Partizipation als Strategie der Bew?ltigung der Unwahrscheinlichkeit von Kommunikation

The current discussion about participation is taken up by the case of health promotion. So far, sociological approaches have deconstructed participative practices within health promotion as a new form of governance. To antagonize the instrumentalization of participation a theoretical foundation of the concept is needed. By means of sociological systems theory health promotion is reconstructed as a communicative practice whose success relies in its ability to resolve three improbabilities (addressability, understanding, acceptance). Thereby, participation is identified as strategy to ensure that communicative offers are more familiar to the cultural context of the target group (redundancy) and carry a moment of surprise with them (variety) ?? both mechatnisms are central to the success of communication. In reference to systems theory a definition is proposed that distinguishes participation in decision-making processes according to the time, factual and social dimension.     

Der Beitrag der Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung zur Modernisierung der Universität

The paper reflects on the contribution of women’s and gender studies to modernizing the university. By giving an overview of the socio-political and institutional conditions of the contemporary reform processes in higher education and the university system in Europe, the author shows that universities nowadays are influenced by tensions between economization and democratization: In this tension they are forced to change their organization and their scientific “products”, namely research and teaching. Based on these explications, the author analyses the potentials of women’s and gender studies to modernize science and the humanities, teaching, learning and the organization of the university.     

Das authentische Selbst in der Popmusik – Zur Rekonstruktion von diskursiven Subjektfiguren sowie ihrer Aneignung und Aushandlung mittels der Dokumentarischen Methode

Up to today, the normative character of collective structures of knowledge was not focused systematically in qualitative-reconstructive research. This article sets out to further develop the Documentary Method in favor of the consideration of such collective knowledge structures being not anchored in shared experiences or shared spaces of experience. Thus, referring to concepts of Governmentality Studies subject positions are conceptualized as dominant imperatives of self-regulation being related to reflexive and pre-reflexive knowledge structures in terms of the Documentary Method. These relations are analyzed at the example of young pop musicians’ occupation with authenticity norms and their appropriation and negotiation of a subject position of an authentic self. The article especially concentrates on the methodological modification of the Documentary Method and discusses according innovations related to the work of interpretation.     

Gerechtigkeit als Politik der Befähigung zu reflexiver Selbstbestimmung

Drawing on Günter Dux’ thesis concerning the co-evolution of social development and cognitive competence, the article argues that the 21st century offers the opportunity to universalize, for the first time, a human potential deemed a general, species-typical capacity, namely the capacity to reason logically and reflexively at the levels of formal operations (Piaget) and post-conventional understandings of social order (Kohlberg). A key prerequisite for realizing this potential are enabling policies aimed at equalizing the freedom of self-determination. Once this is accepted as a central tenet of social policies, a shift in the relative priorities guiding the allocation of public welfare funds is required that broadly follows Scandinavian models. Both considerations of justice and sustainability support such a shift.     

Paradigmenwechsel in der Sozialwirtschaft – Sozialmarketing als neue Steuerungsphilosophie?

Against the background of developments in society and in the light of the reform efforts in the social economy, the question arises which of the steering concepts successfully employed elsewhere can also be applied in social economic organizations. In particular, “marketing” has already proven to be a widely adaptable social technology. While management and consulting practice, however, mostly argue pragmatically with its usefulness and thereof derive their normative claims, theoretical analyses are rare. This contribution provides such a background analysis and investigates the causes of the paradigmatic connectivity of marketing as a management technique. On the grounds of basic social science theory, a genuinely sociological perspective on marketing is developed, though without reducing sociology to an instrumental supplying function for business administration.     

Lebenspraxis Wissenschaft? Von der praktischen Sperrigkeit des Work-Life-Balance-Konzepts im wissenschaftlichen Feld

The concept of work-life-balance (WLB) aims to improve reconciling the areas of work and life, which are considered as structurally divided in society by sociology. This separation is actually discussed as blurring of boundaries between work and other areas of life. Building on this, the article addresses WLB in academia by following the approach of practice theories and discusses findings of an empirical study at an Austrian university. Referring to existing literature the analysis of qualitative interviews indicates that the idea of balancing academic work and life is contradicted by the constitutive logic in the academic field. The guiding image of a “life for academia” dominates the discourse on professional academic practice and private life, and centres work on research and on being present in the academic field as the actual life.     

Gesundheitsf?rdernde Faktoren f��r Selbst?ndige in der Kreativwirtschaft

For political and economic decision makers, the Creative Industries are a major future market. The social situation many of the mostly self-employed creative workers find themselves in, however, is far from secure. Financial problems, precarious employment conditions, long working hours and high burn-out rates are typical of this ??class of the new?? (Barbrook 2009). This paper addresses the question of which variables that creative workers themselves have the power to influence have an impact on psychological health syndromes. It shows that compensation strategies such as ??brief periods of relaxation even during work intensive phases??, the quality of creative workers?? interpersonal relationships with peers and colleagues, ??being confident about one??s abilities??, enjoying work and ??taking holidays??have a positive impact on psychological health syndromes. Conversely, conflicts with colleagues or customers, turning a blind eye to problems and dependency on a single major customer impact negatively on psychological health syndromes. The paper is based on research carried out for the project ??Balancing creative workers dilemmas: value-based business and networking practices of self-employed working in the Creative Industries??, funded by the Translational Research Programme of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). It was developed as a thesis for the SOQUA postgraduate training programme (http://www.soqua. net), which provides further professional qualification for workers in the social sciences.     

Ethnic Business in der Leiharbeit – Einblicke in einen wenig bekannten Arbeitsmarkt in Deutschland

Since the Agenda 2010 temporary work is even economically and politically a success story in Germany. Inside that branch you also find Ethnic Business, id est that the director of the conferrer and the employees are belonging to the same ethnic group. The recruiting strategies are most informal within the ethnic group and working for an “ethnic conferrer” oftentimes means the last chance for migrants who get no other job on the formal job market. But the temporary work-business in Germany has a bad reputation and a lot of questions are going along with Ethnic Business in that particular branch: What are the migrant’s motives for working to an ethnic conferrer? What are the attractive aspects of founding an ethnic model of temporary employment agency? Have ethnic conferrers the ability to create new stability for the migrants inside a highly unstable branch?     

Gebildet, flexibel und prek?r. Berufseinstieg von Graduierten der Universit?t Salzburg

This article??s aim is to enlighten university graduates?? transition to the labor market, with a focus on atypical forms of work, which have increased strongly in Austria in the past ten years. Especially career entrants, even if highly educated, are affected by these, potentially precarious types of employment. The theoretical part deals with the labor market in general and the specific conditions for academic career-entrants. Using data of the graduate survey conducted by the University of Salzburg in November 2009, this article shows that de facto two thirds of the questioned academic career entrants are employed atypically at the time of the survey. Nevertheless these flexible forms of work seem to decrease the more time has passed since graduation. Therefore a process of normalization of employment forms is assumed.     

Die Rückeroberung der Vergangenheit: Istanbuls visuelle Kommunikation zum Europäischen Kulturhauptstadtjahr 2010

In the context of the global competition to attract knowledge-workers, tourists, and investors, cities work carefully on their iconic representation. Star architects and marketing experts try to strengthen the peculiarities of cities and stage their distinctiveness. Following Anselm Strauss, city images play a significant role in structuring the imagination of the city “as a whole”. They help to organize everyday life in urban settings and structure local discourses (Strauss 1961). The object of analysis is the image campaign “Istanbul 2010: European Capital of Culture”. The advertising motif is considered as a “self-portrait” of the city, a communicative strategy how the city wants to be seen and understood. The argument is, that the city images select from a great pool of possible narratives and symbols (heterogeneity) certain aspects and construct a coherent and particular “image of the city” (densification). In this respect the question has to be raised what the image depicts and what it conceals. The article refers to the current debate within the field of urban sociology about the “intrinsic logic of cities” (Berking et al. 2008; Löw 2008). Thereby the “city” is conceptualized as the object of investigation rather than merely serving as the analytic context. To evaluate the advertising image a segment-analytical approach is employed (Breckner 2010).     

Genetische Diskriminierung und soziale Ungleichheit. Hierarchiebildungen am Beispiel der Erkrankung Hereditäre Hämochromatose

This article discusses possible interconnections between the analysis of genetic discrimination and the analysis of social inequalities. Findings from a survey focussing on individuals affected by hemochromatosis are presented; the survey was carried out as part of Germany’s first systematic study of genetic discrimination. The experiences and apprehensions described are discussed with reference to Bourdieu’s forms of capital interlinking with structures of social inequality. In conclusion, the analysis shows that genetic discrimination and the workings of social/symbolic, economic and cultural capital are mutually constitutive for the corresponding hierarchy formation.     

Transnationale Projektarbeit. Berufsbiografische Strategien der Sicherung von Autonomie, Zugehörigkeit und Identität

The article intends to broaden the discussion about the globalization of management by analyzing an intermediate, operative level of management in the context of transnational project work. In contrast to Kanter’s (1996) thesis of the emergence of a “world class of management” the identity concepts, career strategies and social embeddedness of this level of management clearly show the contradictions and ambivalences peculiar to this kind of work. Drawing on group discussions as well as problem-centred interviews three types of biography politics in the context of transnationalization are discerned. By more or less intentionally unfolding these politics in the course of their biographies, the subjects are struggling for autonomy, affiliation and individual history.     

Inklusion in die Moderne – Zum systemischen Verständnis des ‚Sozialen‘ in der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft

Social inclusion is the market’s blind spot: the number of members of a society that are included in a society through the economy and under what conditions is irrelevant to the logic and functionality of an economic system. It is not, however, possible to lead a reasonably meaningful life—a requisite in our modern age—without any material basis. Accordingly, political measures should be called for when people’s autonomous way of life is threatened by a lack of inclusion in the market and society. Such a political, normative-based, inclusion-seeking solution has already been laid out in the initial concept of the social market economy. This paper aims at showing how the fundamental concern of the social market economy with social issues can be brought up to date within the idea of built-in inclusion thanks to a modern approach to the theory of justice.     

Bastler — Sammler — Spurensucher. Zum Verhältnis von Geschichte und Systematik der soziologischen Theorie nach Robert K. Merton

For the history of sociology not to lose its relevance to the discipline, it should not be understood as a biographically oriented parade of recognized and forgotten classics, but rather complement sociological theory. Writing upon these premises, the historian of sociology would cease to act as the discipline's identity engineer who, considering the competitive field of theories and subjects, conservatively serves sociology to find and stabilize its historical identity. Furthermore, s/he would no longer operate as collector of ideas in search in the history of sociology for concepts of sociological analysis that were abandoned at some point, and in doing so, would cease to pursue the objective of critically undermining the dominating paradigms in contemporary sociology. On the contrary, since the ‘historic turn’ in the philosophy of science, the historian of sociology has to take up a trace-tracking role. In contrast to Robert K. Merton's stance, the theory and history of sociology should not be understood as two separate ventures. Rather, the genealogical exploration will lead to a historical epistemology of disciplinary paradigms that emphasizes that theoretical paradigms must be analyzed within the social context of their genesis. Such an approach would enable us to systematically identify the prerequisites and range of contemporary theoretical paradigms. Beyond Merton's former analysis, theory construction in sociology requires that systematic and historical reconstructions go hand-in-hand.