Politisierte Aufsichtsräte? Über die Entwicklung personeller Verflechtungen von Wirtschaft und Politik in Österreich (1989–2011)

Party affiliations of managers form the basis of social networks that are not only positioned between the mostly autonomous systems of politics and business, but are able to undermine the functional logics of these social systems. In the eighties Austrian business was dominated by the state to such an extent that political parties could vote their men of confidence into the boards of large stated-owned companies. This article quantifies the evolution of personal connections between business and politics in Austria (1983–2011) and explains changing patterns by pointing out shifts of power between the state and business. The focus of attention here is on multiple directors in supervisory boards of Austria’s big business. The study shows that businessmen have largely displaced the statesmen of industry who used to mediate conflicts between the state and business within a corporatist setting. “Proporz”, however, remains widespread and a change of government still leads to new constellations of political representation in supervisory boards of large companies. Political capital has thus not lost completely its value for top managers.     

Bewältigungs- und Aneignungsmuster staatlich geförderter Beschäftigung bei ehemaligen Langzeitarbeitslosen

The article analyses the experiences made in publicly subsidized employment by long-term-unemployed in theoretical and empirical perspectives. The heterogeneity of the investigated population requires a differentiation between various types of personal employment histories as well as the examination of patterns of coping with subsidized employment from a differential perspective: Only a subgroup of the target-group share the notions of normality on which its construction is based. Furthermore, the wage subsidy can fulfill different functions with regard to the recipient’s personal employment history. Finally, problematic employment situations can result in the termination of a subsidized employment relationship. Since heterogeneous groups of persons can be affected by a permanent exclusion from the labour market, it seems problematic to tackle the problems connected with this situation by applying a single labour market measure.     

Grenzenlose Karrieren? — Hochqualifiziertes Personal und Top-Führungskräfte in Ökonomie und Medizin

The aim of the article is to prove the hypothesis of “bondless mobility” of the highly qualified. It says, that there evolved international distribution and trans-national structures of recruiting of the highly qualified personnel as part of the globalisation. We take our focus on managers and physicians, and based on our own and secondary analyses of other studies we find that this “strong” hypotheses of globalisation does not appear tenable. We prefer the term “Internationalisierung light” and locate the reasons for that in organisations’ career-mechanisms.     

Effekte der sozialen Position auf Vertrauen in Politik und Demokratie in ?sterreich

In the context of declining satisfaction with democracy in Austria, the article examines the importance of trust in state and politics for attitudes towards democracy. We assume that the social position influences attitudes towards democracy both, directly and indirectly via trust in politics. Data from the European Values Studies 1999 and 2008 are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results confirm that socioeconomic status affects attitudes towards democracy via trust (e.g. the lower people??s status, the less trust they express, and, thus, the less satisfied with the democratic system they are). In addition, findings support the proposition that personal experience is relevant to the constitution of trust, and indicate that trust in European Union becomes more important for attitudes towards democracy with time.     

Soziologie und Geschlechterforschung in entsicherten Verhältnissen — Plädoyer für eine praxeologische Öffnung

Starting point of the article are the upheavals in post-Fordist societies. The author argues that the sometimes paradoxical social dynamics of these radical changes produce situations of social uncertainty. This is a great challenge for the analytic abilities of sociology and gender studies which are both strongly influenced by the thought patterns of ?organized modernity“. On the (empirical) example of a praxeological sociology of gender, the author tries to show what gender studies and sociology can contribute mutually to an opening of their own terms and categories.     

Der Schichtgradient von Morbidität und Mortalität

As in many other European countries a contradictory development can be observed in Austria, too: On the one hand, life expectancy increases continuously while incidence and prevalence rates of many groups of diagnoses decrease. On the other hand, differences in morbidity and mortality between the social classes are widening at the same time. This article’s aim is to develop a comprehensive theoretical model of explanation of this social class gradient including the current state of discussion on “health inequalities”. Aspects of material inequality as well as the socially unequal distribution of working and living conditions will be taken into account. In addition, the importance of cultural capital and class-specific lifestyles will be described in detail. Last but not least psychosocial and biological preconditions and potential selection processes will also be taken into consideration.     

Re/Formierung des Österreichischen Pflichtschulwesens im Kontext neoliberaler Gouvernementalität

The goal of my article is to develop a critical point of view about the reforms and developments of the Austrian school system over the last 30 years by analysing their inherent elements of neo-liberal governance from Michel Foucault’s governmental perspective. The following issues will be elaborated:

1. The neo-liberal (re)formed schools not only have to be organized according to this rationality and to succeed within a framework of increasing school autonomy, but, in addition, they have to promote the enforcement of this rationality into the thinking of all parties hereto, especially of the pupils and teachers. That is why the school itself becomes a motor of neo-liberal transformation processes of society.
2. The school’s forming in the context of neo-liberal governmentality is a synonym for withdrawing, modifying and transforming established disciplinary practices, ways of acting and structures of thinking in school. It implies liberating and subordinating elements. Within these arrangements newly formed, subjective liberties converge with their own restrictions.

     

Von Multiple Modernities zu Multiple Secularities: kulturelle Diversität, Säkularismus und Toleranz als Leitidee in Indien

This article addresses the place of secularity within the “multiple modernities” program. We argue that against the backdrop of different “civilizations” modernity creates various forms of distinction between the religious and the secular and engenders multiple secularities. These secularities emerge as specific “local” responses to particular reference problems as well as to Western modernity. By analysing debates on Indian secularism, however, we argue that the outcome is neither determined by religiously impregnated traditions—like the tradition of Hinduism—nor by the mere adoption of Western secularity. Instead, we find a genuinely Indian variation of secularity, which emerges from a specific history of balancing religious and cultural diversity but also from religious conflict.     

Aspekte und Probleme eines pluralen Moderne-Verständnisses

The idea of a variety of modernity modifies the current conceptual coordinate system that sociology has to offer for the definition of modernity. This is due to a dual perception of difference, on the one hand with respect to the own past and on the other hand with respect to the non-Western societies. Discussing about multiple modernity, both differentiations are losing importance. This is a fruitful and innovative factor. The problems involved should increasingly be tackled in future discussions. Four aspects are in the focus: 1. The distinction between tradition and modernity, and what should replace them. 2. How broad are the institutional and cultural leeway and the interdependencies of the modern system of social order? 3. Is the idea of modern universals and their magnet effects still tenable and in which form is this appropriate? 4. Does the increased discussion about war and uncontrolled side effects call into question normative claims connected with modernity? The four issues have one thing in common: opening and pluralization, and thus the risk to inflate and trivialize the meaning of the concept of modernity. The work of elaborating its limits and unity still needs to be done.     

Postdemokratie, Humankapital und politische Handlungsfähigkeit

Reconstructing the transformation of manpower into human capital this article shows the effects on individual and collective political agency. In booming societies of the 1960s and early 1970s which were based on mass consumption, the utopia of a revolutionary proletarian subject vanished. It was superseded by the idea of a dualistic society providing a growing sphere of autonomy from economic dependancy. The neoliberal transformation of society destroyed this belief. If there is a strong convergence between labor and human capital, labor tends to interfuse the whole life. Complex governmental and economic regulation restricts democracy and effects individualization. The critical examination of processes of individualization shows the mechanisms that produce social antagonism.