Modernisierungstheorie und Wandel der Weltgesellschaft

The modernization and industrialization of the developing countries, especially in Asia and Latin America in the last 30 years, are facts that seem to contradict to the basic assumptions of the ruling sociological theories of development. The rise of the developing countries is a main part of the process called “globalization”. The different parts of the world are getting closer to each other by trade, industrial investments, tourism, political influences and co-operations on different levels. Theories of dependence and similar approaches don’t fit these social developments and seem to have gotten a status of falsified, refused, neglected or simply forgotten theories. “Sociological Theory” is till this day not ready to answer the open questions and to fill the scientific gap. The article shows that the classical theory of modernization is capable to describe and explain the process of modernization not only in Europe but also in the developing countries. Modernization theory is the central and encompassing theory of development, no matter whether Europe in the last 200 years, the present-day developing countries or processes of globalization is the chosen and focused subject of research activities.     

Die Integration qualitativer und quantitativer Forschung – theoretische Grundlagen von „Mixed Methods“

Mixed Methods have been used in social research for quite a long time, as can be seen by looking on influential empirical studies from the first half of the 20^th century, where the combined use of qualitative and quantitative methods was justified in most cases only pragmatically (if at all). Unfortunately, the discussions led from the 1970s onwards about theoretical justifications of mixed methods designs often suffered from a focus limited on formal and epistemological issues. This holds true for the debates about the notion of “triangulation” as well as for the controversies about the paradigms presumably underlying quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods research. By contrasting “positivism”, “constructivism” and “pragmatism” outdated frontlines were often preserved and complex philosophical problems oversimplified. Furthermore, the focus on epistemology led to a neglect of substantial issues relating to the research field (which are always critical for the use of methods).The necessity for using (and combining) quantitative and qualitative methods follows from the nature of social structures relevant for the concrete field of investigation which may differ widely according to their stability and flexibility. Thereby structures with limited scope or “contingent structures” create specific problems for qualitative and quantitative methods which can be detected and dealt with by drawing on the strengths of the respective other methodological tradition in mixed methods designs.     

Karrieren nach der Rente: Karriere- und Arbeitsvorstellungen von arbeitenden Rentner*innen

The employment rate of German older workers has rapidly risen in the last 15 years. The steepest increase was found among those older than 65. The number of these working pensioners has more than doubled between 2000 and 2015. However only little gerontological and psychological research on working pensioners can be found. Companies and human resources managers seem rather unprepared, as almost no organisational career and development models exist for this group. Based on data from the survey “Transitions and Old Age Potential: Übergänge und Alternspotenziale (TOP)” the article at hand investigates older workers (age 50–65), attitudes towards potentially working in retirement. The results show that about half of the respondents consider working in addition to receiving a pension. However, they prefer part-time employment with on average 20?hours a week over full-time employment. In addition, this article discusses how the preference of this employment group fits with existing career models. We find that there is not one but several career models for working pensioners that human resource strategies should be mindful of.     

New Rage,New Perspectives?

The Eurozone crisis has led to a long and remarkable protest wave. Civil society raised its voice against the ever-harsher austerity measures implemented to deal with the crisis. The article focuses on the role of civil society and its potential to contribute new perspectives to the debate. Such a contribution would depend on two preconditions: 1. Civil society actors need to mobilize successfully to make their voices heard. 2. Civil society actors contribute a perspective that differs to the perspectives of actors from institutionalized politics. Both preconditions are analyzed empirically for two countries that are in very different situations in the crisis scenario: Greece and Germany. Greece has been hit most severely by the crisis; Germany is the most prominent country defining the crisis management, and it provides the largest share of credit guarantees for “crisis countries.” Social movement theory is used to explain the differing evolution of protests in the two countries. In the early phase of the crisis, the established landscape of political parties in both countries offered few opportunities for their citizens to vote in opposition to the crisis management, which is conducive to extra-parliamentary protest. Differences in deprivation, discursive opportunities and the resource basis of mobilization structures can explain differences in protest frequency but also to some extent the evolution of protest over time. Taking up Habermas’ argument regarding the specific perspective of civil society actors in the public debate, we then analyze to which extent the arguments of civil society actors deviate from those of more institutionalized actors. A discursive actor attribution analysis unveils that civil society actors are more sensitive to social problems and grand systemic questions. Moreover, civil society actors are less hesitant to blame actors on the EU level and other EU Member States, even though their overall contribution to the crisis debate is rather marginal.     

Manager-Derailment

The topic of this article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO)”, failure of managers, used to be a taboo issue that currently receives more and more attention in the daily press as well as in research. In times of globalization and the resulting world-wide competition, organizations bear the responsibility of counteracting failures of their top managers as they encompass not only financial damage for the company but also personal consequences for the respective individual. The derailment of a manager describes the sudden break-down of a so far successful executive. But how does a derailment occur and are there possibilities to prevent it? The following contribution reports empirical evidence for both risk and resilience factors and gives advice for personnel selection and development.     

Change the Change Management! Die Kunst der kontinuierlichen Selbsterneuerung von Unternehmen

Given the increasing dynamics in the markets, the possibility to adapt quickly to the changing environmental requirements is regarded as the key competence of corporations. Following the latest empirical findings of strategic and organizational research, those corporations will be successful in the long run that have the ability to continually reinvent themselves. We call this type of change “continuous self-renewal”. Continuous self-renewal is a profound change that proceeds with foresight and is not triggered by an external acute pressure to act. This approach is opposed to the established concepts of Change Management which state that processes of profound change can only be successful if exactly this pressure to act exists. Hence, the question arises whether “continuous self-renewal” is merely a theoretical concept? Based on a case study, the author comes to the conclusion that “continuous self-renewal” is an empirically verifiable type of change. The research results show furthermore that this type of change operates on completely different principles than previously known processes of change. Continuous self-renewal challenges therefore our established thinking about organizational change in a fundamental way, so the central conclusion of the author.     

Milieus and Mixed Methods

In the literature on religion and secularity, scholars often use mono-method strategies, either quantitative or qualitative, in order to identify broad social groups – “milieus” or “social aggregates” and thus gain better understanding of the great diversity of religious beliefs and practices in a given population. This paper identifies different validity problems of such studies and claims that mixed methods may be used in order to better address these problems. By combining representative surveys with semi-standardized interviews, large scale groups (e.?g. milieus) can be described and some of their inner workings explained in a more valid way. The article shows the steps of such a mixed methods research strategy, arguing for (a) a common central question in a realist philosophical framework (b) nested qualitative and quantitative samples with relatively large n on the qualitative side, (c) an integrated data collection on the level of items and leading questions, (d) abductive-iterative data analysis, and (e) an addressing of validity issues with the help of mixed methods. Two nested mixed methods studies are used to exemplify these research strategies: one on religion and spirituality in Switzerland and one on the “evangelical milieu” in Switzerland.     

Kulturwandel im Geldgeschäft? Potenziale einer ethischen Selbsterneuerung im Banken- und Finanzwesen

Following the financial crisis in 2008 a debate about the social benefit of the financial industry, which operates without considering its real-economic consequences, was initiated. The financial industry responded by offering strategies of cultural change (“Kulturwandel”) which foster a more socially responsible financial practice. At the same time the expansion of “ethical” banks aims to establish a banking business avoiding negative externalities of the banking sector. Following the conceptual assumptions of the sociology of critique we study the collectively shared interpretation of a “good” and legitimate financial practice beyond publicly communicated standards of practice. Against this backdrop we evaluate the potentials of normative self-regulation in banking and finance. Our results show that cultural or ethical change is only partly feasible if it exclusively focuses the motives, values and personalities of the individual subjects but neglects the structural as well as institutional conditions of a “good” financial practice.     

Bindung(en) in der Arbeitswelt

Vanishing or decreasing attachment is an indicator for changes within a work-oriented society. This particularly affects employment and our organizational commitment as well as bonds that are established in the context of professional relationships. This text provides a comparative analysis of two attachment-theoretical approaches that have developed simultaneously but independently from one another: commitment research into organizational psychology on the one hand and attachment theory based on developmental psychology on the other. Both are to be examined for their potential, their theoretical and empirical response to current dynamics in the world of work.     

Die politische Dimension der sozialen Form

In an increasingly heterogeneous society, learning at school about religions and religious differences is becoming more and more important. However, individual approaches differ distinctly. Besides common educational approaches we mainly find ones specially designed for religiously homogenous groups. The chosen form, however, is not without consequences and therefore already politically relevant. The allocation into religiously homogeneous groups draws a boundary between inclusion and exclusion, thus indicating commonalities as well as differences. Focusing on John Dewey’s democratic considerations and with reference to a current research project the paper discusses the consequences of limiting social interaction, common experiences and learning processes to separate forms of religious instruction in Austrian public schools. In doing so, it analyses and discusses the challenges of such an approach and its consequences for education in democracy in a pluralistic society.     

Die europäische Schuldenkrise als Schub systemischer Vergesellschaftung: Von Partizipationsversprechen zu Partizipationszwang

The article presents a sociological conceptualization of the dealing with the recent sovereign debt crisis in the European Monetary Union (EMU), which is reconstructed as a push of “sociation” (vergesellschaftung in Simmel’s sense) that maneuvered populations of indebted states into de facto contractual obligations vis-à-vis their states’ creditors. Seen from this perspective, the sovereign debt crisis has led to an, if highly ambivalent, deepening of European “integration”. The article suggests a combination of Habermas’s distinction between system and life-world, which enables an interpretation of contract-like relationships as systemic mode of integration potentially harking back on the life-world, with David Graeber’s emphasis on the asymmetrical and hierarchical processes of sociation inherent in contractualized and marketized creditor-debtor relationships. Far from postulating an evolutionary development of processes of debt-related sociation that might be associated with the modernization-theoretical proclivities in Habermas’s theory, the article analyzes the role of financial market publics in creating a structure of legitimation that supported the political interpretation of the financial crisis as a sovereign debt crisis in the EMU, thus bestowing justification on the treatment of populations as “debtors of last resort”.     

From Economic Gains to Social Losses

This paper analyzes how stories shaped treasurers’ expectations in municipal swap activities and contributes to the sociological debate on the mechanisms of expectation formation. Employing a deductive variant of process tracing, it synthesizes the literature on expectations in economic decision making with the literature on the diffusion of “ideas,” “myths,” and “fashions” in organization theory and management studies. The swap story has spread since the mid-1990s among German municipalities. At the heart of this story is the replacement of traditional borrowing with active portfolio optimization; financial instruments known as swaps play a leading role. This paper examines how stories shape expectations. Specifically, it delves into how the swap story, as a solution to the financial woes of local governments, shaped these governments’ expectations despite the uncertainty resulting from the instruments’ complexity. We argue that the effect of stories on expectations depends on timing. Expectations at an early stage are shaped by economic analyses to reduce uncertainty, while expectations at a later stage are primarily shaped by societal pressures and an established trend. These two distinct mechanisms produce expectations related to economic and social consequences, respectively. Selecting four typical cases, our analysis confirms that stories affected the formation of treasurers’ expectations regarding the use of swaps through these different mechanisms.     

WE WANT MORE – WE ARE MORE

Impressed with the current migration in Europe and the connected socio-political and civil-societal challenges, we examine the question which contribution group-dynamic learning forms and its paradigms can raise awareness for a shared created future. Group dynamics understands itself as a place of practical philosophy, as intervention per se, where collectives can emancipate and participation should become alive. The origin of this idea is the examination with the unknown, the differences and the linked questioning of subjective truths, feelings and convictions. The connection between individual as well as collective self-enlightenment processes and the competence extension dealing with personal, cultural, moral, social etc. boundaries.We focus on the emotional effects (uncertainty and fear as a side effect of migration) as well as the theoretical background of the unknown and discuss the sense and the possibilities of participative-designed intervention forms of knowledge creation. Taking into account that several issues of collaboration for a shared future cannot be solved without the people concerned, we examine why we are “more”, why we want “more” and from what we will need “more”.     

Ambivalenzen spätmoderner Identitäten: Vom proteischen Selbst in den neuen ArbeitsweltenAmbivalences of late modern identities: Thoughts on the protean self in the new work environments

This article of the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation.” sheds light on the consequences of the new economy for the identity of its employees. The new work environment opens up new prospects for the individuals, but at the same time increases the risk of failure. The flexible capitalism glorifies the “protean career” and implies an image of man that encourages people to internalize a circle of escalation which can lead to burnout and depression. Health promotion and a critical reflection of the neo-liberal idea of man are needed to escape from this fatal circle. What is needed is a critical social diagnosis. Leadership and management are responsible for the sustainable implementation of health-promoting working conditions.     

Vernetzte Zusammenarbeit erfolgreich gestalten – eine Analyse der Relevanz sozialer Fertigkeiten der Mitglieder in Gesundheitsnetzwerken

Due to recent strategic network building among health care partners a more differentiated discussion about the crucial structural and the personal success factors for network building and cooperation is needed. On that note, research has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the network agents’ individual soft skills. At the same time the empirical insights into this research topic are still scarce and the assumed interrelation between an agent’s individual repertoire of skills and his influence on the collaboration remain hypothetical so far. In the present paper we use the construct of so-called “political skills” to empirically test the impact of these skills on how they will contribute to the network members’ success within the cooperation. Using social network analysis the interaction structures between members in a doctors’ network (N = 37) are mapped and related to the individual level of political skills. It can be shown that primarily the dimension “networking ability” contributes to a beneficial role within the cooperation in terms of high prestige and high engagement as perceived by the other network members. In addition, members who scored high on that dimension are more likely to obtain benefits on an individual level (gaining new patients) as well as on a group level (identification with the network). One core implication that derives from the study’s results is the necessity to focus not only on strategic aspects with regard to building and designing health care networks, but also to develop and to foster personal soft-skills.     

Fehlinterpretationen der Weltgesellschaftstheorie

The article responds to a critical discussion of sociological world society research and our article “What makes globalization possible?” (KZfSS 63/2011) by Markus Holzinger in the present issue of this journal. We repeat the central point made in our earlier article: that world society theories should be seen and used as a heuristic device to develop a historical sociology of globalization, rather than transferring obsolete controversies within sociological theory to yet another research field. To make this point, we (2) recapitulate our article, showing where and how we see it as being misrepresented in Holzinger’s article. Against this background, we (3) discuss a typical research interest of world society theories—the relationship between global structures (expectations, institutions) and the local appropriation of (or dissociation from) them—using the example of the decoupling-thesis by the Stanford School.     

A Sociology of Foreign Aid and the World Society

This article highlights an emerging research agenda for the study of foreign aid through a World Society theory lens. First, it briefly summarizes the social scientific literature on aid and sociologists' earlier contributions to this research. Next, it reviews the contours of world society research and the place of aid within this body of literature. Finally, it outlines three emergent threads of research on foreign aid that comprise a new research agenda for the sociology of foreign aid and its role in world society globalization.     

Teaching Sociological Theory for a New Century: Contending with the Time Crunch

Despite being a decade into the 21st century, sociological theory continues to be taught at the undergraduate and graduate level in nearly every program in the United States as if it were still 1970. 40 years ago, it made sense to dichotomize theory into two courses—“classical” and “contemporary”—because the latter of the two only covered theory from about the 1930s to the “present.” Today a literal and figurative time crunch has emerged that makes teaching theory difficult and at times, arbitrary based on the professor’s training, mentor, ideological/epistemological biases, and structural factors like textbook choice and number of academic weeks allotted per course. That is, we spend a large amount of time debating who should be in or out, and not enough time preparing our students for the application of theory towards the ultimate goal: knowledge about the social world. Students, then, leave confused at how one uses theory, what theory actually is, and, often times, disengaged from theory because of the density with which some theories approach the social world. In the paper below, the time crunch and its tendency to produce a “lost generation” of theorists is examined. After elucidating how the time crunch constrains sociology, four possible solutions are presented. This list of solutions is neither definitive nor exhaustive, and is meant to generate a rich discussion about the direction the discipline should head in the new century.     

Mitarbeiterintegration und Mitarbeiterbindung von Organisationen – Wie integrieren und binden Organisationen ihr Personal?

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)” provides a brief overview of a semantic integration mechanism how organizations can succeed in integrating and attach their employees. Every organization has basic assumptions about human behavior. These assumptions or images about people, whether implicitly present or explicitly reflected, essentially determine the behavior of the organization and its personnel management. In terms of research theory, the work is based on the system theoretical considerations of Niklas Luhmann. Organizations are fictitious units that are constructed in communication. The employees of organizations belong to the environment of the organization and are structurally linked to it through their employee role. Structurally coupled means the members of an organization are able to influence the structure of the organization. The central result of this article is the identification of a semantic integration mechanism that functions as a membrane that generates resonance both in the social system of organizations and in the psychological system of structurally coupled employees. In the current changing world of work, this mechanism can help organizations to attach their employees to the organization. The empirical data come from a research project on the identity and functional logic of training organizations.     

Gentrifikation in zwei Wohngebieten von KölnGentrification in two residential areas of Cologne

We examine the process of Gentrification in two residential areas of Cologne, Germany: Deutz and Mülheim. The theory underlying the study is a phase (or stage) model of Gentrification in which indicators and their values are attributed to each phase. The hypotheses derived from the model pertain to changes in the social structure, rents and the spatial distribution of social groups such as “pioneers”, “gentrifiers” and “others”. We further assume both areas to be in different phases of Gentrification.