Soziologie – Sociology in the German-Speaking World
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Soziologie – Sociology in the German-Speaking World Soziologie — Sociology in the German-Speaking World Special Issue Soziologische Revue 2020 Edited by Betina Hollstein, Rainer Greshoff, Uwe Schimank, and Anja Weiß ISBN 978-3-11-062333-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-062727-5 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-062351-2 ISSN 0343-4109 DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110627275 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Library of Congress Control Number: 2020947720 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Betina Hollstein, Rainer Greshoff, Uwe Schimank, and Anja Weiß, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents ACompanion to German-Language Sociology 1 Culture 9 Uta Karstein and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr Demography and Aging 27 FrançoisHöpflinger EconomicSociology 39 AndreaMaurer Education and Socialization 53 Matthias Grundmann Environment 67 Anita Engels Europe 83 Monika Eigmüller Family and IntimateRelationships 99 Dirk Konietzka, Michael Feldhaus, Michaela Kreyenfeld, and Heike Trappe (Felt) Body.Sports, Medicine, and Media 117 Robert Gugutzerand Claudia Peter Gender 133 Paula-Irene Villa and Sabine Hark Globalization and Transnationalization 149 Anja Weiß GlobalSouth 165 EvaGerharz and Gilberto Rescher HistoryofSociology 181 Stephan Moebius VI Contents Life Course 197 Johannes Huinink and Betina Hollstein Media and Communication 211 Andreas Hepp Microsociology 227 RainerSchützeichel Migration 245 Ludger Pries Mixed-Methods and MultimethodResearch 261 FelixKnappertsbusch, Bettina Langfeldt, and Udo Kelle Organization 273 Raimund Hasse Political Sociology 287 Jörn Lamla Qualitative Methods 301 Betina Hollstein and Nils C. Kumkar Quantitative Methods 315 Alice Barthand Jörg Blasius Religion 331 Matthias Koenig Scienceand Higher Education 345 Anna Kosmützkyand Georg Krücken Social Inequalities―Empirical Focus 361 Gunnar Otte, Mara Boehle, and KatharinaKunißen Social Inequalities―Theoretical Focus 381 ThomasSchwinn Social Movements 399 ThomasKern Contents VII Social Networks 415 Roger Häußling Social Policy 429 Birgit Pfau-Effinger and ChristopherGrages Social Problems 449 Günter Albrecht Social Theory 467 Wolfgang Ludwig Schneider Society 483 Uwe Schimank Space. Urban, Rural, Territorial 499 Martina Löw Technologyand Innovation 515 Werner Rammert Work and Labor 535 Brigitte Aulenbacher and JohannaGrubner List of Contributors 549 Index 555 ACompanion to German-LanguageSociology This book provides the first systematic overviewofthe current state of sociologyin German-speaking countries in the English language. Itsthirty-four chapters review advances and current trends,relatethem to the international discussion and point out challenges and perspectivesfor future research. As the variety of topics shows, the contributions to this volume span the entire rangeofsociological research areas that address pressingquestions both theoretically and empirically. With this special issue of the SOZIOLOGISCHEREVUE,the onlyGerman-language sociological review journal, we want to give international readers some insight into the sociological discussions in German-speaking countries—that is, Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland—and familiarize them with the discussions that are still largely conductedinthe German language. We believethat many aspects of these discussions are of interest to an international audience as well and that knowledge about the wider context of the history of ideas in which the German-languagedebate is embedded and how it has evolvedovertime will not onlyenhance mutual under- standing but might alsostimulate and fertilize the broader international debate. In the following,wewill first brieflyaddress some characteristics of the German- languagesociological discourse and its historical background. Second, we will ad- dress the question why, despite the increasing internationalization of German- speakingacademia, asubstantial part of the sociological discussion is still being conducted in the German language. Finally, we provide the reader with some guidance on what to expectinthe articles to follow and offer some tips on how to navigate this volume. 1IsThere a “German-Language Sociology”? When we approachedthe experts who contributed to this volume, we asked them to review the research literature and the discussion in German-languagesociologyin their fields of expertise over the last 15 to 20 years. Specifically, we asked them to identify the defining features of the discussion in these fields and relatethem to the international debate. Are there specific topics or certain perspectivesthat are char- acteristic of the German-languageacademic discussion?What have been the partic- ular advances duringthis period?Are there areas in which the discussion is perhaps lagging behind?Are therespecific highlights or “selling points” unique to the dis- cussion in German-languagesociologyand,ifso, what specificallyhavethey yielded in terms of our understandingofthe respective topic? Despite stark differences among the different sociological fields, we can identify some features that are widelyshared among much of the German-speakingsocio- logical community. OpenAccess. ©2021 Betina Hollstein, Rainer Greshoff,Uwe Schimank, and Anja Weiß, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110627275-001 2 ACompanion to German-LanguageSociology Perhaps the most distinct feature of the debates among German-speaking soci- ologists is the generallystronginterest in philosophicallyinformed theory,metho- dology, and epistemology.The political scientistand sociologist Johan Galtung(1981) once spokeofa“teutonic” intellectual style in German-speakingcountries,¹ which he compared to the “saxonic” intellectual style in British and US academia. While Gal- tung sawthe “saxonic” style as being characterized by aprimarilyempirical, strongly data-drivenapproach that is less theory oriented, he perceivedthe “teutonic” style as being marked by astrongerfocus on theory-building and analysis of the underlying paradigms.Although this characterization maybeabit stereotypical, it underlines the fact that German-languagesociologyhas strongroots in Geisteswissenschaften (hu- manities) and idealism. As Alvin Gouldnerpointed out,German social science “developedout of adi- alecticbetween Romanticism and science” (Gouldner,1973: 93). This tension between Geisteswissenschaften and science,between idiographic hermeneutic traditions and nomographic deductive science can be found in the works of the classics, such as Karl Marx, GeorgSimmel, and Max Weber,and has been aleitmotif in German-language sociologyeversince—with times of more or less “peaceful co-existence” and phases of fiercedebates,such as the Popper–Adorno controversy (the so-called Positivis- musstreit [positivism dispute]) in the early1960s (Adorno, 1969). Beyond these theoretical and intellectual roots thatextend far back in time, the political and social upheavals of the 20th century left their imprint and continue to influenceGerman-languagesociologystilltoday. During the Nazi regime,manyso- ciologists fled Germanyand Austria and frequentlywent into exile in the United States,wherethey became influential members of the sociological community, amalgamatingGerman traditions with the US-American style of sociological work. The year 1945marked ahistorical break that motivated many students to study sociologywho later went on to shape the development of the discipline (cf. Fleck, 1996;Bolteand Neidhardt, 1998). As Heinz Bude and Friedhelm Neidhardtdescribein avolume that contains autobiographical memoriesofsociologists of this generation, born in the 1920s, these young people sought to understand this dramatic societal discontinuity, “whereinsome respects everything wasdifferent,but in other respects much remained the same. The politics, the economy, or the lawhad changed radically, but,ifthey had survived, the people in their families, in their neighborhoods, or in the conversations on the corner werebasicallythe sameasbefore” (Bude and Neidhardt, 1998:407;our translation). This younggeneration of sociologists,such as Ralf Dahrendorf, Renate Mayntz, or ErwinK.Scheuch, was generallyvery skeptical of ‘grand theory,’ and was characterized aboveall by astrongorientation towards em- pirical research,inmanycases promoted and intensified by research stays in the US (Bolteand Neidhardt, 1998). According to Fiedler,the “teutonic” intellectual stylecan also be found in Eastern Europe and Rus- sia (2012). ACompaniontoGerman-LanguageSociology 3 The next generation, in the late 1960s, was inspired by aglobalstudent move- ment,which in West Germanywas characterized by adeeplyfelt moralindignation about the ways that the German mainstream had dealt with its Nazi past.Thisgen- eration connected with the work of exiled scholars—both thosestill in the US and those who had returned—and revivedaninterest in theory,especiallyinthe works of Marx, the critical Frankfurt School, and Freudian psychoanalysis.Inspired by the ‘new social movements,’ the expansion of the higher-educational system, and abroad, enduringcultural change,