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Die hier vorgelegte kumulative Dissertation befasst sich mit der Frage des emotionalen Sprachgebrauchs als Teil der öffentlichen politischen Kommunikation in abendländischen Demokratien. Durch die Anwendung etablierter Erkenntnisse und Ansätze aus den Bereichen der affektiven Neurowissenschaften und der Neurolinguistik zu emotionalem Sprachgebrauch, wird versucht neue Perspektiven und Analysetechniken für die Sozial- und Politikwissenschaften herauszuarbeiten, die sich mit der rhetorischen Gestaltung und Funktion öffentlicher politischer Kommunikation befassen. Im Rahmen dieser Bemühungen habe ich einen sequenziellen Mixed-Methods-Ansatz entwickelt, eine neopragmatische Diskursanalyse (NPDA), die auf der bestehenden Methodologie der Pragmatischen Soziologie der Kritik (PSC) basiert. Diese Methode ermöglicht es, die Argumentationsstrategien und -muster von Akteuren abzuleiten und ihre Verwendung von hochgradig erregender emotionaler Sprache (via HAEWWörterbuch) nachzuzeichnen. In zwei separaten Fallstudien habe ich diesen neu entwickelten Ansatz angewendet, um (1) die US-Präsidentschaftswahlkämpfe 2016 von Trump und Clinton zu analysieren sowie (2) öffentliche Reden britischer Parteiführer:innen der Conservative und der Labour Party von 1900 bis 2019. Ich habe festgestellt, dass emotionale Sprache in der gesamten untersuchten (politischen) Kommunikation vorkommt und dass sie hauptsächlich eine Highlighter-Funktion in den Argumentationen der Akteure einnimmt. Politische Kommunikation, als eine spezifische Ausformung menschlicher Kommunikation, scheint immer ‚emotional‘ zu sein., This cumulative dissertation addresses the issues of emotive language use as part of public political communication in occidental democracies. By applying established findings and approaches from the fields of affective neuroscience and neurolinguistics on emotive language use, the here presented dissertation intends to offer new perspectives and analytical techniques for the social and political sciences, concerned with understanding the rhetorical design and function of public political communication. As part of these efforts, I developed a sequential mixed methods approach, a neopragmatist discourse analysis (NPDA), which is based on the existing methodology associated with the Pragmatic Sociology of Critique (PSC). This method allows for the deduction of actors’ argumentative strategies and patterns and to detect their use of highly arousing emotive language (via HAEW dictionary). In two separate case studies I applied this newly developed approach, analysing (1) the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaigns of Trump and Clinton as well as (2) public speeches of British party leaders from the Conservative and Labour Party from 1900 – 2019. I found that emotive language appeared throughout all analysed (political) communication and that it mainly served a highlighting function within actors’ argumentations. Political communication, as a specific form of human communication, seems to always be ‘emotional’.

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit der Forschungsförderung durch die britischen Research Councils AHRC und ESRC und die DFG. Sie analysiert, ob diese Förderorganisationen von ihren jeweiligen Regierungen gesteuert werden und ob dies in ihrer Arbeitspraxis und ihren Förderentscheidungen sichtbar ist. Darüber hinaus betrachtet die Dissertation die Perspektive der wissenschaftlichen Community sowohl als Empfänger von Fördermitteln als auch als Mitglieder der verschiedenen Gremien der Förder-organisationen. In der Arbeit wird ein vergleichender Ansatz angewandt, der die spezifischen Merkmale des AHRC, des ESRC und der DFG als intermediäre Organisationen untersucht. Das Konzept der Intermediäre basiert auf den Forschungsergebnissen von Braun (1993), Braun und Guston (2003) und van der Meulen (2003). Die Autorin führte Experteninterviews mit wissenschaftlichen Mitgliedern des AHRC, ESRC und der DFG und führte eine Delphi-Befragung unter Wissenschaftlern aus kunst-, geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Fachbereichen an Hochschulen in GB und Deutschland durch. Aus der Analyse der Daten lässt sich schließen, dass die Teilnahme an oder die Durchführung von Programmen und Initiativen, die Ausdruck einer Regierungspriorität sind, dem Image der Fördereinrichtung in der wissenschaftlichen Community schaden kann. Im Rahmen der Prinzipal-Agent-Theorie wurde den wissenschaftlichen Mitgliedern der Förderorganisation eine starke und einflussreiche Rolle zugeschrieben. Diese Hypothese wurde durch die Datenanalyse bestätigt. Die Dissertation bestätigt auch, dass Wissenschaftler ihre Forschung an Förderformate und Erfolgsaussichten anpassen und ausrichten. In ihrer Rolle als Intermediäre unterliegen Förderorganisationen Verpflichtungen gegenüber ihrem Prinzipal und gegenüber ihren Agenten. Die formellen (satzungsgemäßen) Verpflichtungen müssen mit den informellen Verpflichtungen (Vertrauen und Loyalität) in Einklang gebracht werden. Dies ist der Schlüssel zu ihrer Vermittlungsfunktion., The PhD thesis focusses on research funding by the British Research Councils AHRC and ESRC and the German DFG. It discusses whether these funding agencies are steered by their respective governments and whether this is visible in their working practice and their funding decisions. In addition, the PhD thesis addresses the perspective of the scientific community both as recipients of funding and as members of the different bodies of the funding agency. The thesis uses a comparative approach, examining the specific characteristics of the AHRC, ESRC and the DFG as intermediary organisations in order to uncover their differences and similarities. The concept of intermediaries is based on research by Braun (1993), Braun and Guston (2003), and van der Meulen (2003). The author conducted expert interviews with academic members of the AHRC, ESRC and the DFG and carried out a Delphi survey among scholars from arts, humanities and social science departments at HEIs in the UK and Germany. Concluding from the data, the participation in or implementation of programmes and initiatives which are expressions of a government priority, can easily lead to the impression that the funding agency is being steered by government. For the DFG as well as the AHRC and the ESRC, one challenge was similar: that of finding a balance between short- term political considerations and long-term scientific priorities. Within the framework of principal-agent theory, a strong and influential role was ascribed to the academic members of the funding agency. This hypothesis was confirmed in the data analysis. The thesis also confirmed that scholars adapt and align their research to funding formats and the prospects of success. In their role as intermediaries, funding agencies are subject to commitments towards their principal and towards their agents. Formal (by Statutes) commitments need to be brought in line with informal commitments (trust and loyalty). This is key to their mediating function.

Unter dem Druck zunehmender Ressourcenknappheit konzentrieren sich inter- und transnationale Optimierungsanstrengungen für effiziente Land- und Wassernutzung insbesondere auf den Globalen Süden. Raumentwicklungsinstrumente wie Wachstumspole und Entwicklungskorridore, die Afrikas Landwirtschaft revolutionieren und die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung stärken sollen, werden auf dem gesamten Kontinent geplant und umgesetzt. Die vorliegende Arbeit gewährt ethnographische Einblicke in eines dieser Megaprojekte, das Bagré-Wachstumspolprojekt in Burkina Faso. Basierend auf einer insgesamt neunmonatigen Feldforschung werden die historischen und globalen Verflechtungen des Projektes herausgestellt und mit lokalen Arrangements und Aktivitäten analytisch verknüpft. So entsteht ein umfassendes Bild der Entfaltung des Bagré-Wachstumspolprojekts im Spiegel eines globalisierten Reismarktes. Entlang von vier empirisch fundierten ergänzt die Arbeit den Fokus auf (1) lokal-globale Wechselwirkungen um die (2) Analyse des dem Wachstumspolprojekt inhärenten Zukunftsimperativ und die Konsequenzen zeitlicher Ordnungsmuster für die Ausgestaltung konkreter Projektbestandteile. Danach wird (3) dargelegt, wie Praktiken installiert werden, die der Aufrechterhaltung, Stabilisierung und zeitlichen Koordination von Reisproduktionspraktiken dienen. Es schließt sich (4) eine vergleichende Perspektive an, die dem burkinischen Beispiel eine Beschreibung des Reissektors Uruguays an die Seite stellt. In der Zusammenschau entwickeln die Kapitel dieser Arbeit praxistheoretisches Denken in der Humangeographie weiter. Sie leisten einen empirischen Beitrag zur humangeographischen Entwicklungsforschung anhand einer Fallstudie aus dem frankophonen Westafrika und bieten ein vertiefendes Verständnis von Reisproduktionssystemen., Encountering an increasing global pressure on natural resources, inter- and transnational efforts to optimize water and land use for food production are made and spatial development tools to revolutionize African agriculture are therefore planned and implemented across the continent. This thesis provides ethnographic insights into one such a megaproject: the Bagré Growth Pole Project (BGPP) in Burkina Faso. Based on altogether 9 months of fieldwork it traces the project’s temporal and spatial entanglements. First, it contrasts localized arrangements, activities, and understandings related to rice production with global systemic configurations of a rice economy. Arguing that it is amongst these poles that the BGPP in its specific form unfolds, it suggests a combination of different analytical frameworks to grasp its local-global dynamics. Second, it dissects the future imperative inherent to the BGPP and interrogates its consequences for how the project implementation proceeds. Third, this work sheds light on attempts to coordinate rice production in space and time. It develops the notion of coordination work to account for the practical accomplishment of tuning and timing different actors, activities and arrangements related to rice production. Finally, it adds a comparative moment to the analysis by contrasting Burkina Faso’s rice sector to the rice sector of Uruguay. Altogether the chapters of the thesis advance practice theoretical thinking in human geography. Empirically, the thesis provides firsthand observations of how the BGPP touches ground, thereby reshaping the everyday life and landscape in Bagré. It adds to the growth pole and corridor literature by focusing on francophone West Africa, thereby deepening our understanding of transnational interventions into rice production systems in Africa.

The publication of this work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin., Die sozialwissenschaftliche Kindheitsforschung wird seit ihrem Entstehen von politischen Argumenten begleitet. Die Auseinandersetzung mit Kindern und Kindheit ist somit nicht von einer politischen Dimension zu trennen und gibt Anlass, Fragen nach der politischen Dimension nicht nur von Kindheit, sondern auch der Kindheitsforschung zu stellen. Der Sammelband beleuchtet systematisch die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen Kindheit und Politik und macht auch neuere Diskussionen im Feld der sozialwissenschaftlichen Kindheitsforschung sichtbar. Im Mittelpunkt des Interesses stehen Fragen nach den differenten Modi und Zielen der Inanspruchnahme von Kindern und Kindheit in und durch Politik, nach den (nicht-)intendierten Konsequenzen politischer Prozesse auf Kinder und Kindheit, nach zentralen Paradoxien im Bezug von politischen Akteur:innen auf Kinder und Kindheit, aber auch grundsätzlich der Ent-/Politisierung von Kindern und durch Kinder.

This paper is based on research conducted in February–April 2022. It describes and illuminates what was happening with tech-savvy educated people between 20 and 40 years old in Russia, while their usual digital tools and places for the autobiographical process were changing in the spring of 2022. Facing censorship of platforms, surveillance, and the inability to pay for services, people who were keeping important memories of their lives online were deleting their profiles, migrating to other platforms, censoring themselves, and creating archives of autobiographically meaningful materials. The paper examines these disruptions as a case that illuminates the role of online platforms in autobiographical memory and expands some concepts within autobiographical memory studies, such as evocative objects and autotopography., Peer Reviewed

This paper explores the concept of emerging hybrid urban realms by capturing a notion of hybridity. The focus is on a rainwater retention basin that has been transformed into a space for events and workshops by the Floating e. V., an artist-run association. Using a more-than-human perspective, this work highlights the importance of understanding the relational networks that shape our world and adopting a humble observing position to comprehend emerging modern categories in spaces like this. The hybrid spatial perspective offers an alternative to the divisions created by the poles of modernity, emphasising the interconnected system of relationships and responses. In this context, the paper discusses the Floating e. V.'s utilisation of the "three-way hybrid" and the concept of "response" in line with the perspectives of Whatmore and Latour on hybridity. The paper concludes by emphasising the need to acknowledge that conditions are continually evolving due to the actions of all participants, and a hybrid understanding of these realms offers a valuable lens through which we can better understand the complexities of our changing world., Peer Reviewed

„The ethic and practice of attentiveness is key to the ethic and practice of care”, states Anna Krzywoszynska, an environmental social scientist researching the relationship between humans and soils in rural contexts. For urban settings, however, a lack of soil awareness as identified by soil scientists and STS scholars seems to contrast with residents’ manifold practices of care for more-than-human matters, entities and species that are dependent on soil. This contribution draws on interviews with community gardeners and residents in two Berlin neighbourhoods – Neukölln and Mitte – where soils have figured either in the context of planting and cultivating, or in the context of soil unsealing and green infrastructure projects. From our research, we suggest that the study of certain mediators amidst the human-soil relationship – in our case dogs and plants – provides new insights into the entanglements of soil awareness, attentiveness, and care in urban settings., Peer Reviewed

An emerging disparity within contemporary social science highlights a disconnection between the world in the process of metamorphosing and cosmopolitanization and the knowledge of the social world that is still trapped in the cognitive assumptions of modern episteme, which provided the conditions for the emergence of modern social sciences a century ago. This divide inhibits the efficacy of social analysis in comprehending and elucidating contemporary phenomena. This article advocates for a shift in the ontology of social theory and science towards the cosmopolitanization of the world, characterized by the prioritization of indeterminacy and fluidity in the construction of social phenomena. It investigates the epistemological implications and prerequisites of this ontological transformation, favoring a post-foundationalist approach as the most suitable epistemological framework. In response to the challenges posed by the uncertainty and indeterminacy of cosmopolitanization, after reviewing some of the existing theoretical efforts to address and provide alternatives to this challenge, the article proposes the examination of social configurations as the most fitting subjects for study. This approach necessitates the suspension of conventional, given, regulated categories, and trans-historical theories. It underscores the importance of recognizing configurations as incomplete, contingent units shaped within specific historical contexts and moments. The fluidity, relationality, and indeterminacy of configurations situated between the universal and the singular make them suitable for analysis at the level of particular. After elaborating on the most important features of social configurations, finally, by employing the proposed theoretical framework, this article aims to investigate its effectiveness in analyzing the process of identity construction among Iranian youth in Tehran in the context of the cosmopolitanization of reality, particularly in the face of the Islamis, Peer Reviewed

We investigate how loneliness develops over the marital dissolution process in older age (i.e., transition at or after age 50) while paying close attention to heterogeneities by the dissolution pathway—widowhood and separation—and gender. Using data from over 8,000 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey respondents, we assess the association of interest using fixed effects regressions. Findings indicate that loneliness increased in the year before widowhood or separation among both women and men. Levels spiked in the year of dissolution, particularly for widowhood but less for separation. Widowed men were substantially more affected than widowed women, and gender differences were negligible for separation. Although loneliness levels gradually declined, widowed men remained vulnerable for remarkably long periods. Such chronic loneliness might be linked to other health disadvantages. These findings highlight the importance of long-term and gender-specific approaches to social support and integration after marital dissolution., Peer Reviewed

Social innovation has been associated with contributing to ‘valuable’ rural development; however, usually, the impact of social innovation has been identified in the aftermath of its development or implementation. This might be too narrow an approach, as an ongoing social innovation process in itself may already lead to effects that contribute to regional and social changes in a local community and beyond. This paper argues that collaborative valuation processes are embedded in social innovation processes, generating effects that contribute to rural development. Focusing on a case study that exemplifies social innovation processes in agriculture and food production carried out by a rural collaborative community in southern Italy, we demonstrate how three valuation phases, such as contestations and negotiations of norms, symbolic capital accumulation and recognition of actions, as well as re-definitions of values, impact community development through joint sense-making, empowerment and societal change. Our empirical results suggest the close intertwining of both social innovation and valuation processes. The empirical results demonstrate how collective valuation processes have micro-effects on the agro-economic system, on local socio-cultural processes, and on place-making activities. Methodologically, this paper builds on ethnographic methods, including participatory observations, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, and socio-spatial analysis investigating moments of valuation embedded in daily collaborative practices., This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 955907. The APC was funded by the same grant., European Union, Peer Reviewed

In compost, the relationship between humans, more-than-humans and the environment is diffuse because it involves the active participation of an entire food web. The entanglements embedded in the composting process(es) can be studied by attempting to understand the care needed to keep a compost active and how this relates to more-than-humans. We conducted interviews with two composting advocates in Berlin and visited the Peace of Land’s composting facility. In our work, we discuss the different perspectives of the two to shed light on their motivations for the care work they provide. In doing so, we combine their responses based on practical experience with theoretical reflections. Both interviewees expressed a similar view about the reciprocal relationship between humans and more-than-humans, suggesting that composting is a simple practice that allows us to “give back” to the earth rather than just take from it. Further, the interviewees described composting as a continuous learning process that requires constant work, learning, and maintenance. Finally, the act of composting involves an ongoing interconnectedness between humans and more-than-humans. This entanglement leads us to the need to redefine anthropocentric concepts such as the concept of ecosystem services, where the role of more-than-humans has been less discussed., Peer Reviewed

Im Zentrum dieses Artikels steht die Urbanisierung von Wasser. Urbanisiertes Wasser hat unterschiedliche Bedeutungen. Dies werde ich anhand meiner ethnographischen Forschung auf dem Testfilter des Flussbades Berlin erläutern. Zunächst geht es darum, wie die urbanisierte Spree mit ihrer Mischkanalisation zu verstehen ist. An historische Flussbäder anknüpfend hat sich der Verein Flussbad Berlin zum Ziel gesetzt, den Spreekanal zu einem Schwimmbereich umzugestalten. Hierzu soll das Spreewasser durch ingenieurswissenschaftliche Infrastrukturen gereinigt werden. Mithilfe eines Testfilters soll diese Reinigung erprobt und simuliert werden. Ergebnisse meiner Forschung machen deutlich, dass exzessive urbane Ökologien den Testfilter transformieren. Dieser ist nicht mehr nur als ingenieurwissenschaftliches Labor zu verstehen, sondern zeigt sich als multipler Lebensraum, als feral laboratory. Das Wasser wird also durch die multiplen Akteur*innen re-urbanisiert. Ich stelle in diesem Artikel die Frage, was re-urbanisiertes Wasser für die Wissensproduktion bedeutet. Welches Wissen und welche Praktiken sind auf dem Testfilter wirksam?, Peer Reviewed

This publication is with permission of the rights owner (Sage) freely accessible., In this article, we describe the package twostep, a bundle of programs to perform analyses of hierarchical data applying the two-step approach. We consider a two-level data setup in which “microlevel” units are nested within “macrolevel” units. One-step models (which can be fit using, for example, mixed) are the most common approach to modeling two-level data. The two-step approach is an alternative in which parameters associated with microlevel and macrolevel predictors are estimated separately for each level. It can be used as an alternative to one-step models if the estimand is a cross-level interaction. We also show how the two-step approach usefully complements one-step approaches by providing exploratory data analysis, descriptive graphs, and regression diagnostics., Peer Reviewed

The following article makes a claim for a way of thinking that considers the entangled web of living and non-living facing the challenges of the anthropocene. More specifically, it considers urban soil life as a matter of care and a matter of of representation. Inspired by the work of e.g. Haraway and Puig de la Bellacasa, and taking an interdisciplinary approach between physical and human geography, as well as gender studies, this article aims to point out the (im)possibility of gaps in the (re)production of scientific knowledge. It does so by focusing on science fiction stories, thus opening up a space for thinking care politically by imagining (im)possible futures set in the area of the Floating University, in Berlin., Peer Reviewed

This article explores the challenges and complexities of a cross cultural PhD student conducting research in West Africa. I discuss how I navigated, negotiated and blurred my insider/outsider experiences as a Congolese-American woman as I engaged with themes oscillating between power, legitimacy, language, gender, and my decolonial and social justice commitments. Reflexive research on Africans studying a secondary non-native African country is seldom discussed or researched. As such, I utilised an intersectional transnegritude theoretical framework to centre and complicate the shared transcolonial struggles and neocolonial realities of myself and my participants. I conclude by positing that, despite the challenges of doing transnational work, reflexively recognising our positionality lends to a liberatory and critical transnational exchange that encourages new approaches to knowledge production for social justice. This article contributes to ongoing discussions of insider/outsider research, positionality, decolonising research, and comparative case study to articulate and dearticulate power dynamics in neocolonial contexts., Peer Reviewed

In this introduction to the special issue, we explore the political salience of emotions in times of large-scale social change, emphasizing the role of personal narratives in understanding and framing these transformations. We introduce the concept of ‘deep transformations’ to analyse radical shifts in various aspects of life and their emotional and cultural implications. Focusing on cases from the post-socialist world and one contribution from post-2008 Spain, the issue provides novel insights into the interplay between emotions, signification, and social change. We present our contributions as addressing three distinct levels, each underscoring the importance for integrating the sociology of emotions with cultural sociology more closely: remembering change, adapting to change, and imagining change., Peer Reviewed

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Renaturierungsprojekten im Berliner Südosten, die in den Mooren Kleine Pelzlaake, Krumme Laake Ost, Krumme Laake West und Teufelsseemoor durchgeführt werden. Mithilfe des Mittleren Sonnentaus, einer Moorpflanze, widmet sich die Arbeit den Beziehungen und Formen der Fürsorge, die im Kontext von drei verschiedenen Maßnahmen des Natur- und Artenschutzes entstehen: die Zielartenliste des Berliner Florenschutzkonzepts, die Pflege von Erhaltungskulturen im Botanischen Garten Berlin, und der Umbau der Böden der genannten Moore. Diese drei Verfahren setzen sich jeweils aus unterschiedlichen technosozialen Praktiken zusammen, an denen stets Dinge, nicht-menschliche Lebewesen und Menschen beteiligt sind. Durch diese Praktiken wird der Mittlere Sonnentau auf multiple Weisen hervorgebracht. Jede dieser Versionen der Pflanze zeigt, dass Rückzug und Distanz die Fürsorgepraktiken im Feld wesentlich kennzeichnen. Damit wird die Bedeutung von Abstand angesichts einer starken Verflechtung mehr-als-menschlicher und menschlicher Lebensweisen für den urbanen Naturschutz deutlich., Peer Reviewed

The publication of this work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin., Der Band vermittelt neue Einsichten in die Fachentwicklung der Ethnologie in der DDR von 1945 bis in die 1980er Jahre. Diese war wesentlich durch den Versuch geprägt, die zuvor getrennten Fächer „Völkerkunde“ und „Volkskunde“ als „Ethnographie“ zu konzeptualisieren. Die in diesem Sinne eigenständige DDR-Ethnologie hatte sich in Abgrenzung, in Teilen auch als Gegenpol, zur Entwicklung des Faches in der BRD herausgebildet. Obwohl auf einer gemeinsamen Ideengeschichte gründend, verliefen in beiden deutschen Staaten die Fachentwicklungen bereits seit dem Beginn der 1950er Jahre zunehmend getrennt. Der Ausgangspunkt war jedoch ein gemeinsamer: 1945 hatte sich die „Völkerkunde“ aufgrund ihrer Verflechtung mit der NS-Rassendoktrin grundlegend diskreditiert. Der Band versammelt quellenbasierte und kontextorientierte Arbeiten von Autor*innen aus dem In- und Ausland, die facettenreich zum Verständnis einer „Ethnologie als Ethnographie“ in der DDR, ihren interdisziplinären Einbettungen und globalhistorischen Bezügen beitragen. Sie erweitern damit gleichzeitig auch das Wissen über die Ethnologie im deutschsprachigen Raum insgesamt.

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Plastics are as positively durable as they are easily breakable, almost impossible to mend and hard to get rid of. They promise eternal life, but their immortality may quickly turn them into the undead. This paper discusses the use and role of plastics in Ghanaian funerary contexts, specifically in a small-town community in the Ghanaian Volta Region. It investigates plastics’ agency as materials that may potentially either contain death successfully or become uncontained matter out of place, just as the dead may become contained or left wandering among the living. Different perspectives on plastics are brought into focus, highlighting how attributed qualities and meanings play into the making of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ death. The paper shows that plastics and persons jointly become subject to moral and temporal assessments in the realm between good and bad, finitude and durability. Beyond the ethnographic case study, the paper discusses the political potential of death and plastics within the larger global context of a cultural economy that reflects the ongoing effect of colonialism., Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafthttps://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659, Peer Reviewed

In recent years, many cities in Germany have reevaluated the role of urban gardening projects in the context of broader concerns with the sustainability of food systems. Using the example of three different urban gardening projects in Munich we take a look at obstacles, resistances and conflicts that urban gardening encounters when moving into open public spaces. Our inquiry seeks to address the following questions: What challenges do urban gardening projects face? Can they be integrated into open urban spaces? And, if so, what challenges do these projects pose to design ideals of urban public space? Gardening contradicts current norms and imaginaries of what constitutes a “good” public space, which is supposed to be designed for (human) comfort. We suggest that comfort in public spaces must be re-imagined as the outcome of active engagement in the production and maintenance of urban gardens and should include the production of a comfortable space for non-human urban inhabitants. We conclude that urban gardening promotes a careful and caring use of public space., Peer Reviewed

Over the past two decades, recognition of same-sex relationships and non-normative families has increased alongside greater access to reproductive technologies. Despite this progress, surrogacy, a potential path to parenthood for gay couples, remains banned in many countries. Research indicates that gay couples, facing legal restrictions, often seek reproductive services abroad, navigating complex legal, political and sociocultural contexts in both their home and destination countries. However, existing research lacks cross-country comparisons that explore how different contexts shape gay couples’ reproductive practices. This study enhances our theoretical understanding of the intricate interplay between social structure and social interactions. It explores how normative family conceptions, ingrained in legal frameworks, societal norms and cultural values at the macro level, profoundly influence the (normalising) practices of couples at the micro level. Empirically, this study compares Germany and Israel, where gay couples face starkly different challenges. Germany universally prohibits surrogacy, while Israel permits it, although not for gay men during my interviews. Drawing on interviews with couples from both countries who engaged surrogates abroad, this study analyses their struggles for legal recognition and social visibility as ‘gay father families’. In both countries, couples navigate legal, political and sociocultural contexts differently, encapsulated in a process termed ‘becoming a gay father family’, involving concealing surrogacy and appropriating heteronormative family narratives. The data indicate that the couples’ social interactions reflect and reinforce a discernible normative shift from heteronormativity to repronormativity in the context of assisted reproduction., Peer Reviewed

Das Lausitzer Kohlerevier soll zur Auflugs- und Urlaubsregion für Großstädter werden. Stillgelegte Tagebaue werden mit Wasser geflutet und so das Lausitzer Seenland gestaltet. Gleichzeitig führt hier ein komplexes Zusammenspiel hydrochemischer, geologischer und technischer Prozesse dazu, dass sich Jahrzehnte nach dem Schließen eines Großteils der Tagebaue Gewässer in der Region braun färben – das Phänomen wird Braune Spree genannt. In diesem Artikel nehme ich diese Bergbaufolgelandschaften als spezifisch anthropozäne Landschaften in den Blick. Dabei arbeite ich Reibungen zwischen den vermeintlich ‚blühenden Landschaften‘ der zukünftigen Tourismusregion und den unintendierten Auswirkungen des Kohleabbaus – die ich mit Tsing et al. als feral dynamics (zu Deutsch ungezähmte Dynamiken) fasse – heraus. Durch den Blick auf diese Reibungen wird deutlich, wie sich in der Inszenierung der Gestaltung des Lausitzer Seenlands eine Fortschrittserzählung fortzuschreiben scheint, die wiederum durch das Phänomen Braune Spree verunsichert wird., Peer Reviewed

Social innovation (SI) has been credited with fostering novel solutions to the socio-economic challenges many rural areas face. The quest for a substantiated understanding of its potential for regional development has spawned a rich literature on SI impact assessments. Yet, having been instrumental, these assessments harbour several ambiguities as they seek to unveil objective impacts in a results-oriented manner. First, SI processes take diverse directionalities, questioning the idea of them being ‘straightforward facts’ and giving leeway to a more constructivist understanding. Second, a results-oriented perspective tends to obscure social processes that initially contribute to the emergence of impacts. In response to such concerns, we suggest a valuation perspective that explores how SI impacts are constructed iteratively throughout the innovation process. To do so, we operationalise the notion of dissonance as a critical factor embedded in innovative activities in three instances: impulses, turning points, and lock-ins. This perspective allows us to study how value is experienced, assigned, and strategically attracted while shedding light on how SI processes and their impacts are co-constructed in valuation processes. The article uses empirical vignettes from selected case studies with SI initiatives in Northern Germany., This research has received funding from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) as part of the SOIR project grant number 01UY2211., Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), Peer Reviewed

The Western world has traditionally viewed cities in opposition to the natural elements, constructing modernist urban spaces to resist the forces of water, air, fire, and earth. Today, urban societies are haunted again by the overflows and burning presences of the elements they have tried to ban. In the face of ongoing climate crises, social sciences and humanities often treat "nature" and natural elements as urbanized, shaped by urban processes rather than influencing them. How can urban anthropology develop a more integral perspective on the interaction of cities and the elementals, one that acknowledges their vitality and agency? An elemental urbanism positions cities as crucial sites in the so-called critical zone, where bodily, conceptual and political attunements to the delicate flows and interdependencies of planetary processes take shape., Peer Reviewed

Increasing temperatures during summer put the health of unhoused people at risk in Berlin. This article examines an NGO heat relief project as a specific problematization of the phenomenon of urban heat. The paper combines qualitative interviews with unhoused activists, potential clients, and project staff with participant observation as a volunteer at the heat relief project. It finds that the heat relief project employs an experimental approach that attempts to enroll a variety of actors to join its problematization. However, this problematization is contested by activists and unhoused people, as they have their own strategies for dealing with urban heat. Another finding is that due to its seasonal nature and unpredictability, urban heat holds the potential to engage and disengage actors and shape political action. This paper contributes to research on climate change's effects on so-called 'vulnerable' communities and the different ways urban heat holds political potential., Peer Reviewed

The publication of this work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin., In Peki, an Ewe town in the Ghanaian Volta Region, death is a matter of public concern. By means of funeral banners printed with synthetic ink on PVC, public lyings in state, cemented graves and wreaths made from plastic, death occupies a prominent place in the world of the living. Rest in Plastic gives an insight into local entanglements of death, synthetic materials and power in Ewe community. It shows how different materials and things that come to shape power relations, exist in a delicate balance between state and local governance, kin and outsiders, death and life, the invisible and the visible, movement and containment.

The publication of this work was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin., Wie beeinflusst urbanes Leben unsere psychische Gesundheit? Und wie wirkt sich andersherum der Umgang mit psychischer Gesundheit auf das Zusammenleben in Städten aus? In seiner ethnografischen Feldforschung in Berlin untersucht Patrick Bieler, wie Menschen, die mit schweren psychischen Problemen leben, ihren Alltag bewältigen, und er betrachtet, wie das dortige sozialpsychiatrische Versorgungssystem mit den Herausforderungen des angespannten Wohnungsmarktes umgeht. Der ethnografische Blick auf die Entstehungsbedingungen und gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen urbaner Umwelten schafft eine sozialwissenschaftlich fundierte Perspektive auf bekannte Alltagsphänomene. Aus dem dichten Verständnis urbaner Lebensbedingungen und ihrer politischen Dimensionen ergeben sich Konsequenzen für zukünftige Stadtgestaltung und interdisziplinäre Forschung.

In this contribution, we argue that the material process of urbanizing soil is not limited to the transformation of a “natural” into an “urban” element. Rather, soil is produced in and from cities. This is exemplified through the case of Teufelsberg, a rubble mound in the southwest of Berlin, created from 26 cubic metres of city rubble from the early 1950s onwards. We accompany soil scientists on an excursion to trace the scientific debates and troubles around classifying urban soil, studies about sulphate leaching from bricks, and recent ideas of resignifying the experimental rubble mound as a soil monument of both scientific and cultural significance. The Teufelsberg process of rubble pedogenesis confronts us with an imaginary of soils as leaky archives of human activity. Through their hybridity as both material and lively, organic and technogenic, rubble soils trouble imaginaries of elemental “purity”., Peer Reviewed

Dieser Artikel basiert auf einer ethnographischen Forschung zum Masterplan Solarcity Berlin und fragt, welche Vorstellung von Stadt diesem zugrunde liegt und wie dadurch eine Solarwende imaginiert wird. Ich schaue auf die premises und promises, die der Masterplan durch das Zusammenbringen bestimmter Ontologien der Stadt und Visionen der Solarwende macht. In dem Versuch, den Masterplan in einem Kontext von Low Carbon Transitions zu verorten, diskutiere ich die Imaginationen, die die Sonne als Energieträgerin infrastrukturieren bzw. urbanisieren. Diese Transformation kennzeichnet sich durch eine Auseinandersetzung mit zwei zentralen Spannungsfelder, nämlich zwischen Zentralität und Dezentralität und zwischen Individuum und Gemeinschaft. Der Aufsatz erkundet so die Zukunftsvisionen und Versprechungen, die mit der Urbanisierung von Sonne verbunden sind und welche Rolle die Idee von Solarity als Zusammendenken von Solar und Solidarität spielt, indem Power gleichzeitig als Energie und als Macht verstanden wird., Peer Reviewed

Die Normalisierung der Ungleichheit in Oaxaca, Mexiko, ist ein Prozess, der sich seit der Kolonialzeit entwickelt hat, als Konzepte wie Rasse die bestehende soziale Trennung zwischen Europäern und indigenen Gemeinschaften definierten. Diese Entwicklung setzte sich in der postkolonialen Ära fort, wo die Marginalisierung gefährdeter Gruppen bis in die Gegenwart andauert. Im modernen Mexiko haben die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Eliten verschiedene Mechanismen der Ungleichheit entwickelt, die die soziale Mobilität der schwächsten Bevölkerungsgruppen einschränken. Daher werden in dieser Fallstudie drei wichtige Mechanismen auf verschiedenen Ebenen identifiziert. Der erste wird als subnationaler Autoritarismus bezeichnet und zeigt, wie verschiedene Strategien, z. B. das Aufbrechen sozialer Bindungen, es den Eliten ermöglichen, ihre Macht zu konsolidieren und klare Grenzen zwischen den sozialen Klassen zu ziehen. Der andere Mechanismus sind die Sozialprogramme, die zu Veränderungen in den Praktiken der Menschen führen, die Zugang zu ihnen haben, und individualistische Praktiken fördern, die auch dem Erwerb von Sozialkapital schaden. Schließlich wird der Familienindividualismus identifiziert, dessen Hauptziel darin besteht, das Wohlergehen der Menschen innerhalb des Familienkerns zu sichern, aber außerhalb des Familienkerns ist die Schaffung anderer Arten von Kapital aufgrund des Fehlens schwacher Bindungen und der Produktion anderer Arten von Kapital schwierig. Diese Mechanismen haben nicht nur Auswirkungen auf die Alltagspraktiken, sondern auch auf die Herausbildung eines Habitus bei den Menschen in Zaachila Oriente., The normalization of inequality in Oaxaca, Mexico has been a process that has been developing since colonial times, where concepts such as race defined the existing social division between Europeans and Indigenous communities. This later moved into the post-colonial era where marginalization of vulnerable groups continued into the present day. During modern Mexico, political and economic elites have designed different mechanisms of inequality that restricts social mobility for the most vulnerable classes. Therefore, this cases study identifies three important mechanisms at different scales. The first is named subnational authoritarianism and it shows how different strategies, such as the rupture of social ties, allow elites to consolidate power and establish clear limits among social classes. The other mechanism identified are the social programs, these lead to changes in the practices of the people who have access to them and encourage individualistic practices that also harm the acquisition of social capital. Finally, family individualism is identified, the main objective is to safeguard the welfare of people within the family core, but outside the family nucleus, the creation of other types of capital is difficult due to the absence of weak ties and the production of different types of capital. These mechanisms have implications not only for everyday practices but also for the production of habitus within the people in Zaachila Oriente.

In ihrer künstlerischen Forschung beschäftigt sich Mirja Busch mit der Ontologie von Pfützen. Ihr multimodaler Beitrag beleuchtet künstlerische Strategien, die Pfützen vom Hintergrundphänomen zu Erfahrungsorten werden lassen, sowie die Rolle von Sprache zur Schaffung einer Grundlage für eine wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung und Klassifizierung. Pfützen werden als ökologische Labore betrachtet, die auf Mikroebene zur Biodiversität beitragen, und ihr Zusammenhang mit der Klimakrise verdeutlicht. Diese ungewöhnliche Perspektive eröffnet neue Zugänge zur Erforschung ökologischer Transformationsprozesse und verleiht der Pfütze eine neue Bedeutung als Observatorium der kritischen Zone des Anthropozäns., Peer Reviewed

This paper is an exploration into future imaginaries of heat. In May 2022, Elisabeth and Jorge, the authors of the paper, met Juli, a heat researcher, who invited them into a time travel to a future world where and when heat is at the core of public life. In their imaginary journey they travel across three different loops, each of them increasingly hotter. In their travel they encounter multiple knowledges and technologies that future citizens of the world have invented and developed to cope with and mitigate heat, and they somehow experience them., Peer Reviewed

Die sportpsychologische Forschung zum Zusammenhang zwischen der emotionalen Intelligenz (EI) und der sportlichen Leistung im Wettkampfsport ist durch eine breite Vielfalt konzeptioneller EI-Modelle sowie eine heterogene Verwendung von EI-Inventaren gekennzeichnet. Die Befunde zum Einfluss der EI auf sowohl Mannschafts- als auch individuelle Leistungsindikatoren weisen in unterschiedliche Richtungen. Dies erschwert die Ableitung eindeutiger Schlussfolgerungen und die Bewertung des konkreten Beitrags des Konzepts der EI für den Wettkampfsport. Die vorliegende Dissertation trägt dazu bei, dieses Forschungsdesiderat anzugehen und die empirische Evidenz im Bereich der sportpsychologischen Forschung zum Zusammenhang zwischen der EI und der sportlichen Leistung zu präzisieren. Ausgangspunkt ist die theoretische Auseinandersetzung über die Rolle von Emotionen im Wettkampfsport und der notwendigen Fähigkeiten, diesen zu begegnen. Dies führt zur eingehenden Auseinandersetzung mit dem Konstrukt der EI, der sich gegenüberstehenden theoretischen Perspektiven der EI und deren Methoden zur EI-Operationalisierung. Es werden allgemeine Forschungsbefunde zur EI und repräsentative Auszüge empirischer Studien in der Sportpsychologie zur EI im Sport und konkret zum Zusammenhang mit der sportlichen Leistung dargestellt. Den Kern meiner kumulativen Dissertation bilden drei wissenschaftliche Studien (eine Metaanalyse und zwei empirische Querschnittsanalysen), von denen zwei in internationalen Zeitschriften mit Peer-Review-Verfahren veröffentlicht und eine eingereicht wurden. Das Ergebnis der quantitativen Metaanalyse, welches auf 22 Effektgrößen basiert, zeigt eine schwache, positive Verbindung zwischen dem Gesamtwert der EI und der sportlichen Leistung, was die Bedeutung der EI als möglichen Prädiktor für die sportliche Leistung im Wettkampfsport unterstreicht. Darüber hinaus empfiehlt die gemeinsame Analyse der eigenschafts- und fähigkeitsbasierten EI in einem quantitativen Querschnittsd, The field of sport psychology has explored the relation between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and athletic performance in competitive sports, characterized by a diverse range of conceptual EI models and heterogeneous use of EI inventories. Findings on the influence of EI on both team and individual performance indicators have yielded varied results, complicating the derivation of definitive conclusions and the assessment of the specific contribution of the EI concept to competitive sports. This dissertation addresses this research gap by contributing to a more precise understanding of the empirical evidence in the domain of sport psychological research on the relationship between EI and athletic performance. The investigation commences with a theoretical examination of the role of emotions in competitive sports and the requisite skills to navigate them. This leads to a thorough exploration of the EI construct, the opposing theoretical perspectives of EI, and their methods of operationalization. General research findings on EI, along with representative excerpts from empirical studies in sport psychology on EI in sports, particularly in relation to athletic performance, are presented. The core of this cumulative dissertation comprises three scientific studies, a meta-analysis, and two empirical cross-sectional analyses, with two studies published in international peer-reviewed journals and one submitted. The results of the quantitative meta-analysis, based on 22 effect sizes, reveal a moderate, positive association between the overall score of EI and athletic performance, underscoring the significance of EI as a potential predictor for athletic performance. Additionally, the joint analysis of trait-based and ability-based EI in a quantitative cross-sectional design (Study 2) recommends the use of trait-based EI, measured by the "Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire" (TEIQue), for predicting subjective performance parameters in competitive sports. It was also obse

Information on social aspects of climate change intervention, such as behavioral choices and public acceptance, are often not included in global climate models. As a result, they have been critiqued for not adequately reflecting ‘real world’ conditions. At the same time, these models are important and influential policy tools. To improve these models, calls are being made for more interaction – or integration – between the social science and modelling research communities. Yet, it remains unclear how to achieve this. Responding to this gap, we explore what kind of integration is currently taking place, how, and opportunities for further development., The importance of social drivers of climate change interventions, or social aspects, is currently underrepresented in computational modelling projections. These parameters are largely excluded from estimates of technical mitigation potential, feasibility, and tools like integrated assessment models (IAMs) and other large-scale models that influence the development of climate policies and notable bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This paper contributes to calls being made within the research community to address this gap and strengthen linkages between modelling practices and social science insights. Using nature-based solutions (NbS) as a framing, we present the results of a critical literature review and interviews with multidisciplinary experts reflecting on the current state of integration around IAMs and opportunities to better capture social aspects within large-scale modelling processes. Our findings confirm the need to incorporate social aspects in IAMs, but highlight that how this happens in practice may depend on context, project objectives, or pragmatic choices rather than conceptual notions about what ‘good’ integration is. Nevertheless, some integration strategies are better than others, and concerns about data limitations and low capacity of the IAM community for engaging in integration can be overcome with sufficient support and complementary efforts from the broader research community., Peer Reviewed

Introductory remarks to the volume "Elemental Urbanism", Peer Reviewed

Key points: (1) Social and economic disadvantages and poor living conditions of Syrians in Turkey prior to the earthquakes made them particularly vulnerable to the destructive force of the earthquakes. (2) Syrians have less social, financial and material resources to cope with the earthquake-related losses and damages, amplifying inequalities and vulnerabilities. (3) Rather than receiving the social and economic support that could help compensate for existing inequalities, some Syrians report experiences of discrimination and serious problems because of inadequate aid., Peer Reviewed

Anpassung ist ein komplexes soziales Phänomen, bei dem das Klimarisiko in verschiedenen sozialen und ökologischen Kontexten reduziert wird. Der 6. Sachstandsbericht des Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change zeigt eine besorgniserregende Realität: Mit zunehmender globaler Erwärmung werden der Anpassung Grenzen gesetzt sein, was darauf hinweist, dass Anpassung allein nicht ausreicht, um den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels entgegenzuwirken. Länder im globalen Süden tragen paradoxerweise die Hauptlast des Klimawandels, obwohl sie am wenigsten für sein Auftreten verantwortlich sind. Es besteht die dringende Notwendigkeit, besser zu verstehen, wo und warum Anpassung stattfindet, was ihren Erfolg beeinflusst und wie die Anpassungsfähigkeit gestärkt werden kann. Die Quantifizierung der Anpassung ist aufgrund ihrer Komplexität schwierig, aber entscheidend für fundierte Entscheidungen und globale Zusammenarbeit. Herkömmliche Klimafolgenabschätzungen vernachlässigen oft die Anpassung oder verwenden einen stark stilisierten Ansatz, was das Potenzial für Anpassung verzerrt und die Notwendigkeit des Klimaschutzes herunterspielt. Es ist wichtig, Anpassung in quantitative Bewertungen einzubeziehen, um fundierte Entscheidungen zu treffen. Diese Dissertation entwickelt Indexe für anpassungsrelevante Maßnahmen im Landwirtschaftssektor und projiziert ihre Umsetzung im 21. Jahrhundert auf der Grundlage verschiedener sozioökonomischer Szenarien. Ergebnisse zeigen die Bedeutung von Governance, Bildung und finanziellen Ressourcen für die Maximierung des Anpassungspotenzials. Länder mit geringer Entwicklung und begrenzter Anpassungsfähigkeit zeigen das größte Verbesserungspotenzial. Die Bewältigung dieser Herausforderungen wird jedoch Jahrzehnte dauern. Die Verbesserung der Anpassungsfähigkeit ist von höchster Bedeutung, nicht nur im Bereich des Klimawandels, sondern auch in breiteren Entwicklungskontexten. Diese Dissertation bietet Einblicke zur Verbesserung der Klimaresilienz und umfass, Adaptation is a multifaceted social phenomenon where climate risk is navigated and responded to within various social and environmental contexts. The 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlights a concerning reality: as global warming increases, there will be limits to what adaptation can accomplish, indicating that it will not always suffice to counter the escalating impacts of climate change. Countries in the Global South, often facing the greatest adaptation challenges, paradoxically, are projected to bear the major brunt of climate change despite holding the least responsibility for its occurrence. Given these prospects, there is an urgent need to better understand where and why adaptation is taking place, what drives its success in some places over others, and where efforts are vital for enhancing adaptive capacity. Furthermore, it becomes imperative to determine the upper limit of what adaptation can accomplish and which conditions are necessary to exploit its full potential, in order to fully grasp the risks posed by climate change. Quantifying adaptation is difficult due to its complex multi-level and cross-sectoral nature. Yet, it is crucial for integrating adaptation into climate impact assessments, essential for informed decision-making and global cooperation. Conventional climate impact assessments often neglect the inclusion of adaptation and adaptive capacity, or if addressed, they often adopt a highly stylized approach. This poses the risk of misrepresenting the potential for adaptation, likely overemphasizing its effectiveness while downplaying the need for climate mitigation. Projecting climate impacts without considering adaptation distorts the current reality of societal adjustments, making it essential to provide quantifiable insights into future adaptive capacity. This thesis addresses these challenges by developing three distinct indices for adaptation-relevant measures in the agricultural sector to understa

Der Einsatz von Dolmetscher*innen für deutsche Laut- und Gebärdensprache (GSD) im Unterricht stellt viele Lehrpersonen vor neue Chancen und Herausforderungen. Meist wurden die Lehrpersonen in der Ausbildung nicht auf ein solches Unterrichtssetting vorbereitet und der Umgang mit GSD und GSD nut-zenden Schüler*innen ist in der ersten Zeit ungewohnt. Um Lehrpersonen kompakt Hinweise für den Unterricht mit GSD an die Hand zu geben, wurde im Rahmen eines Projekts während des Referendariats der beiden Autorinnen an der Margarethe-von-Witzleben-Schule ein kurzes Merkblatt verfasst, das zehn wichtige Punkte (im Sinne des Best Practice) für den gemeinsamen Einsatz zusammenfasst., The use of interpreters for spoken German and German sign language in the classroom presents many teachers with new opportunities and challenges. In most cases, teachers have not been prepared for such a teaching setting during their training and dealing with the interpreters and pupils who use these is unfamiliar at first. In order to provide teachers with compact tips for teaching with interpreters present, a short leaflet was written as part of a project during the two authors' traineeship at Margarethe-von-Witzleben-Schule, which summarizes ten important points (in terms of best practice) for the collaborative work.

The emergence of the terrorist group, Daesh in 2014 and the international military campaign against it caused both a humanitarian crisis and mass displacement in Iraq. About 5.8 million people became internally displaced, and as of 2021, 1.2 million of them still remain in displacement. This article engages with the question of what motivates people to return from displacement to their area of origin. It investigates the role that religion played in the decision of internally displaced Christians to return to Baghdeda in the Ninewa Plain, Iraq's largest Christian town. Based on qualitative interviews, the article examines the factors influencing people's decisions to return. We find that religion contributes to an array of pull factors positively influencing the decision to return, within the nexus of other considerations such as security, reconstruction, and economic opportunities. Religion was found to contribute to the return decision through the respondents' Christian identity, the encouragement to return by religious leaders, and the reconstruction efforts led by the churches. However, while these factors contributed to motivating people to return, these alone are not sufficient to motivate Christians to stay in Baghdeda in the long-term if other important conditions like the security situation and economic opportunities are not in place., Peer Reviewed

(1) Die Bezahlkarte für Geflüchtete soll Geldleistungen nach dem Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz ersetzen. Dies betrifft überwiegend Asylbe­werber­innen und -bewerber während der Asylverfahren und Personen, deren Anträge auf Schutz abgelehnt wurden, nicht aber Geflüchtete mit einem anerkannten Schutzstatus oder ukrainische Staatsangehörige, die seit Beginn des russischen Angriffskriegs am 24.02.2022 nach Deutschland geflohen sind. (2) Die Ausgestaltung der Bezahlkarte, insbesondere inwieweit die sächliche und räumliche Verwendung der Transferleistungen eingeschränkt wird und in welchem Umfang Bargeld abgehoben werden kann, ist noch offen. (3) Die Bezahlkarte kann die soziale und kulturelle Teilhabe, die Wahrnehmung von Integrationsangeboten und die Integration in den Arbeitsmarkt behindern. Die Wirkungen werden wesentlich von der Aus­ge­staltung der Bezahlkarte abhängen. Je ähnlicher sie einem allgemeinen Zahlungsmittel ist, desto geringer sind die negativen Wirkungen. (4) Mit der Bezahlkarte sind direkte und indirekte Kosten verbunden. Die direkten Kosten ergeben sich aus den Gebühren für die Finanz­dienst­leister und dem zusätzlichen Verwaltungsaufwand. Zusätzlich können aber auch indirekte Kosten für die Betroffenen und weitere fiskalische Kosten entstehen, wenn die Integration durch die Bezahlkarte beeinträchtigt wird. (5) Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass die Bezahlkarte einen spürbaren Einfluss auf den Umfang der Fluchtmigration hat. Das Volumen der Rücküberweis­ungen an die Hauptasylherkunftsländer ist vergleichsweise gering und der überwiegende Teil dieser Rücküberweisungen dürfte von erwerbs­tät­igen Personen stammen. Auch sind die Leistungssätze zu gering, als dass unter realistischen Annahmen aus den Leistungen nach dem Asylbe­werberleistungsgesetz die Flucht von Familienangehörigen oder Freunden finanziert werden kann., Peer Reviewed

Introduction: An ample scholarly literature on voluntary migration has shown that migration is a highly selective process, resulting in migrant populations that often differ significantly from their respective population of origin in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics. The literature attributes these differences to either migrants' active choice and agency in the migration decision (i.e., self-selection), or to selectively applied external constraints. Although the socio-demographic make-up of forced migrant populations has received significant attention in public discourses in receiving countries such as Germany and Turkey, the literature on migrant selection largely focuses on voluntary migration and self-selection mechanisms. As a result, the selection mechanisms of forcibly displaced persons are less well-understood. Particularly in the context of forced migration, the conditions for migration fluctuate heavily within a relatively short time span, e.g., regarding immigration policies and border controls. In this study we contribute to that literature by exploring the changing conditions under which Syrians sought international humanitarian protection between 2013 and 2017 and linking them to the selection outcomes in three major receiving countries: Lebanon, Turkey, and Germany. Methods: Based on novel household survey data, we compare age, gender, socio-economic background, and family context of the Syrian populations in Lebanon, Turkey, and Germany by arrival cohort (2013–2017). In a narrative approach, we combine the cohort analysis of Syrians in Lebanon, Turkey, and Germany with contextual analyses of the (changing) frameworks governing refugee migration in transit and destination countries and descriptive analyses of changing risk levels along migration routes into Europe. Results: Our analyses reveal that higher external barriers coincide with a stronger selection in migrants' socio-demographic make-up. In particular, riskier routes and highe, Peer Reviewed

Pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) such as climate-friendly mobility and eating habits hold great promise in terms of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, thus, are important goals for addressing climate change from a population perspective. Yet, sociodemographic correlates and differences in PEB intentions have to be considered in designing messages and behavior change interventions. This study implemented a quota-sampling survey (N = 979, 511 women, 468 men, age M = 50.4, SD = 17.2) of the German population and found that, overall, participants exhibit strong intentions to engage in various PEBs, with the exception of cycling and adopting a vegetarian diet. Moreover, women displayed higher intentions to engage in PEBs compared to men, particularly in adopting a vegetarian diet. The relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and PEB intentions, as well as the combined effects of gender and SES, were inconsistent for different PEB intentions. We conclude that on a population level, intention-building interventions are necessary for vegetarianism and cycling, while for the other PEBs, interventions may focus on closing the intention–behavior gap. There is a need to further research the interplay of different PEBs in diverse groups and for interventional studies targeting the discrepancy in eating habits across genders., Peer Reviewed

Loreen Dalski / Kirsten Flöter / Lisa Keil / Kathrin Lohse / Lucas Sand / Annabelle Schülein (Hrsg.), Optimierung des Selbst: Konzepte, Darstellungen und Praktiken. Bielefeld: transcript 2022, 222 S., kt., 45,00 € Marcel Eulenbach (Hrsg.), Selbstoptimierung – Theoretische und empirische Erkundungen. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz Juventa 2022, 189 S., kt., 29,95 € Nadine Glade / Christiane Schnell (Hrsg.), Perfekte Körper, perfektes Leben? Selbstoptimierung aus der Perspektive von Geschlecht und Behinderung. Bielefeld: transcript 2022, 218 S., kt., 29,50 € Vera King / Benigna Gerisch / Hartmut Rosa (Hrsg.), Lost in Perfection: Zur Optimierung von Gesellschaft und Psyche. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2021, 338 S., kt., 25,00 €, Peer Reviewed

Survey experiments are an important tool to measure policy preferences. Researchers often rely on the random assignment of policy attribute levels to estimate different types of average marginal effects. Yet, researchers are often interested in how respondents trade-off different policy dimensions. We use a conjoint experiment administered to more than 10,000 respondents in Germany, to study preferences over personal freedoms and public welfare during the COVID-19 crisis. Using a pre-registered structural model, we estimate policy ideal points and indifference curves to assess the conditions under which citizens are willing to sacrifice freedoms in the interest of public well-being. We document broad willingness to accept restrictions on rights alongside sharp heterogeneity with respect to vaccination status. The majority of citizens are vaccinated and strongly support limitations on freedoms in response to extreme conditions—especially, when they vaccinated themselves are exempted from these limitations. The unvaccinated minority prefers no restrictions on freedoms regardless of the severity of the pandemic. These policy packages also matter for reported trust in government, in opposite ways for vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens., Peer Reviewed

In the study of residential satisfaction in architectural design different physical comfort domains have received the most attention. But with this comfort-driven approach, residential satisfaction is reduced to a psychophysical relationship. Adding psychological substance to the design process, the paper argues that a distinction should be made between residential satisfaction and home attachment and that we need to consider home attachment as a mediator variable for comfort. The aim of the paper is to empirically assess whether the mediation, if it exists at all, is partial or complete. Distinguishing different forms of comfort, a set of alternative structural equation models are tested with data from a 14-nation population survey in Europe. The result of the model tests is that our wellbeing at home comes in two forms—satisfaction and attachment—and that there is partial as well as complete mediation of home attachment on satisfaction depending on the kind of comfort studied., Peer Reviewed

Research on collective organisation of migrant platform workers is mostly concerned with ride-hailing and delivery logistics, where explicit forms of collective action have been visible. This paper addresses the issue of the self-organisation of migrant workers on cleaning platforms through a case study of Helpling cleaners in Berlin. In the paper, we ask why the attempts for organising workers have failed to scale up beyond the informal exchange of information and tactics among the workers. Our article argues that the spatial dispersion of work across the city, lack of occupational identity, and the legal framework of work, make worker organising difficult for cleaners in Berlin. Still, these factors do not lead to an absence of collective practices. Helpling workers in our study gather in online groups, can receive help and exchange in a community centre, and have been in touch with political groups. Based on the case study, the article discusses potentials and hurdles for the development of collective counter-power., Peer Reviewed

Time plays an integral role in understanding how the social is possible. However, most discussions of sociological classical thinkers—such as Georg Simmel—remain starkly underexplored in terms of their theories’ temporal presuppositions. While most responses to Simmel’s work credit him for his major contributions to the sociology of space, in this paper I aim to systematically reconstruct his explicit and implicit temporal assumptions and explore how these inform some of his social-theoretical writings and his sharp temporal diagnosis of modernity. For this purpose, I re-evaluate some of his central works using a theory distinction between social-theory, which aims to answer what constitutes the social, versus theory-of-society, where the key focus is what form or forms human societies have taken so far, and especially what form modern society takes. By offering a new reading of Simmel’s philosophical and sociological writings, I formulate a comprehensive social theory of time, in which time is both located within individual consciousness and reciprocally mediated by a culturally fixed and supra-individual timeframe, thus highlighting the temporal tensions between individual flexibility and social standardization and coordination. Simmel’s diagnosis of modernity reveals a conceptualization of time in spatialized terms, a monetization of time, and an acceleration of life., Peer Reviewed

This article discusses the recent introduction of ‘diverse’ and ‘no entry’ along ‘male’ and ‘female’ as gender categories in the German microcensus. It describes how intersex and non-binary survey participants are simultaneously made visible and invisible through different systems of gender classification and assignment. The article combines the analysis of documents by the Federal Statistical Office with expert interviews with activists and researchers working on legal and statistical gender identification from a non-binary and intersex perspective. Although two non-binary gender categories are included on paper at the point of data collection, they are subsequently randomly assigned ‘male’ or ‘female’ in data publication. Interviewed experts critically contextualize the survey practices of the microcensus and point to some of the problems with this approach. However, they also stress the non-linear connection between recognition and visibility and agree with data protection concerns related to super-visibility. Their criticism points towards several ways of rethinking gender classification and assignment in population surveys. This article contributes to discussions about the contested inclusion of subjects with marginalized gendered experiences into the population through legal and statistical technologies. Using the framework of in_visibility, it also points to the potentials and limitations of a politics of visibility., Peer Reviewed