Entwicklung pädagogisch professionalisierender Selbst- und Sozialkompetenz mit Introvisionsberatung

This article develops, a model of pedagogical professionalization based on the Introvision method.This model was realized and tested at the School of Education, University of Hamburg, as an Introvision-Counseling module (5 courses within a period of 18 Months).The course assessment results, measured with different questionnaires confirm the hypothesis that the Introvision-Counseling module develops the ability of self-reflection, self-regulation, social interaction and counseling. Furthermore, the learning dynamics of the course attendees lead to the creation of two different new course designs: one short course directly teaching Introvision and another more complex one focusing on Introvision-counseling competence.     

Education,reputation or network? Evidence on migrant workers employability

The strong adverse selection that immigrants face in hosting labour markets may induce them to adopt some behaviours or signals to modify employers’ beliefs. Relevant mechanisms for reaching this purpose are personal reputation; exploiting ethnic networks deeply rooted in the hosting country; and high educational levels used as an indirect signal of productivity. On this last point, the immigrant status needs a stronger signal compared to that necessary for a native worker, and this may lead the immigrant to accept job qualifications which are lower than those achievable through the embodied educational level.The aim of the paper is to investigate whether the above mentioned mechanisms are adopted by immigrants in Italy, a crucial country for EU immigration flows, and if they are useful in increasing immigrants’ likelihood of employment. The empirical analysis has been conducted using the dataset from a national Labour Force Survey which provides information on thousands of documented immigrants. We estimate a logit model for immigrants’ likelihood of being employed, focusing on the above mentioned mechanisms: reputation, ethnic networks and educational level. Moreover we concentrate on the interaction effects of the mechanisms and investigate whether one of them wins on the others. Results show that each of the three mechanisms is statistically and economically significant and exerts positive influence: all factors contribute to increase the immigrant's probability of being employed. Anyway, a high level of education increases the probability of being employed more than the belonging to ethnic networks deeply rooted in Italy. The specific embodied capital of workers matter relatively more. This is relevant for labour public policies in this specific realm since the human capital lever is a possible direct target in various public policies and private human capital investments.     

Mobilität oder Immobilität?

An ongoing controversy in transformation research concerns the relative importance of firm-internal versus occupational segmentation in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) employment system compared to the West German system. In a first step, institutions of vocational education and of the employment system focusing on their impact on labor market segmentation are analyzed. Then, the occupational careers of different birth cohorts of East and West Germans are examined. Empirical results show that the importance of internal mobility increased over time in the GDR. But this change cannot primarily be attributed to personnel policies of firms. It was mainly due to social policies, i.e. the introduction of compulsory army service and of maternity leave, since companies were obliged to take the army recruits and mothers back afterwards. Obviously, the way social policies were institutionalized affected the levels of labor market mobility in both countries more than changes of employment strategies.     

A contradiction in terms? migrant activists in the Sweden Democrats party

Right-wing, xenophobic and racist parties have enjoyed immense successes in Europe in recent decades. In Sweden, the third-largest party in Parliament is the Sweden Democrats (SD), with 13% in the 2014 general election. Sympathy for the SD among foreign-born Swedish citizens, both women and men, is far lower than among Sweden-born men, but an increasing number of Swedish citizens with migrant backgrounds support the party. The aim of this article is to explore the subject positions open for citizens with migrant background in the Swedish public space with special focus on the identities and worldviews developed by migrant activists who have joined the SD party and are, to differing degrees, racialised and perceived as non-Swedish. Using the concept of migrant respectability, this research is intended to understand why and under what circumstances migrants chose to join and represent a xenophobic and racist party.     

CARIN' about migrants through news? Linking migrant deservingness to traditional and digital media consumption

In recent years, public discourse and political actors have increasingly used a deservingness rhetoric to refer to the arrival and permanent settlement of migrant groups. However, scholars have drawn on the concept of deservingness without developing a clear theoretical framework for it. Following our recent work on the migrant deservingness framework, in the present study we use the CARIN criteria (Control, Attitude, Reciprocity, Identity, Need) to establish the extent to which host nationals in eight nations impose conditions towards accepting permanent settlement among migrants. Specifically, we examine the links of these deservingness perceptions with news media consumption in seven European countries and Colombia using online survey panel data (N = 12,142). Our findings indicate that consuming news via commercial television and in popular newspapers, in particular, is linked to greater conditionality regarding migrant settlement. Consuming public television or quality news sources is only weakly linked to (reduced) conditionality. We discuss these findings using the migrant deservingness framework.     

Deutsch-polnisches Training: Persönliche und professionelle Erfahrungen mit Bikulturalität und Interkulturalität – Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

This report contains several experiences and authentic examples taken from highly professional German-Polish and Polish-German coaching groups. Accordingly, ideas are in part presented from a very personal point of view. Running “Intercultural activities” is very much praised in a world that becomes more and more globalized. But how do these activities work out in practice? The author’s goal is to explain the cultural differences in order for managers to be able to work effectively in international projects. The author illustrates her method and her goals by giving characteristic examples. She talks about demands as far as the personality of the coach is concerned, as well as about interferences within the coaching situation. A prevailing common culture in Europe does not (yet) exist which makes it even more important to talk about differences openly so that they can be understood and be overcome. Useful experiences are shared which shall help to build a ‘working’ trust level between representatives of different cultures. Cultural factors of power usage are described which show how power can be applied in different ways. The influence of language problems is also analyzed in detail. Finally, this paper shows that the most important is to keep an atmosphere based on cooperation: only when such an atmosphere is accepted as a natural daily routine can contacts among participants of different cultures be established as among equals and it is then possible to overcome the challenges related to differences of cultures.     

Settlers,target-earners,young professionals. Distinct migrant types,distinct integration trajectories?

In this article, we start out from theoretical concepts about different types of migrants that feature prominently in the immigration literature. By applying latent class analysis to a unique ‘mini-panel’ data set on recent Polish and Turkish immigrants in Germany, we identify two types of migrants that are in line with the literature, namely settlers and target-earners. We label a third group that is best described as educational target-earners: ‘young learners/professionals’. Regarding variation in these groups’ early sociocultural integration patterns, results suggest that they reflect primarily differences in migrants’ intention to stay, individual resources such as education, and opportunities for integration related to newcomers’ involvement in the educational system or labour force. In sum, migrant types – though certainly more intuitively appealing and vivid than single ‘variables’ – seem to have limited explanatory power when it comes to predicting newcomers’ early integration trajectories.     

Disability,caregiving and interpellation: migrant and non‐migrant families of children with disabilities in urban Australia

The process of interpellation (and its opposite, misinterpellation) is taken as a metaphor for understanding the lived experience of personal difference. This research focuses on two interpellative experiences: disability and migrant status. Parents of children with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities were asked about their engagement with the community; their access to support programs; and their sense of well‐being. Responses were divided between the non‐migrants (who were misinterpellated once) and migrants (who were misinterpellated twice). Were the migrant parents doubly isolated due to migrant status and carer status? What differences were there between migrant and non‐migrant responses to their parental experience? Although migrant parents were more negative about their children’s future, they rated themselves as equally happy and socially connected as non‐migrant parents.     

Säkularisierung, Individualisierung oder Marktmodell?

The debates of the religious development in the last decades have uncovered the differences of the current theories of the sociology of religion. Most of them point out different explanations of the developments of religiosity and involvement in church in the unified Europe, often combined with a critique of the traditional dominant secularization theory. In the article on the hand, a quantitative analysis of the religious vitality in Europe, focused mainly on the macro-level, using a combination of a wide range of survey data, will be conducted. The results lead to the assumption, that the secularization theory should not be rejected too fast. But its general assumptions have to be framed in cultural context, to be useful for a continuing explanation of religious vitality in Europe. The cultural-historical influence of dominant religions, the political framework or results of political repression and processes of identity formation play important roles. Including these factors, it seems to be possible, to explain the differences in religious vitality in Europe. Especially, the conflicting effects of the framework of Eastern European religion are from special interest.     

Erosion oder Stabilität der Beruflichkeit?

Regarding the changing patterns of mobility processes in the German labor market, this paper takes up the scientific debate on the declining significance of occupational qualifications. By comparing several labor market entry cohorts, the matching of the learned occupation and the practiced occupation is analyzed in both the horizontal and the vertical dimension of occupational mobility. In doing so, the question of a successful utilization of the skills acquired in the educational process can be addressed. Changes of occupations will be operationalized on the basis of a new professional classification by using the data set “Working and Learning in a Changing World” (ALWA). First, the Kaplan Meier survival curves show that the risks of horizontal occupational mobility have increased across cohorts. This indicates that the formerly close relationship between the education system and the employment system has weakened. Furthermore, according to our multivariate Cox regression analysis, the mobility towards inadequate status positions has increased. Thus, due to the expansion of atypical forms of employment and the increased volatility of the markets, altered mobility patterns of the younger cohorts entering the labor market can be shown. Consequently, the increase of unsuccessful transfers of skills in inter-firm mobility suggests a weakened cohesiveness between professionalism and a growing risk to loose professional qualifications.     

Wenn alle tatsächlich in einem Boot sitzen — Eine Studie zur Identifikation mit der Schule im Kontext einer erlebnispädagogischen Gruppenerfahrung

We report on the results of an experience-pedagogic project on the identification of pupils from a technical school with their classes and school. The analysis is done from a perspective of organisational psychology and group dynamics, which is influenced by the social Identity Approach. It is stipulated that the experiences of a communal out-of-school activity strengthens the organisational identification. Additionally, it is verified whether the attitudes of the pupils towards their classes, and the participation in lessons, changes by influence of the project. The study shows a positive effect of this experience on organisational identity, attitudes toward the school, and behavioural intentions.     

Wo lernen Kinder mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf besser? Ein Vergleich schulischer Kompetenzen zwischen Regel- und Förderschulen in der Primarstufe

Promoted by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, there is a trend towards the inclusive education of students with special educational needs (SEN) in regular classrooms. The present study addresses the question if achievement differences emerge between SEN students who attend a regular primary school and those who attend a school for special education. Based on data from the IQB-Ländervergleich Primarstufe 2011, a national assessment in German primary schools, the achievement of SEN students in regular schools (n?=?658) was compared to the achievement of students in special schools (n?=?413). Propensity score matching was applied to control for differences in achievement related characteristics between the two groups. After matching, SEN students in inclusive educational settings showed significantly higher test scores in German reading and listening comprehension as well as in mathematics than comparable SEN students in special schools. The effects were more pronounced for students with a special need of learning support than for students with speech and language-related special education support. Possible explanations for the higher achievement of SEN students in regular schools and for differential effects with regard to type of SEN are discussed.     

In welchen Lebensbereichen lernen Jugendliche Ausländerfeindlichkeit?

Youth research largely ignores apprentices. What little evidence there is on hostility towards foreigners among apprentices is contradictory. Starting with this scant knowledge the paper investigates in which life spheres (family, peers, school, work) apprentices learn this hostility. The study surveyed 374 respondents with German parents in Nuremberg. The results show clear evidence that family and peers are particularly important.     

Wie valide sind Selbsteinschätzungen der Empathie?

Despite the relevance of the empathy-construct with regard to social behaviour, only some of the items, which are supposed to assess empathy, are theoretically useful according to Holz-Ebeling and Steinmetz (1995). This study investigates the empirical validity of the theoretically estimated useful items. As validity aspects, connections of the self-estimation with the estimation of empathy by others, with the “objective” measure of the perspective coordination, as well as connections with the self-estimated social competence, uncertainty orientation and the mental health, are investigated. Results show that different dimensions of self-estimation empathy correlate differently with other-estimation and “objective” indicators of perspective-coordination and thereby affirm the multidimensionality of the empathy-construct. As conclusion, the need to validate empathy self-reports using objective measurements is emphasised and possibilities to promote the relevant dimensions of empathy which are important to solve conflicts are developed.     

Soziale Beeinflussung in Mikronetzwerken am Beispiel der Erhebung von Markenpräferenzen mit dem „Tischmodell“

Brand preferences in a homogeneous student milieu are analyzed in order to model how social influence affects people’s views and opinions. In this study the individual person is not considered as unit of analysis, but rather the people eating together at a table in a canteen. In classical surveys the opinions of the respondents should be independent from one another. In contrast to standard surveys the study presented here explicitly aims to examine the influence of a micro network on the attitudes of the constituent actors. To measure this effect an overall degree of conformity is calculated based on all table communities. Simulations are used to estimate the influence of the relations constituting the table community on the agreement of brand preferences among the table companions. Similar to the well-known bootstrapping procedure, the respondents are randomly grouped into table communities, where the distribution of group sizes matches the observed distribution for every resampling. By controlling for the socio-demographic structure of the table communities it is possible to estimate the effect of the micro-networks on the agreement of brand preferences. It turns out that the relevance of the “network effect” remains, even if the distribution of socio-demographic factors such as age, gender and field of study were held constant within the table communities. The presented “table model” can be applied to many problems.     

Gespensterdebatte oder was ist soziologische Aufklärung?

We reply to the critical comments of Richard Münch and the author group Jansen, Heidler and von Goetz on our article “Emergence of an Academic Elite? The Impact of Universities’ Size and Reputation on Research Funding” published in this journal. After reviewing some other sociologists’ statements on Münch’s thesis about the academic elite we reinforce the gain of our empirical analyses of hypotheses of the sociology of science in general, on the Matthew-Effect, and on trends to a possible cartelization and monopolization in the German science system. The main critic of unsuited data (we used applications for single grants submitted to the German Research Foundation) does not adequately consider the postulated scope of the investigated theses and our analyses do not aim at a general evaluation of the “Initative of Excellence”.     

A level playing field for migrant entrepreneurs? The legal and policy landscape across EU and OECD countries

Migrant entrepreneurship has been recognized as a form of integration in the country of destination and a viable alternative of decent and sustainable employment for migrants. Laws and policies can create barriers or support migrants who start a business in the country of destination. Despite their importance, these laws and policies have received scant attention from academic scholarship. By applying the mixed embedded approach, this article analyses the institutional and policy framework for migrant entrepreneurs in European Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and how this framework varies according to the migrants’ individual legal status and gender. In order to do so, this article draws upon the findings of two different studies conducted on the topic. The first one analyses the national institutional framework for migrant entrepreneurs of these countries. The second study consists of a review of measures to foster migrant entrepreneurship in the same sample of countries. On the one hand, this article shows that the institutional framework restricts access to self-employment for some categories of migrants (e.g. based on their legal status). On the other hand, a wide range of measures are now available to support migrant entrepreneurs. However, these measures treat them as a rather homogeneous group. These findings suggest that the fact that some migrants are less engaged in self-employment or face more difficulties may be explained by the lack of institutional opportunities and policy support.     

Why are migrant campaigns different from homeland campaigns? Understanding belonging in context among UK‐Sudanese activists

Migrant communities' homeland‐oriented political campaigns are always related to, but often different from, the activism in which local people engage in their homeland setting. In seeking to understand the observed disparities between migrant campaigns and homeland activism, several studies have demonstrated the influence of contextual factors like political opportunity structures on homeland‐oriented migrant politics. Complementing these studies are works that focus on changes to identity and belonging associated with migration and resettlement. In this article, I build on these debates by offering a combined analysis of the intersections between, and interplay of, contextual and identity‐based factors. I use this analytical approach to examine the case of Sudanese political activists resident in the UK. I demonstrate how forms of belonging emerge here as part of – and not in isolation from – the strategic navigations of multiple political contexts and opportunities. In doing so, I contribute to our understanding of how belonging can be contextualized to serve as an analytical lens for understanding homeland‐oriented migrant activism.     

Bonuszahlungen an Geschäftsführungen: Wodurch werden Gerechtigkeitsurteile von Erwerbstätigen beeinflusst?

Managerial compensation in large companies is subject to many critical concerns; this holds particularly for bonus payments. Empirical evidence shows that nearly three quarter of the German population perceive managers’ incomes as unfairly high. Based on an own survey, we examine what drives fairness perceptions of bonus payments for managers: When do employees assess bonus payments for managers within their own company as unfairly high? Under which conditions do they accept high bonus payments? The analyses show that acceptance decreases with the estimated amount of bonus paid. It increases, however, if aspects of procedural and distributive justice are taken into account.     

Local migrant kin or floating grandmother? Reflections on mobility and informal childcare support strategies among Polish migrants in Ireland

This study investigates mobilization of social support for informal childcare among working Polish mothers in Dublin. The research incorporates 61 semi-structured interviews and maps of ego-centric networks built around the support and childcare organization. Embedded in a support network and transnational family configuration perspective, this study assesses how migrant mothers use the local and transnational connections to mobilize informal child-minding strategies. The results show a great reliance on strong ties, especially partners whose support constitutes a backbone of the family being together. Beyond that, floating grandmothers have proven to be a significant provider of childcare from a transnational perspective. The heavy reliance on the local migrant kin and friends is crucial in providing ad hoc crisis support when transnational ties cannot be mobilized. This in turn demonstrates that distance matters, and while strong ties are not available, the local weak ties are more likely to be relied on.