Gestaltungsspielräume und Zwänge der politischen Rolle

The lecture presented here in slightly modified form was held in June 1999 at the 9^th ?Constraint and Spontaneity“ conference sponsored by the group dynamics section of the DAGG. Ingrid Stahmer, who was born in 1942, has been serving in the Berlin government as Senator for Schools, Youth and Sport since 1996. Her political career goes back nearly twenty years beyond that, during which time she sat on the Berlin-Charlottenburg borough council and served as Senator for health and social affairs. The document covers her life in public office, which she vividly reflects upon and analyses using numerous examples from her personal experience. She observes how the possibilities for influencing and shaping policy develop and change along with the levels of political activity as responsibilities increase and administrative and organisational challenges become more complex. One thesis that can be deduced from this is: ?A gain in power (in the political sense) has a reciprocal impact on the range of influence and because accompanied by additional constraints reduces one’s capacity to act effectively.“ The speech contains an analysis of the constraints that work within an administrative body on different levels. The politician’s relationship to her ?roots“, the political party, is analysed as well as the interdependence between politics and the omnipresent power of media. The experience with political consultancy by professional, external and internal counselling runs through the text as well as through the politicans’s life. Also in that sense it is true that the influence on the ?soft“ factors of the organizational development diminishes with the rise in the political hierarchy.     

Determinanten der Sportaktivität und der Sportart im Lebenslauf

This paper investigates the impact of social class, occupational and family life-course, relocation, age, generation and gender on exercise. Longitudinal, life course-oriented analysis enables identification of the (often diverse) conditions for (re-)uptake and discontinuation of exercise. The paper takes a detailed look at different types of exercise, enabling exploration of the various motivating influences and barriers involved. The database is a retrospective representative survey of the 50 to 70 year old population of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The results show that higher educational qualifications are associated with higher levels of exercise, whereas manual labor and – among women – childcare are associated with lower levels of exercise. With respect to the impact of education, cultural rather than economic capital seems to be the determining influence. Other factors – (un-)employment, partnership, relocation, age and cohort – tend to have more complex effects on exercise. Though being a member of the workforce reduces the likelihood of starting to exercise, it also reduces the likelihood of dropping out. Though partnership encourages the dissemination of exercise, initiation of a relationship is also associated with a higher incidence of discontinuation. Relocation prompts both initiation and discontinuation of exercise. Surprisingly, up to the over-50 age group, increasing age is associated with an increased prevalence of physical activity, especially among women. The results of analysis of social differences in terms of types of physical activity can be used in health programs to provide scientifically founded recommendations for the promotion of specific types of physical activity for lower educational groups, seniors, and other social groups whose lifestyle tends to be inactive.     

Stabilität und Wandel der nationalen Identität in der deutschen BevölkerungContinuity and change of national identity in the German public

In this article we study the content dimension of German national identity at three points in time. We run multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with data from the ISSP modules on national identity to demonstrate that in 1995, 2004, and 2014 three distinct latent dimensions can be identified in the meaning Germans attach to their nation, namely civic pride, ethnoculturalism, and chauvinism. These dimensions correlate substantially higher in 1995 than in 2004 and 2014. Exploratory latent class analyses show both continuity and change in the combination of positions citizens manifest on these dimensions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the conceptualization and measurement of national identities as well as for the development of German citizens’ relationship to their nation in the period studied.     

Demografische Alterung und Reformen der Alterssicherung in Europa – Probleme der ökonomischen,sozialen und politischen Nachhaltigkeit

Ageing is one of the long-term challenges for old age security in Europe, in particular for the intergenerational contract of pay-as-you go public pensions. The comparative macro-sociological analysis maps the demographic trends, political constraints, and social policy reform dynamics across Europe. Due to demographic ageing all European societies face long-term sustainability problems of their pension systems. Despite many reforms, European welfare states differ in the timing of retirement and the extent of pay-as-you-go public pensions. The comparison of ten European welfare states reveals the cross-national variations in reducing early retirement and in partially shifting to prefunded pensions. In addition to financial sustainability, the contribution also discusses other sustainability issues, particularly social inequality and political feasibility, which must be overcome in addition to the demographic challenge.     

Zwischen Säkularisierung und religiöser Reorganisation – Eine Analyse der Religiosität türkischer und polnischer Neuzuwanderer in Deutschland

This paper addresses the role of religion in the process of immigrant integration in Germany. Based on novel data (SCIP 2010/11) from a survey among new Polish and Turkish migrants, it particularly focuses on the impact of the migratory event upon religious participation and private religious practice as well as on early trends of changing religiosity in the receiving context. The study confirms, first of all, that both groups of newcomers experience a decrease in religious practices after the migratory event. This decrease is more pronounced among Muslim Turks than among Catholic Poles and more pertinent for worship attendance than for prayer, thus attesting to the relevance of religious opportunity structure. Secondly, it can be shown that among new Polish immigrants, religious decrease is more pronounced among individuals with stronger social ties to the secular German mainstream, while this is not the case for Turks. For them, thirdly, it seems that religious practices are being re-captured after the rather disruptive first couple of months in what may a called a process of religious re-organizations. These group-comparative findings attest to limits of classical assimilation theory and to the relevance of symbolic boundary dynamics. Overall, they underline that publicly visible religious diversity will remain a permanent feature of modern immigrant societies.     

Klassenführung und Gruppendynamik in der Grundschule – Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Popularität und Trivialität von Klassenführung

Teacher surveys indicate continued intense discipline problems in elementary school classes. What can you do about it? As the teacher behavior has a strong relationship with active cooperation and misbehavior of students, a skillful group or classroom management of the teacher for an undisturbed instruction is important. However evidence suggests that some in the research literature as particularly relevant documented behaviors hardly appear in teachers’ subjective theories of reducing discipline problems. It is therefore presumed that the level of awareness regarding these insights is low in elementary schools and that it is difficult for teachers to recognize their extraordinary relevance solely by teaching practice. The present study tests this hypothesis on a sample of 101 elementary school teachers. The potentially far-reaching implications of the results are discussed.     

Low-Cost-Hypothese und Rationalität

We present a basic microeconomic model that includes attitudes and implicates the Low-Cost-Hypothesis for the case of a continuous behavioral variable. Similar to arguments by Best and Kroneberg (2012) with respect to a binary behavioral variable, our model implies that the Low-Cost-Hypothesis should not be tested via regression models that explicitly include interaction terms between attitude strength and costs of attitude conformity. By two applications from environmental sociology – willingness to pay for forest biodiversity and donations for animal protection – it is demonstrated that this best practice approach of testing the Low-Cost-Hypothesis might result in its rejection, while the hypothesis is actually confirmed by our theoretically derived testing strategy.     

Pietät und Profit

Under what conditions do new markets emerge? This question is usually answered by referring to technological innovations, price changes, and political interventions. We take the historical development of the funeral market since the seventeenth century as an example to show that cultural changes are an equally important prerequisite for market formation. We distinguish three stages of market development, each coming about with far-reaching cultural, demographic, and institutional changes that created the precondition for the emergence of a market for funeral services. Market formation cannot be explained solely by technological, economic, or political changes, but relies on cultural preconditions that evolve historically.     

Weiterbilden und Weiterkommen? Non-formale berufliche Weiterbildung und Arbeitsmarktmobilität in Deutschland

Politicians and the business leaders regularly stress the importance of (further) education for individual life chances. Still, it is far from clear whether non-formal further training, i.?e. short training courses, which are the most common forms of further education in Germany, lead to career advancement. In this study, we analyze the impact of non-formal further training on labor market mobility using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) over the period from 2009 to 2016. Event history models for discrete time intervals show that employer-provided courses reduce mobility and promote career stability, which contradicts hypotheses derived from human capital theory, which is commonly used in the literature. More concretely, employer-provided courses prevent downward mobility (safety net function), but also reduce upward mobility and firm changes. Based on these findings, we suggest that future research should consider transaction costs and the firm context as well as the distinction between employer-provided and non-employer-provided training.     

Brasilianität und emotionelle Handlungstheorie

The contribution describes the particular conditions that accompanied the development of the Brasilian national identity. ?Brasilianism“ is not only the basis for the dominating self-perception of the Brasilian people. In addition, the national myth forms a dominating foil to the social sciences. The criticism expressed here is mainly directed against the spiritus rector of the Brasilian collective identity, namely Gilberto Freyre and Buarque de Holanda, as well as against their responsibility for the consolidation of the myth of ?Brasilianism“ and the development of an emotional theory of action with the image of the ?affectionate“, ?sensuous“ and ?optimistic“ Brasilian in its center. Following this criticism a rational access is formulated to understand the national myth that is so very constitutive for Brasilia.     

Einkommen, Gesundheit und Mortalität in Deutschland, Grossbritannien und den USA

The paper examines the effect of income on mortality with respect to different health statuses and institutional characteristics of the health care system in the USA, Great Britain and West Germany. It is hypothesized that the nature of the theoretical contribution of income in explaining mortality risks changes on whether good or poor health is considered. Taking into account that the health care systems of the countries in question vary by their degree of household out-of-pocket expenditure, we expect an association between income and mortality that differs by country. The analysis is based on the German Socio-economic Panel (GSOEP), the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The effect of income on mortality is found to be weakest when medical services are sought in the presence of poor health within the framework of a national health insurance that renders free primary health care (Great Britain, Germany). The effect is strongest when the provision of primary health care depends strongly on private expenditures (USA).     

Gewaltkriminalität Junger Deutscher und Ausländer

Ulrich Mueller criticizes a report on juvenile criminal violence in Germany, published by Christian Pfeiffer, Ingo Delzer, and the authors (Pfeiffer et al. 1998). We emphatically reject the accusation of unsound scientific methodology and dishonesty. The reply focuses on the issue of methodological rigor and the validity of the substantial results. First, we counter the insinuation of deliberate one-sidedness and argue that our presentation of results is not intended to serve personal preferences for a certain criminal policy, as Mueller assumes. Second, we refute the assumption that appropriate tests of significance have not been applied. Third, we treat the phenomenon of ethnic selective reporting to the police. In the fourth section we discuss and present in detail empirical evidence concerning the issue of higher rates of violent offenders among foreign juveniles. Finally, the necessity of giving scientific results away to the practice and the requirements of a comprehensible form of presentation for the general public is discussed.     

Islam in Europa – Integration durch Recht und ihre Grenzen

The integration of Islam has largely occurred through independent legal systems. This article follows some waymarks and recurrent conflicts in this process, compares an individual rights and corporate recognition path of legal integration with respect to their possibilities and limits; and points to tensions between law and politics that result from extended legal integration. What stands out is the elasticity of legal institutions toward a religion that in no small measure must be an irritation to them.     

Religiöse Identität und Wertbindungen von Jugendlichen in Deutschland

In analysing the religiousness of youth positions vary between the hypothesis that religiousness has decreased and the hypothesis that there is a specific youth religion. In this paper it is assumed that the development of religious identities and convictions depends on social contexts and family environments. The paper analyses different religious interpretative patterns adolescents generate in order to position themselves in relation to concepts of life and meaning in societies who are marked by the pluralization of values, the secularization of social relations and the individualization of life styles. Through case studies of youth from West Germany, East Germany and youth from migrant’s milieus—each group of which are brought up religiously in a different environments—it is shown how the religious identities of youth become established under specific social-historical conditions and conditions of socialisation.