directly addressed the role of gender in shaping the relationship. Moreover, available results on the gender differential are mixed and inconsistent: some found precarious employment being more detrimental for women's health, while others found no gender differences or stronger negative association for men. Finally, previous attempts to an empirical translation of the employment precariousness (EP) concept have not always been coherent with their theoretical framework. EP is usually assumed to be a multidimensional and continuous phenomenon; it is characterized by different dimensions of insecurity that may overlap in the same job and lead to different "degrees of precariousness." However, researchers have predominantly focused on one-dimensional indicators—e.g., temporary employment, subjective job insecurity—to measure EP and study the association with health. Besides the fact that this approach partially grasps the phenomenon's complexity, the major problem is the inconsistency of evidence that it has produced. Indeed, this line of inquiry generally reveals an ambiguous picture, with some studies finding substantial adverse effects of temporary over permanent employment, while others report only minor differences.
To measure the (causal) effect of precarious work on self-rated health and its variation by gender, I focus on Germany and use four waves from SOEP data (2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015). Germany is a suitable context for my study. Indeed, since the 1980s, the labor market and welfare system have been restructured in many ways to increase the German economy's competitiveness in the global market. As a result, the (standard) employment relationship has been de-standardized: non-standard and atypical employment arrangements—i.e., part-time work, fixed-term contracts, mini-jobs, and work agencies—have increased over time while wages have lowered, even among workers with standard work. In addition, the power of unions has also fallen over the last three decades, leaving a large share of workers without collective protection. Because of this process of de-standardization, the link between wage employment and strong social rights has eroded, making workers more powerless and more vulnerable to labor market risks than in the past. EP refers to this uneven distribution of power in the employment relationship, which can be detrimental to workers' health. Indeed, by affecting individuals' access to power and other resources, EP puts precarious workers at risk of experiencing health shocks and influences their ability to gain and accumulate health advantages (Hp.1).
Further, the focus on Germany allows me to investigate my second research question on the gender differential. Germany is usually regarded as a traditionalist gender regime: a context characterized by a configuration of roles. Here, being a caregiver is assumed to be women's primary role, whereas the primary breadwinner role is reserved for men. Although many signs of progress have been made over the last decades towards a greater equalization of opportunities and more egalitarianism, the breadwinner model has barely changed towards a modified version. Thus, women usually take on the double role of workers (the so-called secondary earner) and caregivers, and men still devote most of their time to paid work activities. Moreover, the overall upward trend towards more egalitarian gender ideologies has leveled off over the last decades, moving notably towards more traditional gender ideologies.
In this setting, two alternative hypotheses are possible. Firstly, I assume that the negative relationship between EP and health is stronger for women than for men. This is because women are systematically more disadvantaged than men in the public and private spheres of life, having less access to formal and informal sources of power. These gender-related power asymmetries may interact with EP-related power asymmetries resulting in a stronger effect of EP on women's health than on men's health (Hp.2).
An alternative way of looking at the gender differential is to consider the interaction that precariousness might have with men's and women's gender identities. According to this view, the negative relationship between EP and health is weaker for women than for men (Hp.2a). In a society with a gendered division of labor and a strong link between masculine identities and stable and well-rewarded job—i.e., a job that confers the role of primary family provider—a male worker with precarious employment might violate the traditional male gender role. Men in precarious jobs may perceive themselves (and by others) as possessing a socially undesirable characteristic, which conflicts with the stereotypical idea of themselves as the male breadwinner. Engaging in behaviors that contradict stereotypical gender identity may decrease self-esteem and foster feelings of inferiority, helplessness, and jealousy, leading to poor health.
I develop a new indicator of EP that empirically translates a definition of EP as a multidimensional and continuous phenomenon. I assume that EP is a latent construct composed of seven dimensions of insecurity chosen according to the theory and previous empirical research: Income insecurity, social insecurity, legal insecurity, employment insecurity, working-time insecurity, representation insecurity, worker's vulnerability. The seven dimensions are proxied by eight indicators available in the four waves of the SOEP dataset. The EP composite indicator is obtained by performing a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) on the eight indicators. This approach aims to construct a summary scale in which all dimensions contribute jointly to the measured experience of precariousness and its health impact.
Further, the relationship between EP and 'general self-perceived health' is estimated by applying ordered probit random-effects estimators and calculating average marginal effect (further AME). Then, to control for unobserved heterogeneity, I implement correlated random-effects models that add to the model the within-individual means of the time-varying independent variables. To test the significance of the gender differential, I add an interaction term between EP and gender in the fully adjusted model in the pooled sample.
My correlated random-effects models showed EP's negative and substantial 'effect' on self-perceived health for both men and women. Although nonsignificant, the evidence seems in line with previous cross-sectional literature. It supports the hypothesis that employment precariousness could be detrimental to workers' health. Further, my results showed the crucial role of unobserved heterogeneity in shaping the health consequences of precarious employment. This is particularly important as evidence accumulates, yet it is still mostly descriptive.
Moreover, my results revealed a substantial difference among men and women in the relationship between EP and health: when EP increases, the risk of experiencing poor health increases much more for men than for women. This evidence falsifies previous theory according to whom the gender differential is contingent on the structurally disadvantaged position of women in western societies. In contrast, they seem to confirm the idea that men in precarious work could experience role conflict to a larger extent than women, as their self-standard is supposed to be the stereotypical breadwinner worker with a good and well-rewarded job. Finally, results from the multiple correspondence analysis contribute to the methodological debate on precariousness, showing that a multidimensional and continuous indicator can express a latent variable of EP.
All in all, complementarities are revealed in the results of unemployment and employment precariousness, which have two implications: Policy-makers need to be aware that the total costs of unemployment and precariousness go far beyond the economic and material realm penetrating other fundamental life domains such as individual health. Moreover, they need to balance the trade-off between protecting adequately unemployed people and fostering high-quality employment in reaction to the highlighted market pressures. In this sense, the further development of a (universalistic) welfare state certainly helps mitigate the adverse health effects of unemployment and, therefore, the future costs of both individuals' health and welfare spending. In addition, the presence of a working partner is crucial for reducing the health consequences of employment instability. Therefore, policies aiming to increase female labor market participation should be promoted, especially in those contexts where the welfare state is less developed.
Moreover, my results support the significance of taking account of a gender perspective in health research. The findings of the three articles show that job loss, unemployment, and precarious employment, in general, have adverse effects on men's health but less or absent consequences for women's health. Indeed, this suggests the importance of labor and health policies that consider and further distinguish the specific needs of the male and female labor force in Europe. Nevertheless, a further implication emerges: the health consequences of employment instability and de-standardization need to be investigated in light of the gender arrangements and the transforming gender relationships in specific cultural and institutional contexts. My results indeed seem to suggest that women's health advantage may be a transitory phenomenon, contingent on the predominant gendered institutional and cultural context. As the structural difference between men's and women's position in society is eroded, egalitarianism becomes the dominant normative status, so will probably be the gender difference in the health consequences of job loss and precariousness. Therefore, while gender equality in opportunities and roles is a desirable aspect for contemporary societies and a political goal that cannot be postponed further, this thesis raises a further and maybe more crucial question: What kind of equality should be pursued to provide men and women with both good life quality and equal chances in the public and private spheres? In this sense, I believe that social and labor policies aiming to reduce gender inequality in society should focus on improving women's integration into the labor market, implementing policies targeting men, and facilitating their involvement in the private sphere of life. Equal redistribution of social roles could activate a crucial transformation of gender roles and the cultural models that sustain and still legitimate gender inequality in Western societies.
Struggle for existence
(2022)
In this project, I sought to understand how Palestinian claim-making in the West Bank is possible within the context of continuing Israeli occupation and repression by the Palestinian political leadership. I explored the questions of what channels non-state actors use to advance their claims, what opportunities they have for making these claims, and what challenges they face. This exploration covers the time period from the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s to the so-called Great March of Return in 2018.
I demonstrated that Palestinians used different modes and strategies of resistance in the past century, as the area of what today is Israel/Palestine has historically been a target for foreign penetration. Yet, the Oslo agreements between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership have ended Palestinians’ decentralized and pluralist social governance, reinforced Israeli rule in the Palestinian territories, promoted continuing dispossession and segregation of Palestinians, and further restricted their rights and their claim-making opportunities until this day. Therefore, today, Palestinian society in the West Bank is characterized by fragmentation, geographical and societal segregation, and double repression by Israeli occupation and Palestinian Authority (PA) policies. What is more, Palestinian claim-making is legally curtailed due to the establishment of different geographical entities in which Palestinians are subjugated to different forms of Israeli rule and regulations.
I argue that the concepts of civil society and acts of citizenship, which are often used to describe non-state actors’ rights-seeking activities, fall short on understanding and describing Palestinian claim-making in the West Bank comprehensively. By determining their boundaries, the concept of acts of subjecthood evolved as a novel theoretical approach within the research process and as a means of claim-making within repressive contexts where claim makers’ rights are curtailed and opportunities for rights-seeking activities are few. Thereby, this study applies a new theoretical framework to the conflict in Israel/Palestine and contributes to a better understanding of rights-seeking activities within the West Bank. Further, I argue that Palestinian acts of subjecthood against hostile Israeli rule in the West Bank are embedded within the comprehensive structure of settler colonialism. As a form of colonialism that aims at replacing an indigenous population, Israeli settler colonialism in the West Bank manifests itself in restrictions of Palestinian movement, settlement constructions, home demolitions, violence, and detentions.
By using grounded theory and inductive reasoning as methodological approaches, I was able to make generalizations about the state of Palestinian claim-making. These generalizations are based on the analysis of secondary materials and data collected via face-to-face and video interviews with non-state actors in Israel/Palestine. The conducted research shows that there is not a single measure or a standalone condition that hinders Palestinian claim-making, but a complex and comprehensive structure that, on the one hand, shrinks Palestinian living space by occupation and destruction and, on the other hand, diminishes Palestinian civic space by limiting the fundamental rights to organize and build social movements to change the status Palestinians live in.
Although the concrete, tangible outcomes of Palestinian acts of subjecthood are marginal, they contribute to strengthening and perpetuating Palestinian’s long history of resistance against Israeli oppression. With a lack of adherence to international law, the neglect of UN resolutions by the Israeli government, the continuous defeats of rights organizations in Israeli courts, and the repression of institutions based in the West Bank by PA and occupation policies, Palestinian acts of subjecthood cannot overturn current power structures. Nevertheless, the ongoing persistence of non-state actors claiming rights, as well as the pop-up of new initiatives and youth movements are all essential for strengthening Palestinians’ resilience and documenting current injustices. Therefore, they can build the pillars for social change in the future.
Das Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation war es zu untersuchen, wie palästinensisches claim-making, also die Artikulation von Forderungen bzw. die Geltendmachung von bestimmten Rechten, vor dem Hintergrund der anhaltenden israelischen Besatzung und Repressalien durch die palästinensische politische Führung im Westjordanland durchgesetzt werden kann. Dabei soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Kanäle nichtstaatliche Akteure nutzen, um ihre Ansprüche geltend zu machen, welche Möglichkeiten sich ihnen dafür bieten und vor welchen Herausforderungen sie stehen. Der Untersuchungszeitraum erstreckt sich dabei vom Osloer Friedensprozess Mitte der 1990er Jahre bis hin zum sogenannten Great March of Return im Jahr 2018.
Die im Gebiet des heutigen Israel/Palästina lebenden PalästinenserInnen bedienten sich in Zeiten ausländischer Einflussnahme, z.B. während der britischen Besatzung im vergangenen Jahrhundert, verschiedenster Widerstandsformen und -strategien. Jedoch haben die Osloer Abkommen zwischen der israelischen Regierung und der palästinensischen Führung die dezentrale und partizipative Mobilisierung der palästinensischen Gesellschaft erschwert, die andauernde Enteignung von PalästinenserInnen begünstigt und ihre Rechte bis zum heutigen Tag weiter eingeschränkt. Die heutige palästinensische Gesellschaft im Westjordanland ist daher durch Zersplitterung, geografische und gesellschaftliche Segregation und doppelte Un-terdrückung durch die israelische Besatzung sowie die Palästinensische Autonomiebehörde gekennzeichnet. Zudem führt die Etablierung verschiedener geografischer Entitäten, in denen PalästinenserInnen unterschiedlichen Formen israelischer Herrschaft, Regularien und Ein-griffsrechten unterworfen sind, dazu, dass palästinensisches claim-making auch formalrecht-lich eingeschränkt ist.
Um die Aktivitäten nichtstaatlicher Akteure in diesem Kontext beschreiben zu können, wer-den häufig das Konzept der Zivilgesellschaft oder das der acts of citizenship herangezogen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird jedoch argumentiert, dass diese Konzepte nur bedingt auf den Status Quo im Westjordanland anwendbar sind und palästinensisches claim-making nicht hinreichend verstehen und beschreiben können. Im Laufe des Forschungsprozesses hat sich daher das Konzept der acts of subjecthood als neuer theoretischer Ansatz herausgebildet, der claim-making in repressiven Kontexten beschreibt, in denen nichtstaatliche Akteure nur geringen Handlungsspielraum haben, ihre Forderungen durchsetzen zu können. Durch diese „Theorie-Brille“ ermöglicht meine Forschung einen neuartigen Blick auf den israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt und trägt auf diese Weise zu einem besseren Verständnis von claim-making-Aktivitäten im Westjordanland bei. Darüber hinaus bettet die vorliegende Ar-beit acts of subjecthood in den größeren Kontext des Siedlungskolonialismus ein. Dieser beschreibt eine Form des Kolonialismus, die darauf abzielt, eine einheimische Bevölkerung durch die der Kolonialmacht zu ersetzen. Im Westjordanland manifestiert sich der israelische Siedlungskolonialismus in der Einschränkung der Bewegungsfreiheit von PalästinenserIn-nen, dem Bau von Siedlungen, der Zerstörung von Häusern, Gewalt und Inhaftierungen.
Die Verwendung der Grounded Theory und des induktiven Denkens als methodische Ansätze ermöglichte es, verallgemeinerbare Aussagen zum Zustand palästinensischen claim-makings treffen zu können. Diese Verallgemeinerungen beruhen auf der Analyse von Sekundärquellen und Daten, die im Rahmen von Interviews mit VertreterInnen nichtstaatlicher Organisationen in Israel/Palästina erhoben wurden. Die durchgeführte Analyse macht deutlich, dass nicht eine einzelne Maßnahme oder Bedingung palästinensisches claim-making behindert, sondern eine komplexe, vielschichtige und zielgerichtet implementierte Struktur. Diese verringert einerseits den Lebensraum von PalästinenserInnen durch Besatzung und Zerstörung und schränkt andererseits den zivilen Raum ein, indem sie ihnen grundlegende Rechte und fundamentale Freiheiten verwehrt.
Obwohl die konkreten Auswirkungen palästinensischer acts of subjecthood marginal sind, tragen sie dazu bei, den Widerstand gegen politische Unterdrückung zu stärken und fortzusetzen. Angesichts der Verletzung von Völkerrecht und der Missachtung zahlreicher UN-Resolutionen durch die israelische Regierung, der Niederlagen von Menschenrechtsorganisationen vor israelischen Gerichten, der Unterdrückung von Institutionen im Westjordanland durch die Palästinensische Autonomiebehörde und die Besatzungspolitik können acts of subjecthood die derzeitigen Machtstrukturen nicht aufbrechen. Dennoch sind die anhaltende Beharrlichkeit nichtstaatlicher Akteure, Forderungen zu artikulieren und Rechte einzufordern und die Gründung neuer Initiativen und Organisationen essenziell für die Stärkung gesellschaftlicher Resilienz sowie die Dokumentation von Ungerechtigkeiten und Rechtsverletzungen. Diese Akteure legen so den Grundstein für einen möglichen gesellschaftspolitischen Wandel in der Zukunft.
Pioneering scholarship links retrospective childhood conditions to mature adult health. We distinctively provide critical evidence with prospective state-of-the-art measures of parent income observed multiple times during childhood in the 1970s to 1990s. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we analyze six health outcomes (self-rated health, heart attack, stroke, life-threatening chronic conditions, non-life-threatening chronic conditions, and psychological distress) among 40- to 65-year-olds. Parent relative income rank has statistically and substantively significant relationships with five of six outcomes. The relationships with heart attack, stroke, and life-threatening chronic conditions are particularly strong. Parent income rank performs slightly better than alternative prospective and retrospective measures. At the same time, we provide novel validation on which retrospective measures (i.e., father’s education) perform almost as well as prospective measures. Furthermore, we inform several perennial debates about how relative versus absolute income and other measures of socioeconomic status and social class influence health.
Trying as hard as i can
(2022)
The housing crisis represents a liminal experience: a loss of the taken-for-granted and the suspension of ontological security has put individuals in a situation of potentiality in which both conceptions of home and of personal identity are open to transformation. Empirically assessing this liminal transition allows us to understand the refiguration processes of both home and subjectivities. This has both conceptual and political implications: with ongoing individualization of responsibility in virtually all spheres of social life, it is no longer possible to assume that the private sphere of home is an arena in which individuals are free and secured from societal forces, pressures, and compulsions. Instead, we might find ourselves in a transient liminal period in which the very meaning and psycho-social foundation of home are being transformed. To understand these processes is not only an epistemological but also a political endeavor, for only by understanding the psycho-social implications of the housing crisis can we acknowledge its embeddedness in and relation to processes of societal individualization, as well as the potential to open up pathways to the emergence of a liminal communitas.
Emerging evidence has highlighted the important role of local contexts for integration trajectories of asylum seekers and refugees. Germany's policy of randomly allocating asylum seekers across Germany may advantage some and disadvantage others in terms of opportunities for equal participation in society. This study explores the question whether asylum seekers that have been allocated to rural areas experience disadvantages in terms of language acquisition compared to those allocated to urban areas. We derive testable assumptions using a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) which are then tested using large-N survey data (IAB-BAMF-SOEP refugee survey). We find that living in a rural area has no negative total effect on language skills. Further the findings suggest that the "null effect" is the result of two processes which offset each other: while asylum seekers in rural areas have slightly lower access for formal, federally organized language courses, they have more regular exposure to German speakers.
In response to mounting evidence of harm inflicted on irregular migrants along their journeys from West Africa to Europe, international organizations, civil society organizations, and governments have scaled up campaigns as a tool for raising awareness about the risks of irregular migration. Campaigns aim to counter misinformation by smugglers and facilitate safe migration decisions. Despite the growing number of interventions, there is limited empirical evidence on the impact and effectiveness of such campaigns. Based on a difference-in-difference design, this study investigates the effect of a mobile cinema and community discussion intervention on the perceptions, knowledge, and intentions of potential irregular migrants in Northern Guinea in 2019. The results show that potential migrants who participated in events were significantly more likely to show awareness gains and less likely to report high intentions to migrate irregularly. While the relative importance of risk perceptions and their impact on migration flows remain unclear, the findings provide evidence supporting the assumption that risk awareness can be a relevant factor in the decision-making process of potential irregular migrants. While campaigns may be an effective tool in certain contexts, effect sizes highlight the need for policymakers to keep realistic expectations.
Cross-national variation in the relationship between welfare generosity and single mother employment
(2022)
Reform of the U.S. welfare system in 1996 spurred claims that cuts to welfare programs effectively incentivized single mothers to find employment. It is difficult to assess the veracity of those claims, however, absent evidence of how the relationship between welfare benefits and single mother employment generalizes across countries. This study combines data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and the U.S. Current Population Survey (1992-2015) into one of the largest samples of single mothers ever, testing the relationships between welfare generosity and single mothers’ employment and work hours. We find no consistent evidence of a negative relationship between welfare generosity and single mother employment outcomes. Rather, we find tremendous cross-national heterogeneity, which does not clearly correspond to well-known institutional variations. Our findings demonstrate the limitations of single country studies and the pervasive, salient interactions between institutional contexts and social policies.
Stochastic uncertainty can cause coordination problems that may hinder mutually beneficial cooperation. We propose a mechanism of ex-post voluntary transfers designed to circumvent these coordination problems and ask whether it can increase efficiency. To test this transfer mechanism, we implement a controlled laboratory experiment based on a repeated Ultimatum Game with a stochastic endowment. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that allowing voluntary transfers does not lead to an efficiency increase. We suggest and analyze two major reasons for this failure: first, stochastic uncertainty forces proposers intending to cooperate to accept high strategic uncertainty, which many proposers avoid; second, many responders behave only incompletely conditionally cooperatively, which hinders cooperation in future periods.
Der vorliegende Artikel analysiert die niedersächsische Polizeiaffäre aus einer Perspektive, die sich für das Zusammenspiel von Recht und Organisationen interessiert. Zunächst argumentieren wir, dass Recht in Organisationen nicht aus sich heraus wirkt, es benötigt Akteur:innen, die es durchsetzen. Diese sitzen formal auf bestimmten Relaisstellen, deren Funktion es ist, dem Recht Geltung zu verschaffen. Im vorliegenden Fall, so zeigen wir, versagen diese Relaisstellen. Recht dient am Ende weniger dem Schutz der Betroffenen als vielmehr dem Schutz der Organisation.
Militär
(2022)
Das Militär hat besondere Bedeutung für die Formung des männlichen Körpers vor allem durch Drill und militärisch geprägte Leibesübungen. Dadurch sollen Soldat*innen tauglich dafür gemacht werden, die Verletzungen des eigenen Körpers, Schmerzen, Durst und Hunger zu ertragen. Die gegenwärtige technologisch unterstütze asymmetrische Kriegsführung ist auch darauf ausgerichtet, die Gefahren für den soldatischen Körper zu reduzieren.
Who suffered most?
(2022)
Objective:
This study examines gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parental psychological wellbeing (parenting stress and psychological distress) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
Background:
The dramatic shift of childcare and schooling responsibility from formal institutions to private households during the pandemic has put families under enormous stress and raised concerns about caregivers' health and wellbeing. Despite the overwhelming media attention to families’ wellbeing, to date limited research has examined parenting stress and parental psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Germany.
Method:
We analyzed four waves of panel data (N= 1,771) from an opt-in online survey, which was conducted between March 2020 and April 2021. Multivariable OLS regressions were used to estimate variations in the pandemic's effects on parenting stress and psychological distress by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.
Results:
Overall, levels of parenting stress and psychological distress increased during the pandemic. During the first and third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, mothers, parents with children younger than 11 years, parents with two or more children, parents working from home as well as parents with financial insecurity experienced higher parenting stress than other sociodemographic groups. Moreover, women, respondents with lower incomes, single parents, and parents with younger children experienced higher levels of psychological distress than other groups.
Conclusion:
Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in parents' psychological wellbeing increased among the study participants during the pandemic.
Risky journeys
(2022)
In response to well-documented harms inflicted on irregular migrants attempting to travel from West Africa to Europe, various actors have scaled up information interventions to counter misinformation by smuggling networks and facilitate safe migration decisions. Many interventions include information on the potential dangers involved in migration. However, there is a striking lack of empirical evidence assessing a key assumption of campaign effectiveness, that is the relationship between risk perceptions and the decision to migrate irregularly. This study contributes an empirical account based on two independently collected surveys in Senegal and Guinea. Consistent with rational choice theories on migration decisions under uncertainty, the results suggest that higher risk perceptions are consistently and strongly associated with reduced intentions to migrate irregularly. Yet, the explanatory power of risk perceptions depends on context and is generally less important than structural and socio-economic factors.
Phone surveys have increasingly become important data collection tools in developing countries, particularly in the context of sudden contact restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, there is limited evidence regarding the potential of the messenger service WhatsApp for remote data collection despite its large global coverage and expanding membership. WhatsApp may offer advantages in terms of reducing panel attrition and cutting survey costs. WhatsApp may offer additional benefits to migration scholars interested in cross-border migration behavior which is notoriously difficult to measure using conventional face-to-face surveys. In this field experiment, we compared the response rates between WhatsApp and interactive voice response (IVR) modes using a sample of 8446 contacts in Senegal and Guinea. At 12%, WhatsApp survey response rates were nearly eight percentage points lower than IVR survey response rates. However, WhatsApp offers higher survey completion rates, substantially lower costs and does not introduce more sample selection bias compared to IVR. We discuss the potential of WhatsApp surveys in low-income contexts and provide practical recommendations for field implementation.
Although mothers and fathers in almost all rich democracies are entitled to some form of paid parenting leave, fathers in particular do not take all the leave available to them. As employers play an important role in the implementation of parenting leave policies, this chapter investigates which workplace characteristics influence mothers' and fathers' uptake of their statutory leave entitlements. In Part 1, we estimate the size of the gap between statutory leave entitlement and leave uptake across genders and countries by combining data from the OECD and the European Labor Force Survey. In Parts 2 and 3, we review the literature on structural, cultural, and normative explanations for the gap in parenting leave uptake. We conclude the chapter with suggestions for further research, including the need for reliable data on the size of the implementation gap and research on non-European countries.
Through qualitative research conducted in the bazaars of Bishkek, this paper examines the posited tripartite relationship between the free market, micro-finance and women's empowerment by focusing on how loans from micro-finance institutions in Bishkek influence the lives of female loanees. The neo-liberal conception of 'individual autonomy' and 'empowerment', it is argued, may not adequately serve as indicators of actual female empowerment/disempowerment in Bishkek and lead us to fail to recognize moments of self-exploitation and forms of claim-making. The research also underlines the disempowering effects of the affectional burden, that is, the constant sense of anxiety, that the loanees have to manage in order to survive in the neo-liberal business environment, which offers high interest rate loans and exposes the loanees to over-indebtedness. These effects can be followed through the analysis of the role the desire for stability and 'ontological security' plays in the formation of the identities/world views of the loanees.
Den Boden putzen, das Bett abziehen, einen Blumenstrauß arrangieren – Bemühungen um Sauberkeit sowie eine angenehme Raumatmosphäre obliegen im Krankenhaus meist weiblichen* Pflegerinnen, Reinigungskräften und Hauswirtschafterinnen. Im Klinikalltag vermischen sich Anforderungen an hygienische Sauberkeit unter Prozessen der Ökonomisierung mit Logiken des Marketings sowie mit affektiv-emotionalen Bedürfnissen der Akteur_innen dieser Räume. Obwohl die Maßstäbe klinischer Hygiene auf medizinischem Wissen basieren, sind die Arbeitsteilung sowie Ansprüche an Sauberkeit auf verschiedenen Hierarchieebenen zugleich von vergeschlechtlichten und teils rassifizierten Vorstellungen durchdrungen, die über den klinischen Kontext hinausweisen. Dies legt schon eine Beschäftigung mit der Geschichte der Bakteriologie nahe: Die Logik und Sprache der Infektionsabwehr ist in Wissenschaft und Alltag auch verwoben mit sozialen Differenzmarkierungen.
Unter Rückgriff auf die Ergebnisse einer Ethnografie zu Sauberkeit und Reinigungsarbeiten im Krankenhaus, die wissensgeschichtlich fundiert werden, wird in dem Beitrag die Frage nach der (feminisierten) Sorge für die Umwelt mit der Frage nach der Atmosphäre klinischer Räume verknüpft. Auf welche Weise und mit welchen Effekten verschränken sich wissenschaftlich-medizinisches Hygienewissen mit einem alltäglichen, jedoch historisierbaren Wissen über schöne und angenehme Sauberkeit, das immer noch weiblich konnotiert ist?
Two decades ago, Tarana Burke started using the phrase ‘me too’ to release victims of sexual abuse and rape from their shame and to empower girls from minority communities. In 2017, actress Alyssa Milano made the hashtag #MeToo go viral. This article’s concern is with the role of testimonial practices in the context of sexual violence. While many feminists have claimed that the word of those who claim to being sexually violated by others (should) have political and/or epistemic priority, others have failed to recognize the harm and injury of instances of sexual violence that are not yet acknowledged as such and failed to listen to victims from marginalized social groups. In fact, some feminists have attacked #MeToo for mingling accounts of ‘proper’ sexual violence and accounts that are not ‘proper’ experiences of sexual violence. My aim in this article is to show why this critique is problematic and find a philosophically fruitful way to understand the #MeToo-movement as a movement that strives for moral and conceptual progress.
Introduction
(2021)
In recent years, all over the globe we have seen intensifying economic exploitation, political disenfranchisement, social marginalization and cultural repression in all kinds of political regimes, from liberal democratic to authoritarian and dictatorial. Although the strategies vary with regard to regime and context, in all of them we observe that while a growing number of social groups are speaking out and rising against them, a presumably much higher number of groups do not. In this article, I argue that all these processes can be conceived as aspects of ongoing closure struggles in social life. However, in order to understand why some social groups are able to fight against closure strategies while others are not, closure theory in its current state of elaboration is not of any help. While it operates with the term solidarization, it does not offer any explanation of how such acting in solidarity may become possible in closure struggles. The article is a mainly theoretical contribution of how to solve this problem.
Rassenbürgerkrieg
(2021)
This article examines how contact with perceived foreigners affects natives' attitudes towards immigration. Using six waves of individual level panel data from Germany (2007-2017), we find that natives' reported mutual visits with foreigners reduce worries about immigration. However, the results do not imply an increase in this effect in the course of repeated contact. Our analyses also consider the possibility that the effect of out-group contact on attitudes is heterogeneous across social groups. Our results show that contact effects are not restricted to younger age groups but also hold for older age groups. Surprisingly, there are stronger reductions in worries among right-leaning compared to left-leaning individuals.
Vienna
(2021)
This book explores and debates the urban transformations that have taken place in Vienna over the past 30 years and their consequences in policy fields such as labour and housing, political and social participation and the environment. Historically, European cities have been characterised by a strong association between social cohesion, quality of life, economic ambition and a robust State. Vienna is an excellent example for that. In more recent years, however, cities were pressured to change policy principles and mechanisms in the context of demographic shifts, post-industrial transformations and welfare recalibration which have led to worsened social conditions in many cities. Each chapter in this volume discusses Vienna's responses to these pressures in key policy arenas, looking at outcomes from the context-specific local arrangements. Against a theoretical framework debating the European city as a model of inclusion and social justice, authors explore the local capacity to innovate urban policies and to address new social risks, while paying attention to potential trade-offs.
The book questions and assesses the city's resilience using time series and an institutional analysis of four key dimensions that characterise the European city model within the context of post-industrial transition: redistribution, recognition, representation and sustainability. It offers a multiscalar perspective of urban governance through labour, housing, participatory and environmental policies, bringing together different levels and public policy types.
Vienna
(2021)
This book explores and debates the urban transformations that have taken place in Vienna over the past 30 years and their consequences in policy fields such as labour and housing, political and social participation and the environment. Historically, European cities have been characterised by a strong association between social cohesion, quality of life, economic ambition and a robust State. Vienna is an excellent example for that. In more recent years, however, cities were pressured to change policy principles and mechanisms in the context of demographic shifts, post-industrial transformations and welfare recalibration which have led to worsened social conditions in many cities. Each chapter in this volume discusses Vienna's responses to these pressures in key policy arenas, looking at outcomes from the context-specific local arrangements. Against a theoretical framework debating the European city as a model of inclusion and social justice, authors explore the local capacity to innovate urban policies and to address new social risks, while paying attention to potential trade-offs.
The book questions and assesses the city's resilience using time series and an institutional analysis of four key dimensions that characterise the European city model within the context of post-industrial transition: redistribution, recognition, representation and sustainability. It offers a multiscalar perspective of urban governance through labour, housing, participatory and environmental policies, bringing together different levels and public policy types.
Existing theories of aging suggest that there may be similarities and differences in how COVID-19 impacts older people’s psychosocial adaptation compared to younger age groups, particularly middle-aged individuals. To assess the degree to which these impacts vary, we analyzed data from 3098 participants between the ages of 40 and 79 from an online survey in Germany. Data were collected at three measurement occasions between the start of the nationwide lockdown in mid-March 2020 and the end of the lockdown in early August 2020. The survey focused on everyday experiences during the COVID-19 crisis and collected various satisfaction ratings (e.g., general life satisfaction, satisfaction with family life, satisfaction with social contacts). At baseline, participants also provided retrospective ratings of satisfaction for the period before the COVID-19 crisis. In our analyses, we compared satisfaction ratings of middle-aged (40–64 years) and older individuals (65–79 years) and found that both middle-aged and older participants experienced the greatest decreases in satisfaction with social contacts, with more pronounced decreases seen in middle-aged participants. A similar pattern was observed for general life satisfaction, but the overall decreases were less pronounced in both groups compared to the decreases in satisfaction with social contacts. We also observed a partial recovery effect in all measures at the last measurement occasion, and this effect was more pronounced in older adults. Findings were also confirmed using age as a continuous variable and checking for linear and nonlinear effects of outcomes across the age range. Although ageism arose during the pandemic in the sense that older adults were labeled as a “risk group,” particularly at the start of the outbreak, we found consistently with other studies that middle-aged adults’ satisfaction decreased to a greater extent than that of older adults.
In times of educational expansion, privileged families are looking for new strategies of distinction. Referring to Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of distinction, we argue that choosing Latin at school – a language that is no longer spoken and therefore has no direct value – is one of the strategies of privileged families to set themselves apart from less privileged families. Based on two surveys we conducted at German schools, the paper analyzes the relationship between parents’ educational background and the probability that their child will learn Latin. Results indicate that historically academic families have the strongest tendency towards learning Latin, followed by new academic families, and leaving behind the non-academic families. We distinguish between four causal mechanisms that might help to explain these associations: cultural distinction, selecting a socially exclusive learning environment, beliefs in a secondary instrumental function of learning Latin, and spatial proximity between the location of humanist Gymnasiums and the residential areas of privileged families. The hypotheses are formalized by means of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG). Findings show that the decision to learn Latin is predominately an unintended consequence of the selection of a socially exclusive learning environment. In addition, there is evidence that especially children from historically academic families learn Latin as a strategy of cultural distinction.
Einleitung
(2021)
Wie hat sich die COVID-19 Pandemie auf geschlechtsspezifische Ungleichheiten im Arbeitsleben und dem subjektiven Wohlbefinden Erwerbstätiger ausgewirkt? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage analysiert dieser Beitrag drei Wellen einer nicht zufallsbasierten Onlinestichprobe für den Zeitraum Mitte März bis Anfang August 2020 und umfassen damit den Zeitraum des ersten Lockdowns. Die Ergebnisse unserer multivariaten Analysen zeigen: Frauen, Eltern und insbesondere Mütter waren überdurchschnittlich von Arbeitszeitreduzierungen betroffen. Bei der Wahrscheinlichkeit im Homeoffice zu arbeiten gab es nur geringfügige Unterschiede nach Geschlecht und Familiensituation. Die Zufriedenheit mit der Arbeit, dem Familienleben und dem Leben insgesamt ging bei Frauen, Eltern und insbesondere Müttern überproportional stark zurück. Die beobachteten Unterschiede verringern sich gegen Ende des Lockdowns wieder, jedoch unterschiedlich stark für die einzelnen Ergebnisdimensionen.
Im Rahmen eines einjährigen Entwicklungsprozesses wurde das Fragebogenmodul "Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit" unter der Leitung der Infrastruktureinrichtung SOEP entwickelt und in der 38. Welle der Haupterhebung des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels erstmalig erhoben. Das finale Fragebogenmodul umfasst 43 Items zu den Themenbereichen Soziale Vergleiche, Soziale Mobilität, Sozialstaat und Nicht-materielle Ungleichheit. In der Tradition des SOEP als forschungsbasierte Infrastruktureinrichtung erfolgte die Fragebogenentwicklung in enger Zusammenarbeit mit externen Forschenden aus dem Bereich der Einstellungs- und Ungleichheitsforschung. Neben der etablierten Nutzung des SOEP Innovation Samples (SOEP-IS) für quantitative Pretests neu entwickelter Fragen kam erstmals ein kognitiver Pretest zum Einsatz. Der vorliegende Bericht dokumentiert den Entwicklungsprozess von der Konzeption bis zum finalen Fragebogen.
Feminismus - das ist nicht nur für Männer, sondern auch für einige Frauen immer noch ein bedrohliches Wort, selbst oder gerade in Zeiten von #MeToo. Liegt das daran, dass viele gar nicht wissen, was Feminismus ist und worauf er hinarbeitet? Gibt es den einen Feminismus? Was hat Feminismus eigentlich mit Sexismus zu tun? Und was mit unseren Beziehungen? Offener Frauenhass ist in unserer Gesellschaft mittlerweile weitgehend geächtet. Aber auch nach über fünfzehn Jahren mit einer Frau an der Regierungsspitze sind wir noch längst nicht in der Gleichberechtigung angekommen. Im Gegenteil: Weiterhin strukturiert Sexismus geschlechtsspezifische Alltagserfahrungen, bis hinein in unsere Intimbeziehungen, wo die Grenzen zwischen Lust und sexueller Gewalt schnell verschwimmen. Die Philosophin und Schriftstellerin Hilkje Hänel deckt die Mechanismen sexueller Objektifizierung und männlichen Anspruchsdenkens auf. Sie zeigt, wie Frauen oft in die sexistischen Alltagsstrukturen verstrickt sind, an denen auch viele Männer leiden. Ihr zugängliches Buch ist das Plädoyer für einen Feminismus, von dem alle etwas haben - und vor dem niemand Angst haben muss.
COP 25
(2020)
The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-25) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) became the longest COP on record - but yielded few results. It appears that four years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, enthusiasm has waned and political bargaining and bean-counting have taken over. Countries, for even the slightest chance to keep temperatures 'well below' 2 degrees Celsius, must do much more than they have previously committed to and accelerate the shift towards a zero-carbon economy. However, the conference largely failed to heed the rallying cry of the Chilean presidency. The flagship decisions (grouped under the banner "Chile-Madrid Time for Action") neither produced new commitments - enhancing ambition or finance for developing countries - nor new rules that would nudge countries closer to the climate action targets needed. The leftover pieces from last year's negotiations of the "Paris Rulebook" were also not resolved, in particular the unfinished decisions on Article 6 on market- and non-market mechanisms. The procrastination shows that the new architecture of the Paris Agreement, while addressing several of the shortcomings of the Kyoto Protocol, suffers from its own weaknesses. The meager results of Madrid give reason to pause and reflect on the conditions that may hold countries back from fully embracing the Paris Agreement, but also to consider the future and nature of carbon markets and what is making the issue so difficult to resolve.
The volume provides a field-analytical methodology for researching knowledge based sociopolitical processes of transnationalization. Drawing on the seminal work by Pierre Bourdieu, we apply concepts of practice, habitus, and field to phenomena such as cross-national social trajectories, international procedures of evaluation, standardization and certification or supranational political structures. These transnational phenomena form part of general political struggles that legitimate social relationships in and beyond the nation state. Part 1 on "Methodological Foundations" discusses the consequences of Bourdieu's epistemology and methodology for theorizing and investigating transnational phenomena. The contributions show the import of field-theoretical concepts for post-national insights. Part 2 on "Investigating Political Fields" presents exemplary case studies in diverse research areas such as colonial imperialism, international academic rankings, European policy fields, and local school policy. While focusing on their research objects, the contributions also give an insight into the mechanisms involved in processes of transnationalization. The volume is an invitation for sociologists, political scientists and scholars in adjacent research areas to engage with reflexive and relational research practice and to further develop field-theoretical thought.
Strategy in the 21st century
(2020)
This book presents a detailed discussion of Clausewitz's principal lines of thought and methods of implementation. It elaborates on his main objective of laying a foundation for the education of up-and-coming creative, knowledgeable and experienced future leaders. The book encourages reflection and study in strategic thinking in order to transform knowledge into genuine capability.
The book explores the question of what a twenty-first-century decision-maker can learn from these strategic lines of thought. It bridges the gap between philosophical theory and strategic interaction in conflicts with an equal opponent. Readers learn to understand and employ the clash of wills, attack and defence, and friction, and in essence the necessary virtues of a strategic commander.
The findings presented help to identify the essential features in complex decision-making situations and developing possible courses of strategic action from a holistic standpoint. As such, the book is a must read for strategists, business practitioners, and scholars of political leadership and management interested in a better understanding of strategy and decision-making.
Who’s to Blame?
(2020)
The main aim of this paper is to investigate how sexist ideology distorts our conceptions of sexual violence and the hermeneutical gaps such an ideology yields. I propose that we can understand the problematic issue of hermeneutical gaps about sexual violence with the help of Fricker’s theory of hermeneutical injustice. By distinguishing between hermeneutical injustice and hermeneutical misfire, we can distinguish between the hermeneutical gap and its consequences for the victim of sexual violence and those of the perpetrator of such violence. I then argue that perpetrators are both morally responsible and accountable for their acts, even if they are the result of a hermeneutical misfire. Ultimately, I show that with regard to sexual violence, we should opt for accountability to change the behaviour of the perpetrator and the social structure. Content warning: The paper discusses sexual violence and difficulties conceptualising experiences of such violence.
Although observational studies from many countries have consistently shown that motherhood negatively affects women's wages, experimental findings on its effect on the likelihood of being hired are less conclusive. Motherhood penalties in hiring have been reported in the United States, the prototypical liberal market economy, but not in Sweden, the prototypical social-democratic welfare state. Based on a field experiment in Germany, this study examines the effects of parenthood on hiring processes in the prototypical conservative welfare state. My findings indicate that job recruitment processes indeed penalize women but not men for having children. In addition to providing theoretical explanations for why motherhood penalties in hiring are particularly likely to occur in the German context, this study also highlights several methodological and practical issues that should be considered when conducting correspondence studies to examine labour market discrimination.
Since COVID-19 became a pandemic, many studies are being conducted to get a better understanding of the disease itself and its spread. One crucial indicator is the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Since this measure is an important foundation for political decisions, its estimate must be reliable and unbiased. This paper presents reasons for biases in prevalence estimates due to unit nonresponse in typical studies. Since it is difficult to avoid bias in situations with mostly unknown nonresponse mechanisms, we propose the maximum amount of bias as one measure to assess the uncertainty due to nonresponse. An interactive web application is presented that calculates the limits of such a conservative unit nonresponse confidence interval (CUNCI).
Der Potsdam Grievance Statistics File (PGSF) ist eine historische Datensammlung von Beschwerden, sog. Eingaben, die in der DDR von deren Bürgern eingereicht wurden. Die Eingaben wurden schriftlich oder mündlich gestellt und waren an staatliche Institutionen gerichtet. Der Staat zählte diese Eingaben und kategorisierte sie in Eingabenstatistiken.
Der PGSF enthält Eingabenstatistiken des Zeitraums 1970–1989 einer Wahrscheinlichkeitsstichprobe von im Jahr 1990 existierenden Kreisen. Zusätzlich finden sich Eingabenstatistiken eines Convenience-Samples von Kreisen aus dem Zeitraum 1970–1989.
Der Potsdam Grievance Statistics File (PGSF) ist eine historische Datensammlung von Beschwerden, sog. Eingaben, die in der DDR von deren Bürgern eingereicht wurden. Die Eingaben wurden schriftlich oder mündlich gestellt und waren an staatliche Institutionen gerichtet. Der Staat zählte diese Eingaben und kategorisierte sie in Eingabenstatistiken.
Der PGSF enthält Eingabenstatistiken des Zeitraums 1970–1989 einer Wahrscheinlichkeitsstichprobe von im Jahr 1990 existierenden Kreisen. Zusätzlich finden sich Eingabenstatistiken eines Convenience-Samples von Kreisen aus dem Zeitraum 1970–1989.
Leben in der ehemaligen DDR
(2020)
Introduction
(2020)
The processes of neo-liberalisation, coined as ‘actually existing neo-liberalism’ are by their very nature variegated and context-specific and can appear in multi-faceted and contradictory forms. Consequentially, sociological reflection has tried to conceptualise ongoing processes of transforming the city under the concept of urban neo-liberalism which is generally understood as the contextually specific and path-dependent realisation of neo-liberal restructuration projects, embedded in varying social, political, economic, and cultural ‘regulatory landscapes’. As much as neo-liberalism as ideology and political programme aims at erasing any democratic participation in society, its proponents have taken sides pushing ahead the re-conceptualisation of the city as a market with the right of the stronger ‘to do down the weaker’. The city has become a focal point for neo-liberalism’s war against democracy and citizens. Turning social relations into market transactions in order to restructure cities is not a new idea from the neo-liberals but one of the non-negotiable dogmas of their religion called science.
Vast racial inequalities continue to prevail across the United States and are closely linked to economic resources. One particularly prominent argument contends that childhood wealth accounts for black–white (BW) disadvantages in life chances. This article analyzes how much childhood wealth and childhood income mediate BW disadvantages in adult life chances with Panel Study of Income Dynamics and Cross-National Equivalent File data on children from the 1980s and 1990s who were 30+ years old in 2015. Compared with previous research, we exploit longer panel data, more comprehensively assess adult life chances with 18 outcomes, and measure income and wealth more rigorously. We find large BW disadvantages in most outcomes. Childhood wealth and income mediate a substantial share of most BW disadvantages, although there are several significant BW disadvantages even after adjusting for childhood wealth and income. The evidence mostly contradicts the prominent claim that childhood wealth is more important than childhood income. Indeed, the analyses mostly show that childhood income explains more of BW disadvantages and has larger standardized coefficients than childhood wealth. We also show how limitations in prior wealth research explain why our conclusions differ. Replication with the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and a variety of robustness checks support these conclusions.
Peer groups are critical socialization agents for the development of social behavior in adolescence, but studies examining peer-group effects on individuals' prosocial behavior are scarce. Using a two-wave, multilevel data set (N = 16,893, 8481 male; 8412 female; mean age at Time 1: 14.0 years) from 1308 classes in 252 secondary schools in Germany, main effects of the classroom level of prosocial behavior, cross-level interactions between the classroom and the individual levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1, and the moderating role of gender were examined. The results showed that adolescents in classrooms with high collective levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1 reported more prosocial behavior at Time 2, about two years later, reflecting a class-level main effect. A significant cross-level interaction indicated that a high classroom level of prosocial behavior particularly affected individuals with lower levels of prosocial behavior at Time 1. The influence of same-gender peers was larger compared with opposite-gender peers. The findings are discussed with respect to social learning mechanisms in the development of prosocial behavior and their implications for interventions to promote prosocial behavior.
How can labour market institutions make workers confident about their economic future? While quantitative studies have repeatedly shown that countries’ labour market regulations and policies are related to variations in workers’ perceived job security, these studies did not explain how these institutions affect workers’ perceptions and expectations. This study seeks to close this gap by analysing qualitative interview data collected on employees in Germany and the U.S. during the great financial crisis (2009–2010). The study's main finding is that policies vary in their effectiveness at making workers feel secure about their jobs. While unemployment assistance can reduce workers’ worries about job loss, dismissal protection does not seem to effectively increase workers’ confidence that their jobs are secure. Overall, employees know relatively little about the policies and regulations that are meant to protect them and have limited trust in their effectiveness. Individual and organisational characteristics seem to be more relevant for employees’ feelings of job security than national-level policies. In particular, comparisons with others who have lower levels of protection increase workers’ perceived security. These insights are particularly important in light of the ongoing changes in the world of work that are making workers’ lives more uncertain and insecure.
Ein wesentlicher Grund für den fortdauernden wirtschaftlichen Rückstand Ostdeutschlands, im Vergleich zu Westdeutschland, liegt am geringeren Gewicht technologieintensiver Branchen und, damit zusammenhängend, an fehlenden regionalen Wachstumszentren („Clustern“). Die Économie des conventions (EC), ein wirtschaftswissenschaftliches und wirtschaftssoziologisches Paradigma, das in Frankreich in den 80er Jahren entstanden ist, ermöglicht die Analyse von Unternehmen und Märkten und wurde für die vorliegende Dissertation verwendet, um unterschiedliche „Qualitätskonventionen“ in einer vergleichenden Analyse in der west- und ostdeutschen Maschinenbaubranche zu identifizieren. Anhand von Studien des Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung in Halle (IWH), der Baden-Württembergischen Landesregierung und des Verbandes des Deutschen Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus e. V. (VDMA) wurde das Feld auf fünf ostdeutsche und acht baden-württembergische Raumordungsregionen eingegrenzt und ein qualitativer Stichprobenplan entwickelt. Empirisch wurden 21 leitfadengestützte Experteninterviews mit Geschäftsführern der Maschinen- und Anlagenbaubranche durchgeführt, die mit der Qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse methodisch ausgewertet und dann mit Bezug zur EC zu Idealtypen verdichtet wurden.
Im Ost-West-Vergleich zeigte sich, dass für ostdeutsche Unternehmen eine Entwicklung hin zum Systemanbieter, die Projekte koordinieren (Netzwerkkonvention), um damit auf (internationalen) Märkten höhere Preise durchzusetzen (Marktkonvention), am vielversprechendsten ist. Damit einher geht der Aufbau und die Aufrechterhaltung von Netzwerken (Netzwerkkonvention), die Herausforderung besteht aber darin, auch mit Wettbewerbern (Marktkonvention) vertrauensvoll zusammen zu arbeiten. Des Weiteren zeigte sich, dass bei öffentlich geförderten Verbundprojekten („Clusterpolitik“) die Marktkonvention ebenfalls nicht dominant sein darf bzw. sie zumindest Kompromisse mit anderen Konventionen eingehen muss, damit diese Netzwerke nicht nach Ende der Förderperiode auseinander fallen. Diese Befunde decken sich mit Arbeiten aus der Wirtschaftsgeographie und verwandter Fächer, bei denen gezeigt wurde, dass erst ein Gebilde aus spezifischen regionale Institutionen technologisches Lernen ermöglicht bzw. dass insbesondere die gleichzeitige Ausprägung von Konkurrenz- und Kooperationsprinzipien („Coopetition“) auf der gleichen Wertschöpfungsstufe, es Unternehmen ermöglicht, neue wettbewerbsfähige Produkte auf den Markt zu bringen. Eine theoretisch fundierte Clusterpolitik sollte daher nicht nur Vernetzungsaktivitäten (Netzwerkkonvention), sondern auch den Wettbewerb (Marktkonvention) im Cluster mit fördern. Im Fazit wurden dann die Instrumente, die in der Literatur genannt werden, um vorhandene Clusterstrukturen weiter zu entwickeln, mit der rekonstruierten Typologie der Qualitätskonventionen verknüpft.
League of Legends
(2020)
Drawing on three waves of survey data from a non-probability sample from Germany, this paper examines two opposing expectations about the pandemic's impacts on gender equality: The optimistic view suggests that gender equality has increased, as essential workers in Germany have been predominantly female and as fathers have had more time for childcare. The pessimistic view posits that lockdowns have also negatively affected women's jobs and that mothers had to shoulder the additional care responsibilities. Overall, our exploratory analyses provide more evidence supporting the latter view. Parents were more likely than non-parents to work fewer hours during the pandemic than before, and mothers were more likely than fathers to work fewer hours once lockdowns were lifted. Moreover, even though parents tended to divide childcare more evenly, at least temporarily, mothers still shouldered more childcare work than fathers. The division of housework remained largely unchanged. It is therefore unsurprising that women, in particular mothers, reported lower satisfaction during the observation period. Essential workers experienced fewer changes in their working lives than respondents in other occupations.
Schließung, soziale
(2020)
In Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft führt Weber das Konzept »offener« und »geschlossener« sozialer Beziehungen (s. Kap. II.4) als § 10 der Soziologischen Grundbegriffe systematisch nach der Unterscheidung von »Vergemeinschaftung « und »Vergesellschaftung« (WuG, 21 § 9) ein. Während das soziale Handeln (s. Kap. II.16) bei der ersten dieser beiden Formen sozialer Beziehungen auf affektuell oder traditional begründeter Zusammengehörigkeit von Individuen beruht, gründet es bei der zweiten auf der wert- oder zweckrationalen Orientierung ihres Handelns. Trotz dieser wichtigen, anhand seiner Handlungstypen getroffenen Unterscheidung, macht Weber dann allerdings zugleich deutlich, dass im Hinblick auf Prozesse sozialer Schließung kein Unterschied darin besteht, ob es sich um subjektiv gefühlte oder rational motivierte Zusammengehörigkeiten dreht. Vielmehr gilt jegliche soziale Beziehung nach außen hin als »offen«, »wenn und insoweit die Teilnahme an dem an ihrem Sinngehalt orientierten gegenseitigen Handeln, welches sie konstituiert, nach ihren geltenden Ordnungen niemand verwehrt wird, der dazu tatsächlich in der Lage und geneigt ist« (ebd., 23).
Das Abendland
(2019)
The religious borders of Europe, which are more evident and controversial than ever, challenge established forms of political legitimacy and the legal requirements for citizenship. Perhaps covertly rather than overtly, they shape politics and policies. While scholars have once again resorted to Edward Said’s Orientalism to describe the dynamic at play, this article argues that the Orientalism narrative of East and West is too simple to capture the actual complexity of Europe’s borders. There are four religious and thus four cultural-symbolic borders, which are increasingly defining the continent: north-western Europe is Protestant, southern Europe is Catholic, the East is Orthodox and increasingly nationalist, and the South and Near East are Muslim. The cultural purity and the values that Europe craves in search of identity and order are simply not available in a world of global interconnectedness and social diversity.
Gesundheitsbildung
(2019)
This paper compares the usability of data stemming from probability sampling with data stemming from nonprobability sampling. It develops six research scenarios that differ in their research goals and assumptions about the data generating process. It is shown that inferences from data stemming from nonprobability sampling implies demanding assumptions on the homogeneity of the units being studied. Researchers who are not willing to pose these assumptions are generally better off using data from probability sampling, regardless of the amount of nonresponse. However, even in cases when data from probability sampling is clearly advertised, data stemming from nonprobability sampling may contribute to the cumulative scientific endeavour of pinpointing a plausible interval for the parameter of interest.
This article draws on the experience from an ongoing research project employing respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to survey (illicit) 24-hour home care workers. We highlight issues around the preparatory work and the fielding of the survey to provide researchers with useful insights on how to implement RDS when surveying populations for which the method has not yet been used. We conclude the article with ethical considerations that occur when employing RDS.
Leben in der ehemaligen DDR
(2019)
Concepts and theory
(2019)
There is no threat to Western democracies today comparable to the rise of right-wing populism. While it has played an increasing role at least since the 1990s, only the social consequences of the global financial crises in 2008 have given it its break that led to UK’s ‘Brexit’ and the election of Donald Trump as US President in 2016, as well as promoting what has been called left populism in countries that were hit the hardest by both the banking crisis and consequential neo-liberal austerity politics in the EU, such as Greece and Portugal.
In 2017, the French Front National (FN) attracted many voters in the French Presidential elections; we have seen the radicalization of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany and the formation of centre-right government in Austria. Further, we have witnessed the consolidation of autocratic regimes, as in the EU member states Poland and Greece. All these manifestations of right-wing populism share a common feature: they attack or even compromise the core elements of democratic societies such as the separation of powers, protection of minorities, or the rule of law.
Despite a broad debate on the re-emergence of ‘populism’ in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century that has brought forth many interesting findings, a lack of sociological reasoning cannot be denied, as sociology itself withdrew from theorising populism decades ago and largely left the field to political sciences and history. In a sense, Populism and the Crisis of Democracy considers itself a contribution to begin filling this lacuna. Written in a direct and clear style, this set of volumes will be an invaluable reference for students and scholars in the field of political theory, political sociology and European Studies.
This volume Concepts and Theory offers new and fresh perspectives on the debate on populism. Starting from complaints about the problems of conceptualising populism that in recent years have begun to revolve around themselves, the chapters offer a fundamental critique of the term and concept of populism, theoretically inspired typologies and descriptions of currently dominant concepts, and ways to elaborate on them. With regard to theory, the volume offers approaches that exceed the disciplinary horizon of political science that so far has dominated the debate. As sociological theory so far has been more or less absent in the debate on populism, only few efforts have been made to discuss populism more intensely within different theoretical contexts in order to explain its dynamics and processes. Thus, this volume offers critical views on the debate on populism from the perspectives of political economy and the analysis of critical historical events, the links of analyses of populism with social movement mobilisation, the significance of ‘superfluous populations’ in the rise of populism and an analysis of the exclusionary character of populism from the perspective of the theory of social closure.
An effective training program needs to be customized to the specific
demands of the redpective sport. Therefore, it is important to
conduct a needs analysis to gain information on the unique
characteristics of the sport. The objectives of thes review were (A)
to conduct a systematic needs analysis of karate kumite and (B) to
provide practical recommendations for sport-specific performance
testing and training of karate kumite athletes.
Übergänge im Bildungssystem sind zentrale Stationen für die Generierung von sozialer Ungleichheit. Während die Bildungswege und die Bedeutung der sozialen Ungleichheit für den Schulbereich umfangreich untersucht wurden, liegen kaum Studien zu den nachschulischen Bildungsverläufen von Hochschulzugangsberechtigten und dem Einfluss der sozialen Herkunft bis zur Aufnahme einer Promotion vor. Daher ist es das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit, die Gestaltung nachschulischer Bildungsverläufe zu untersuchen sowie die Bedeutung der sozialen Herkunft vom Abitur bis zur Promotionsaufnahme zu analysieren. Den beiden Forschungsfragen wurde in vier Teilstudien nachgegangen. In Teilstudie 1 wurde die Relevanz von Merkmalen des Bildungsverlaufes für die Promotionsaufnahme untersucht. Der Schwerpunkt der drei folgenden Teilstudien lag auf der Bedeutung der sozialen Herkunft bei Aufnahme einer Promotion beziehungsweise der sozialen Ungleichheit in den relevanten Selektionsstufen des nachschulischen Bildungsverlaufs bis zur Promotionsaufnahme. In Teilstudie 2 wurden diesbezüglich soziale Herkunftseffekte bei der für eine Promotionsaufnahme bedeutsamen Wahl der Hochschulform untersucht, in Teilstudie 3 die Mechanismen hinter sozialen Herkunftseffekten bei Promotionsaufnahme analysiert und in Teilstudie 4 wurde soziale Ungleichheit bei Studienaufnahme und Promotionsaufnahme vergleichend betrachtet. Als Datengrundlage wurde die Längsschnittstudie BIJU (Bildungsverläufe und psychosoziale Entwicklung im Jugend- und jungen Erwachsenenalter) herangezogen. Die Befunde der Dissertation verweisen auf die Relevanz sozialer Ungleichheiten vom Eintritt in die Hochschule bis zum Übergang in die Promotion. Auch wenn ein abnehmender Herkunftseffekt vom Übertritt ins Studium zum Übertritt in die Promotion vorliegt, sind soziale Herkunftseffekte bei dem späten Bildungsübergang noch sichtbar. Zudem zeigt sich die Bedeutung von Pfadabhängigkeiten in Bildungsverläufen sowie von Leistungsunterschieden für eine Promotionsaufnahme.
This article focuses on the marginal extremities – the limits – of Shari’a practices in Australia, through the example of a criminal case in which four Sydney-based Muslim men whipped a Muslim convert to punish him for his excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol. The men claimed they acted in line with the doctrines of Shari’a practice to ‘purify’ or absolve the victim of his sins. While the case was tried before a magistrate in a lower court, it is argued in this article that its social and political significance was wider, reaching into contemporary debates around multiculturalism and immigration from non-western, non-liberal and mainly Muslim nations. Mainstream media and political narratives viewed the whipping as an example of the moral dangers of accommodating Shari’a norms, eliding the differences between peaceable Shari’a and its violent extremities, while situating the case at the limits of multicultural accommodation. This article interrogates the objectionable margins of some cultural practices through this limit case. At the same time it questions the limits or limitations of a multiculturalism that homogeneously views the practices of entire ethnic or religious groups as violent and incommensurable with dominant norms, while using these understandings as a justification for marginalising these groups.