鈥� 鈥� 2024
We are delighted that the book Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis by Carsten Schneider and Claudius Wagemann has now also been translated into Chinese. This underlines the importance of our work and extends the international reach of this innovative method. First published in 2012, the book guides the reader through the basic principles of set-theoretic methods and then goes into the applied practice of QCA, which is clearly explained using existing examples from academia.
Congratulations to Mohamed Salhi on defending his PhD thesis
thesis "" on September 2, 2024.
As a doctoral researcher and DAAD fellow at our chair, Salhi conducted innovative research examining the discursive and linguistic composition of far right populist parties' crisis discourse. From a critical linguistics perspective, this research project examined the process of producing 'crisis' in discourse and connected (constructed) realities to patterned linguistic features, contending that far right populist parties produce and narrate crisis to function as their own raison d'锚tre. With a developed form of Discourse-Historical Approach, the array of findings has been incredibly wide and offered detailed insights on the strategic and manipulative functions of patterned linguistic choices.
His dissertation makes a significant contribution by reconceptualizing the relationship between crisis and populism as one of co-constitution, supported by meticulous analysis of linguistic choices, and not limited to, lexico-semantic fields, sentence structures, modality, rhetorical devices, and stylistics, and on the discursive practices related to the representation of social actors, phenomena, ideologies, and realities.
We congratulate Mohamed Salhi on this outstanding achievement and wish him continued success in his future endeavors.
Welcome Sopie Reucker and Henrik Stender
The last section describes social policy reforms and reform coalitions. Despite neo-liberal tendencies during the 90s and early 2000s, there have been areas of expansion within welfare state policy in the last 15 to 20 years, in particular for social investments. The authors also discuss recent research findings demonstrating a stronger consensus between unions and employer associations with regard to social investments.
In addition to this discussion see one of the latest articles published by Benedikt Bender
ZSR 2024; 70(2):145-172
Benedikt Bender und Laura Malsch
Political Conflict within Social Policy between 2017鈥�2021 in Germany. A Content Analysis of Parliamentary Speeches and Press Releases.
FromAbstract The study extends research on welfare state reform amongst political parties, unions and employer associations. We show that social compensation measures reflect traditional political and class-based divides (right vs. left and union vs. employer). By contrast, social investments receive cross-class support with the exception of the right-wing populist party (AfD), which opposes e.鈥奼., equal opportunities for women at work. The results are based on a systematic content analysis of the minutes of 21 parliamentary plenary sessions and 323 press releases (2017鈥�2021). Two implications emerge from the study. Firstly, the importance of the theoretical distinction between social compensation and social investments within social policy. Secondly, we demonstrate evidence of broad support for social investment policies despite different motivations amongst the actors. This consensus helps to explain the recent expansion of social investments in Germany and leads us to expect that further social investment reforms are likely in the near future.
Bender, Benedikt and Malsch, Laura (2024): Politische Konflikte in der Sozialpolitik zwischen 2017鈥�2021 in Deutschland: Eine Inhaltsanalyse von Plenardokumenten und Pressemitteilungen. Zeitschrift f眉r Sozialreform, 70, 2, 145-172. https://doi.org/10.1515/zsr-2023-0019
We classified social compensation reforms in relation to de-commodification. There are four levels: (1) unemployment benefits, (2) minimum child-care allowance (against poverty) (3) minimum pension scheme (against poverty in old age) (4) other social benefits. Here we expect unreconcilable class conflict between different actors. We classified social investment reforms in relation to the creation, mobilization, and preservation of human capital: (1) child care service (2) incentives for female employment, (3) gender equality at work, (4) active labor market policies. Here we expect cross-class alliances since these reforms are compatible with the different motivational perspectives amongst actors.
We selected Germany because it is a late comer in the expansion of social investments. However, the fast shift towards more social investment in the last 15 years is unique within Europe. We argue that this is rooted in cross-class consensus for social investment reforms despite motivational differences. We use systematic content analysis of the minutes of 21 parliamentary plenary sessions and 323 press releases (2017-2021). All political parties were represented in the German Bundestag, the national trade union organization (DGB) as well as the national employer association (BDA).
As expected, we show classic conflict between left and right, and between labour and capital regarding social compensation. Left-wing actors (Linke, SPD, Gr眉ne) support the expansion of social compensations, whilst conservative (CDU/CSU), liberal (FDP) and right-wing populist (AfD) parties oppose them. For social compensation there is no cross-class consensus because different motivations lead to conflicting positions on social policy.
To understand social policy positions, we need to distinguish between social compensation and investment, since different patterns of conflict and overlapping interests are possible. There is more potential for overlapping interests amongst actors with regard to social investment measures. This leads us to expect an expansion of such reforms in the near future. Due to new fiscal constraints in an increasingly crisis-ridden world, government need to set clear priorities for social policy reform and ensure that all actors are motivated to support them.