Eliminatorische ethnische Säuberungen: Eine makrosoziologische Erklärung

Der vorliegende Aufsatz entwickelt eine makrosoziologische Strategie zur Erklärung eliminatiorischer ethnischer Säuberungen. In einem ersten Schritt wird gezeigt, dass Ansätze, die den Staat oder eine schwache Zivilgesellschaft als zentralen Erklärungsfaktor heranziehen, der historischen Vielfalt und Komplexität der zu erklärenden Ereignisse nicht gerecht werden. Vielmehr ist eine präzise Analyse politischer Akteure und Akteurskonstellationen erforderlich. In einem zweiten Schritt wird in der Form einer Typologie das theoretische Möglichkeitsfeld politischer Konstellationen ethnischer Gruppen abgesteckt, wobei Multikulturalismus und Genozid die Extrempole der Typologie markieren. Im dritten und umfangreichsten Teil des Aufsatzes wird schließlich in Form einer fünfstufigen weltgeschichtlichen Periodisierung eine historisch-vergleichende Strategie zur Erklärung ethnischer Säuberungsprozesse skizziert. Dabei wird deutlich, wie die Faktoren Sprache, Religion und Territorialität (Provinz) bei der politischen Formierung konkreter ethnischer Akteurskonstellationen so zusammenwirken, dass das gesamte zuvor entwickelte typisierende Möglichkeitsfeld historisch abgedeckt wird.     

„…den Dämon finden, der seines Lebens Fäden hält.“ Theoretische Beiträge zur Funktionslogik von Lebensführung

Mitteilungen und Berichte

     

Opportunitätsstrukturen und Lebenschancen

The article discusses the development, meaning and theoretical context of both Robert Merton’s concept of “opportunity structure” and the concept of “life-chances” that he took up from Max Weber. In order to analyze crucial social conflicts, I argue that both concepts should follow along the lines of conflict theory. While they converge in terms of meaning, we need different theoretical strategies to make their analytical and explanatory power explicit. First, a reinterpretation of the concept of opportunity structure shows that social actors might reduce others’ access to options while realizing their own aims; second, life-chances should be put again in a Weberian perspective for two reasons. On the one hand Weber already conceptualizes them in the context of social struggles, on the other hand he shows that the mechanism of social closure helps to understand how people exclude others from life-chances by monopolizing resources.     

Die Osterweiterung der Europäischen Union und die Bedeutung kollektiver Identitäten

Auf der Grundlage eines historisch-soziologischen Ansatzes stellt dieser Beitrag eine Analyse der Osterweiterung der Europäischen Union und der darin eingebetteten kollektiven Identitäten in einem west- und osteuropäischen Vergleich vor. Er geht grundsätzlich davon aus, dass der Prozess der Osterweiterung im Kontext der Rekonstitution der europäischen Zivilisation als einer Rekonstruktion ihrer historischstrukturellen: sozioökonomischen, politischen wie kulturellen Ungleichheitsmatrix analysiert werden muss. Für den Prozess der Osterweiterung, seine Grundlagen, Sequenzen und zukünftige Entwicklungsrichtung spielen dabei vor allem auch die kollektiven Identitäten und ihr wechselseitiger Bezug auf der west- wie osteuropäischen Seite eine zentrale Rolle. Auf der westlichen Seite zeigt die vergleichende Analyse Frankreichs, Deutschlands, Großbritanniens und Schwedens gegenüber Osteuropa eine grundsätzlich westlich-zivilisierende, allerdings je nach Struktur der nationalen Identitäten und politischen Kulturen unterschiedliche Ausrichtung auf. Auf der östlichen Seite zeigt sich dagegen im Vergleich zwischen Polen, Tschechien, Ungarn und Russland eine ebenfalls je nach Struktur der nationalen Identität unterschiedliche, aber ambivalente: imitative wie defensive Orientierung auf Westeuropa. Diese kulturelle Ungleichzeitigkeit zwischen West- und Osteuropa wird — so die Grundthese — eine entscheidende Rolle in dem faktischen Verlauf der Osterweiterung der Europäischen Union spielen.     

Formen politischen Handelns der kleve‐märkischen Landstände 1640–1660

Summary

Affected by the political influences from America and France, Poland's constitution of 1791 revised the electoral ordinance for the gentry, modified the administration of the cities and gave them representation in the Seym, and finally instituted a hereditary monarchy with checks and balances between the branches of government. The opposition of domestic conservatives, aided by armed foreign intervention, secured the repeal of this constitution in 1793. The result was a national insurrection in 1794 the defeat of which led to the final partition of Poland. Napoleon's 1807 Prussian campaign led to the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, whose constitution was based on French egalitarian ideas and whose civil law was the Code Napoleon. The constitution separated executive and legislative functions and placed constitutional matters in the hands of the executive. In 1815 the Poles secured from tsar Alexander I the establishment of a hereditary constitutional monarchy with an appointed senate, an elected Seym and an extensive Bill of Rights. The system eventually failed when tsar Nicholas I violated the constitution and public dissatisfaction with the conduct of his brother, Constantine, precipitated the revolution of 1830.     

Sigitas Geda: Metaphorizität als Prinzip der Textkohärenz im Poem Strazdas

Abstract

This study focuses on the cycle of poems “Strazdas”, written by the Lithuanian poet Geda (1945–1992). It shows how the understanding of the reader changes with every verse. In the centre of the analysis we find the word strazdas. On the one hand, it is the name of a Lithuanian romantic poet, on the other it means thrush. Both the poet and the bird are keys to understanding these poems. The study shows the interdependence of these lines of interpretation and connects them with a third line: Lithuania. The interpretation lines are founded on semantic and syntactic analysis, using Nekvapils' concept of compounded formations.

Die sprachliche Form ist erhaben und vermeidet das Gewöhnliche <tt>o idiotikon</tt>, wenn sie fremdartige Ausdrücke <box>enikoi</box>verwendet. … Doch wenn jemand nur derartige Wörter verwenden wollte, dann wäre das Ergebnis entweder ein Rätsel {ainigma} oder ein Barbarismus <b>arbarismos</b>: wenn das Erzeugnis aus Metaphern besteht, ein Rätsel, wenn es aus Glossen besteht, ein Barabarismus. Denn das Wesen des Rätsels besteht darin, unvereinbare Wörter miteinander zu verknüpfen und hiermit gleichwohl etwas wirklich Vorhandenes zu bezeichnen.     

Ost und West, Nord und Süd: Zur räumlichen Verteilung und theoretischen Erklärung der Gewaltkriminalität in Deutschland

The research reported here follows up on the long-standing discussion concerning the regional distribution of violent crime in Germany. It focuses on assault and robbery rates reported by the official German crime statistics for the years 2005–2007 in each of the 413 communal districts (“Kreise”). The discussions commonly contrast the eastern region (till 1990 the territory of the communist ruled “German Democratic Republic”) with the northern and the southern region of the (now) western part of the “Federal Republic of Germany”. It becomes obvious, however, that crime rates vary much more within than between these regions. More than half of the overall variation can be explained by two composite measures of relative deprivation and the level of urbanization. A number of additional variables have been tested for their explanatory power, including a newly constructed measure of disintegrative individualism. It successfully identifies a specific criminogenic potential associated with certain structural elements of a developing “knowledge society” and the rapid expansion of higher education. Apart from ordinary regression analyses various techniques of spatial data analysis have also been applied.     

Disziplinäre Rituale – Bericht zum Jubiläumskongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie

Mitteilungen und Berichte

Disziplin?re Rituale – Bericht zum Jubil?umskongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie     

Von Westfalen nach Kosmopolis? Die Problematik kultureller Identität in der europäischen Politik

?Westfälisch“ inspirierte Analysen des europäischen Integrationsprozesses behaupten, dass kulturelle Heterogenität die Bildung eines gemeinsamen politischen Willens der Europäer verhindert. Demgegenüber leitet sich für ?kosmopolitische Demokraten“ der normative Reiz der EU gerade aus der Notwendigkeit ab, eine politische Gemeinschaft neuen Typs zu konstituieren, die historisch erstmals tatsächlich rein ?zivile“ Wurzeln hat. In Abgrenzung zu diesen Positionen geht der folgende Beitrag davon aus, dass die Regulierung des kulturellen Pluralismus auf europäischer Ebene von den Widersprüchen gekennzeichnet ist, die der institutionellen Entwicklung der EU generell zugrunde liegen: Während das intergouvernementale Prinzip die Rolle der Nationalstaaten hervorhebt und dem Schutz der entsprechenden ?Nationalkulturen“ einen hohen Stellenwert beimisst, eröffnet der europäische Transnationalimus auf der anderen Seite jedoch auch Möglichkeiten für die Artikulation kultureller Identitäten unterhalb und jenseits der Nationalstaaten und trägt damit in gewissem Umfang zu einer ?enationalisierung“ politischer Kulturen bei. Am Beispiel der Sprachpolitik lässt sich diese Situation gut illustrieren. Im Schlussteil befasst sich der Beitrag mit dem Potenzial des Subsidiaritätsprinzips für ein ?reflexives Identitätsmanagement“ in der EU.     

Nachruf auf Hartmut Häußermann

Mitteilungen und Berichte

Nachruf auf Hartmut H?u?ermann     

Konsekrationsinstanzen im digitalen Wandel – Beiträge zur Erweiterung des feldanalytischen Forschungsprogramms am Beispiel populärer Musik

The article has two objectives: First, pursuant to the recent papers on a “sociology of (e)valuation,” an extension of Bourdieusian field theory will be presented, which reacts to three problems with this theory that were expressed in the critical reception: the immanent tendency to emphasize reproduction more strongly than transformation; the disregarding of technology; and the simple dualism of cultural and economic logic. To begin with, a dynamization of the research program will be undertaken, in that fault lines and transformation dynamics will be revealed that could lead to the invalidation of Pierre Bourdieu’s strict homological assumptions. Following up on that, it will be shown how technology, which was neglected by Bourdieu, can become an (external) factor that causes fundamental changes in fields. Finally, in connection with Jörn Lamla’s reflections on “cultural capitalism” and through a differentiation of the concept of the instance of consecration, a level of analysis will be specified on which the transformation dynamics under discussion can be observed. Secondly, the successful integration of technology in new forms of consecration in the field of pop music will be examined. On the basis of the reaction of classical pop-music journalism to the new value assignment instances that have arisen through digitalization, it can be shown that the challenge arising from new forms of consecration results in negotiatory processes in the field of pop music journalism in which various repositionings in the relationship of cultural and economic logics appear.     

Politische Redekultur in der Vormoderne. Die Oratorik europäischer Parlamente in Spätmittelalter und Früher Neuzeit

SUMMARY

Procedural delaying tactics (Obstruktion), including filibustering, have been used by parliamentary minorities overwhelmed by large majorities supporting a government. English in origin, they were widespread in Europe by the turn to the twentieth century as a consequence of liberal interpretations of the right to freedom of speech. Apart from England and the United States, the practice was especially prevalent in Austria and Hungary. Barna Mezey examines this issue in Hungary from 1846 until 1939, reviewing the historical, constitutional and legal aspects of obstructive measures and the steps taken against them within a comparative context. The Hungarian manifestation may be divided into simple obstruction (filibustering for several hours per speaker, days for the whole operation), technical (procedural delays, for which frequent lengthy votes were needed), and violent forms such as shouting and the throwing of objects. Only in the last case did Hungarian Speakers not hesitate to take countermeasures, including summoning the police.

After the Dual Monarchy was established, the minority in the Hungarian parliament claimed that its blocking actions were justified as the Compromise of 1867 led the government of Austro-Hungary to pursue policies not in the national interest. The Hungarian parliament was divided between those favouring the dynasty's attempt to create a more unified kingdom and those adhering to the principles of 1848. The latter were deprived of the chance of ever achieving office by the powers granted to the monarch in the Compromise. They felt driven to employ delaying tactics in an organized manner from 1872 onwards, when a proposed change in voting criteria would have greatly restricted the franchise. Another major conflict from 1896 was over measures to reduce the influence of the Church on marriage and to widen freedom of religion, including that for the Jews. An attempt to impose more discipline on debates in 1904 led the opposition to destroy all the furnishings of the debating chamber and precipitated the fall of the government. In 1912 the Speaker, acting for the government, used the police to remove the opposition from the chamber and push through a law introducing a two-year term for military service and other army reforms. Legislation at that time also prohibited procedural delaying measures, and in 1928 severe restrictions were placed on filibustering. The author also analyses the debate at the time among legal experts over the validity of these tactics, at the heart of which lay disagreements on the nature and limits of freedom of speech.     

Die Organisation von Wertzuschreibungen: Zur Bedeutung von Drittparteien für die Signalisierung moralischer Qualitäten in Märkten

Moral qualities of food are usually communicated through labels. Such quality signalling serves to increase the value of a given product. However, the signalled qualities are uncertain and presume a significant degree of trust. The article examines how moral qualities are developed procedurally and analyses the advanced landscape of labelling in Swiss retail trade. It is shown that the construction of moral qualities is based on the involvement of various third parties. These include (1) charitable organizations which are responsible for defining the different quality standards, (2) competing profit-oriented certification organizations which attest conformity with their respective standards, as well as (3) public authorities which accredit the certification organizations and thereby provide them with legitimacy. The article shows that the interplay of third parties conceals the uncertainty of valorized products and reveals that values based on moral quality standards are developed in the valuation processes upstream of the actual market transaction.     

Die Konstruktion der soziologischen Realität durch Forschungsrating

The article subjects the research rating of sociology, published in 2008 and carried out by an evaluation group on behalf of the German Science Council, to a secondary analysis. It is shown that the research rating constructs a reality of sociology which does justice neither to the variety of sociological knowledge production nor to its own claim of multidimensionality. Unwillingly, the peer reviewed article has imposed itself as the dominant criterion for assessing the research quality of research units against other types of publication and other activities such as externally funded research, knowledge transfer for practical problem-solving and knowledge diffusion in the public sphere. This preference also affected the assessment of entire research institutions with regard to their impact and efficiency as well as the devaluation of knowledge transfer and diffusion. In this way, sociology is limited to the type of professional sociology, while critical, public and policy-oriented sociology are displaced.     

Gewalt in Ordnungskonflikten als Problem der erklärenden Soziologie

The article argues that the uprisings during the Arab Spring as well as the riots in either the banlieues of French cities or in London have to be considered as violent conflicts that pose a serious threat to the social orders in which they emerge. These different kinds of social resistance have in common that they communicate more or less developed alternative conceptions of social orders that challenge what has been considered legitimate so far. Until now, sociology has neither successfully explained such kinds of conflicts nor the way they are triggered. Therefore, the article discusses crucial problems of a sociology of violence, i.e. violence as term and concept, theoretical and methodological deficits and, finally, assumptions about the role of violence in conflict-ridden processes of modernization and civilization in general. The article argues that a sociology of violence should concentrate on the nexus of social order and violence in order to explain how and why violent conflicts emerge in specific social contexts. Thus, a sociology of violence should take an effort to reconstruct the crucial social mechanisms that underlie the dynamics of emerging violence in processes of production and reproduction of social order.     

Arbeitnehmerfreizügigkeit und Diskriminierung auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt – Europäische Politik,transnationaler Mobilitätsraum und nationales Feld

The paper deals with the interaction of horizontal and vertical European integration. It asks whether the principle of free movement of labour does not only legally but also de facto prevent discrimination of non-nationals in EU Member States. Theoretically, the analysis is framed by distinguishing three interrelated types of social fields: a supranational political field of free movement of labour, national labour market fields and an intermediary transnational space of mobility. Focusing on the German labour market and drawing on comprehensive administrative data the article shows that wage differences are to a large extend caused by differences in relevant labour market characteristics such as age or education. However, for the vast majority of EU non-nationals in Germany is also observed discrimination in payment. Strikingly, positive discrimination is more pronounced than negative discrimination. These differences are understood as hinting at the increasing importance of comparisons between national labour markets in the EU.     

Ist Durkheims Religionsverständnis mit dem Glauben vereinbar?

Does Emile Durkheim’s sociology of religion pose a challenge to the faithful? Durkheim said no in debate with contemporary non-believers and believers, portraying religion not as mere illusion but as consisting in moral forces that command, comfort and strengthen the faithful, forces generated and regenerated within them by the collective effervescence of rituals. Thus empowered, the faithful imagine in symbolic form “the society of which they are members and the obscure yet intimate relations they have with it”. Durkheim’s answer is shown to have three components: a critique of naturist and animist “error theories” of religion; a method of “deep interpretation”, uncovering the reality beneath the symbolism; and an explanation of why the meaning of religion thus interpreted should have been for so long unacknowledged by the faithful. It is argued that, in principle, they can, on certain assumptions, accommodate his sociology of religion. But this, in turn, makes key assumptions and claims that have been seriously questioned: notably, that “religion” names a unified phenomenon and that Durkheim’s definition captures it. Recent revised “Durkheimian” accounts of religious thought and practice are considered, accounts that abandon these assumptions and also his “social realism”, while seeking to preserve his insights. It is argued that these too need not directly challenge religious belief in the way that the cognitive science of religion does.     

Die demokratische Differenz zwischen besitzindividualistischen und kommunitären Eigentumsgesellschaften

Ownership is a central institution of modern societies, underlying the latter’s differentiation into different functional spheres. The article attempts to systematically assess the consequences of this institution for the political relationship to the world as well as for the character of democratic action. It asks which type of ownership is more, and which is less conducive to the democratization of the political community. It is argued that the increasingly frequent crises of contemporary democracies that can be noticed can neither be understood nor remedied without considering the conflictual influence exerted on the political process by possessive individualist ownership societies. This is because the latter, by inducing indifference and patterns of antagonistic domination, tend to undermine the conditions for democratic interaction. As an alternative, the article outlines the contours of a communitarian ownership society based on economic ownership where ownership is understood as a relationship of caring self-efficacy – thus only allowing democracies to live up to their own ambitions.     

Auf dem Weg in eine europäische Gesellschaft?

After half a century of European integration it is legitimate to ask if, how and in how far a ?European society“ has emerged. But how is this difficult notion to be conceptualized? What is European, what denotes society? Following the distinction of unity and difference, this article sets out to discuss the analytical options of the perspective of unity (the model of the nation state, the United States of Europe, a reality sui generis) and of difference (the ?other“ of Europe by comparing Europe to the regions of the world). According to the main thesis, European society denotes a reality sui generis, i.e., is an emergent phenomenon which can neither be conceptualized by the old model of the nation state nor the new notion of world society. European society should be characterized according to its leitmotif of structured diversity, its cultural and historical legacies, its logic of institutional separation and differentiation and its common basic institutional infrastructure. European society, therefore, rests upon a shared historical community of fate and exhibits a multiple unity of economy, work, education, solidarity, law, religion and culture. The engine of Europeanization is the European Union which together with nation states and regions fosters a veritable pressure of convergence upon the European space. Given its taken-for-granted character, the European society is half latent, half manifest, half empirically traceable and analytically conceivable, half normatively desirable or controversial.     

Ökonomisches Kapital der Eltern und Medizinstudium im Ausland. Wie Europäisierungs- und Globalisierungsprozesse die Reproduktion sozialer Ungleichheiten verändern

The fact that university degrees are accepted throughout Europe has led to the founding of medical faculties, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, that offer medical studies in German or English and thus attracting students from richer Western European countries like Germany. Unlike medical studies in Germany, access to these foreign universities is not dependent on the final school exam grade, but on the ability to pay high tuition fees. The article compares the social class background of medicine students in Germany with German medicine students in Hungary. The analysis shows that the percentage of medicine students who come from higher social classes is even higher in Hungary than it already is in Germany. Studying medicine in Hungary primarily serves as an immediate reproduction of the parents’ profession as many of German medicine students in Hungary have a parent who belongs to the medical profession. The case of German students studying medicine abroad illustrates how Europeanization and Globalization have changed the reproduction of social inequalities; upper classes profit most from the new opportunities.