?Klassengesellschaftlichkeit�� nach dem Ende der Klassengesellschaft?

The new attention for (long time ??invisible??) social classes is related to an increase in the inequalities between rich and poor. Especially in Germany it seemed that (reinforced by sociological theories) the class structures were replaced by a ??middle-class society?? (Helmut Schelsky), by individualized social positions (Ulrich Beck) or by varying milieus. However, the class structures are also made invisible statistically. The structural role of the persisting dominant (even if often not experienced directly)??the distribution of the ownership of means of production??is manifested in the economic growth imperative, in the increasing concentration of capital, in the application of capitalist principles in other social contexts and in limited agency of non-economic fields, especially in politics. The existence of classes??contrary to popular perceptions??requires neither a collective class consciousness or class struggles, nor is it explained by the mere fact of social inequalities. A theoretical socio-economic analysis of the production and appropriation of values as a basic theory of social inequality is still missing.     

Getting On or Getting By? Women, Social Capital and Political Participation

This article considers the utility of the concept of social capital in explaining differences in patterns of political participation among women and men, with particular reference to local politics and governance in Britain. It investigates whether women have access to the same quantity of social capital as men, whether their social capital is of the same type, and whether they use their social capital in the same way as men. Taking forward the 'capital' analogy, the article looks at how rich women are, and the extent to which they invest their social capital in political activity. As well as providing new insights into women's political behaviour, the analysis illuminates key issues for the broader social capital debate—regarding the distribution of social capital within communities, and the nature of the link between networks of sociability and patterns of political engagement.     

Jenseits von Zentrum und Peripherie

The central question for Karl Marx concerning the specific role of symbolic domination in capitalism challenges us down to the present day. We continue to improperly perceive the symbolic and immaterial structure subjacent to capitalism that is responsible for its peculiar ??symbolic violence.?? This article analyzes two interrelated issues: first, the racism implicated by concepts that articulate central and peripheral capitalism; and secondly, its principal consequence, which is the absence of broad and encompassing concepts in modern social theory. This eliminates a chance to articulate universal contexts??at least as universal as capitalism in its global expansion. The reach of contemporary critical theory is therefore limited in terms of central questions. Among the concepts that are abandoned by the fragmentation and contextualization is that of social class and that of the symbolic violence produced by structural changes that encompass capitalism as a whole. The following article draws on empirical studies concerning under class and the ??new?? middle class conducted in Brazil to illustrate its thesis.     

Rollen und Institutionen als symbolische Ordnung von Netzwerken

Roles and institutions lead to the reduction of uncertainty in communication, and to a particular pattering of social networks. Cultural patterns for actorhood, for social relationships, and for patterns of relationships are conceptualized as ??relational institutions?? that structure social networks as cultural models. Roles mediate between the structure of social networks and institutionalized cultural patterns: On the one hand, they can emerge in small-scale network contexts and crystallize as long as the network structure persists. On the other hand, communication draws on institutionalized models to reduce its own complexity and uncertainty. Thus, relational institutions imprint social networks through role categories. In order to elaborate on this relational conception of institutions and roles, the text combines arguments from social network research, from the normative and the interpretive role concept, from philosophical anthropology and neo-institutionalism with the general perspective of relational sociology.     

Unvermeidbare Ungleichheiten? Alltagsweltliche Ungleichheitsdeutungen zwischen sozialer Konstruktion und gesellschaftlicher Notwendigkeit

The article sketches a tacit ??enlightened common sense?? within stratification research according to which citizens in modern societies regard inequality as being caused by social factors and therefore in need of legitimation. The paper asks whether this is a plausible assumption about lay interpretations of stratification. Based on qualitative interviews with interviewees in privileged and disadvantaged social positions, the article reconstructs an interpretive scheme of the ??inevitability of inequality?? which regards inequality as an inescapable necessity of every social order and not as a contingent societal construct. Yet, another interpretive scheme exists that emphasizes the influence of social origin and thereby points to the social roots of stratification. Empirically, however, both interpretive schemes coexist within the consciousness of the interviewees. The potential for the criticism of inequality is thus circumscribed.     

Mobilität,Wahlbeteiligung und Sozialkapital in Schweizer Gemeinden

This paper investigates the relationship between mobility and voting behavior at different spatial levels. To this end, voter turnout in local municipality issues is compared to that in national matters. We find that the difference between local and national turnout strongly correlates with the mobility of a municipality's population. An explanation for the observed negative relationship is that social networks and the sense of duty towards the local community are weaker in municipalities where people are more mobile. In addition to this core result, it is discussed how mobility affects turnout at the local and national level separately, and it is shown how the different measures might be used as proxies for local social capital in a municipality.     

Reich und zufrieden? Theorie und Empirie zur Beziehung von Wohlstand und Lebenszufriedenheit

Different influences moderate the complex association between income and life satisfaction. In the research literature, basic human need satisfaction, interpersonal comparison processes, and adaptation are usually proposed as the driving theoretical mechanisms. Using the German Socio-economic Panel and a self conducted cross-sectional survey for the urban area of Munich this article is empirically testing hypotheses derived from these different explanations. In result, all three mechanisms add to the understanding of the nonlinear income-life satisfaction-relationship. Above a threshold of approx. 800?? monthly disposable income wealth has no further effect on life satisfaction. Based on this finding a definition of individual wealth is proposed. Furthermore, as opposed to income from employment capital income has a neglectable effect on life satisfaction. There is only weak evidence for relative income effects regarding respondent??s neighborhood but stronger evidence for the relevance of comparisons with more specific reference groups such as average citizens. Moreover, panel analyses confirm hypotheses of aspiration and adaptation. Thereby??at least for the well-off??income losses outweigh gains.     

Gelungene Integration in den Arbeitsmarkt?

This article discusses the social-structural dynamics of the biographies of transnationally mobile Europeans on the basis of 27 interviews, conducted in 2002–2003, with people of Italian, French, British, Danish, and Polish origin living in Berlin. In comparing different forms of mobility and taking into particular consideration the vocational aspects of the Europeans interviewed, this study reveals several characteristic types of transnational mobility within Europe. It does not only reveal the biographies of the elite or lower class Europeans, as these types have already been derived from the new transnational or classical migration research; it also unravels the biographies of a variety of transnational middle class Europeans. Furthermore, our study shows, that the availability of cultural and social capital is the determining factor for integration. These findings are an interesting extension to the sociological understanding of migration in the 21st century.     

Şemseddin Sami,Women, and Social Conscience in the Late Ottoman Empire

In championing women's rights, ?emseddin Sami (1850–1904) sought to remould Ottoman social conscience along an egalitarian ethic based on gender equality in intelligence. In his novel Taa??uk-? Talat ve Fitnat, his treatise Women, and his six-volume encyclopaedia Kamus al-A'lam, he offered the ideal of monogamous marriage based on love and forgiveness, underscored the imperative of female education and job opportunities, and demonstrated the wide range of women's achievements throughout Islamic and Western history. The remaking of men needed to complement the remaking of women. Detailed studies of individual writers and magazines are necessary to gain an appreciation of the struggle to redefine the dignity of women in the late Ottoman Empire.     

Der symbolische Wert der Popmusik. Zur Genese und Struktur des popmusikalischen Feldes

Based on an interpretation of the art theory of Pierre Bourdieu, which is aimed primarily at the neglected relationship of class and field, the essay is dedicated firstly to a critique, informed by theory, of the studies of the cultural omnivore. These are based on the assumption that today the correlation between musical taste and social structure is no longer determined bywhich but rather byhow many musical genres are preferred. For this reason they are supported by the conception of an erosion of musical legitimacy hierarchies. However, with the help from Bourdieu??s field theory and from the reference to the mutual relationship of production and reception, it can be shown that such legitimacy hierarchies have by no means disappeared. An analysis of the representation of pop music in the media and in the education system indicates the simultaneous legitimation and differentiation of pop. Against this background the thesis can be formulated that people with a great deal of cultural capital still prefer the legitimate culture, namely under the condition of a changed consensus of legitimacy.     

Precarity,Cognitive (Non-)Resistance and the Conservative Working Class in China

ABSTRACT

Workers’ resistance is crucial to understanding how the working class respond to the growing labour precarity in post-socialist China. The labour studies literature posits that inequality and volatile capital movements increase workers’ precarity and lead to stronger labour resistance, such as strikes. However, workers’ cognition as an integral part of resistance has been rarely studied. This article examines cognitive resistance by Chinese workers from different tier cities by looking at their social trust, class identity, understanding of policies and class solidarity. Despite capital movements and precarity causing more labour unrest, it does not necessarily lead to a stronger cognitive resistance. While inequality and precarity are greater in the more developed megacities with a shifting capital favourability, workers in megacities display a more conservative cognitive resistance than those from the lower-tier cities. This study of workers’ cognitive resistance provides insight into the future of the Chinese labour movement. It argues that the working class’s current cognitive non-resistance suggests that even if a window of opportunity were to appear in the wall of state oppression, workers are not cognitively prepared to coalesce into a coherent social movement that would bring about transformative changes.     

Social capital and support for the welfare state in Russia

Few tasks are more important in a post-communist setting than rebuilding the welfare state. We study individual preferences for increasing social welfare spending to reduce inequality. Using two surveys of about 34,000 and 37,000 Russians, we show the great importance of the “bridging” type of social capital for redistribution preferences in Russia, as it precludes possibilities of cheating and free-riding on the welfare state. Instrumenting social capital with education, climate, and distance from Moscow, we deal with endogeneity concerns and also contribute to our understanding of the deep roots of social capital in Russia. We claim that social capital in post-socialist countries could help mobilize public support for redistribution even where institutions are weak.     

Geschlecht, Ethnie, Klasse im Kapitalismus – über die Verschr?nkung sozialer Verh?ltnisse und hegemonialer Deutungen im gesellschaftlichen Reproduktionsprozess

This article asks how far social differentiation referring to gender and ethnicity as well as related inequalities are not only a result of capitalist economy but a structural feature of capitalism. The intersection of social relations and hegemonic constructions are the subject of analysis. Arguments and insights of regulation theory, feminist theory and men??s studies are discussed and continued. It is shown how andro- and eurocentric orientations were an essential feature of capitalism from its origin, and how they determined its historic specific societal structures, societal orders and dynamics. This is discussed focusing on the functional differentiation and the division of labour, inter- and intra-societal relations and hegemonic constructions, and referring to globalization and gender relations. It appears that historically capitalist formation inevitably must be seen as based on gendered and ethnic domination, but that there are also contingencies beside relations of subordination. New arrangements of domination as well as tendencies towards equity emerge. In conclusion, an epistemological outlook opens up for an analytical view in favor of perspectives which transcend the critical reflection on the western capitalist standpoint.     

Das Individuum und die Vermischung der Genres

By considering cultural practices and preferences in terms of intra-individual behavioral variation it is possible to construct a model of the social world which does not neglect individual singularities and avoids the cultural caricature of social groups. Thus, it becomes clear that the boundary between ??cultural legitimacy?? and ??cultural illegitimacy?? does not only separate different social classes, but divides up the cultural practices and preferences of individuals themselves across all classes. Without challenging the existence of social inequalities in terms of the most legitimate forms of culture, such a scientific point of view allows to establish the marked statistical frequency of individual cultural profiles composed of heterogeneous or dissonant elements. The article considers the socio-historical conditions that produce heterogeneous cultural profiles and shows that these frequent cultural dissonances allow to reinterpret the social functions of culture and to highlight the importance of the study of intra-individual behavioral variations within the framework of a sociology of dispositional and contextual plurality.     

The cultural baggage of Khorezmian identity: traditional forms of singing and dancing in Khorezm and in Tashkent

After Uzbekistan gained its independence from Soviet rule, important political and economic changes took place. The mobility of the population has since then increased drastically and created new spaces for the negotiation of social identities as well as new strategies for identity politics among the culturally and regionally diverse population of Uzbekistan. This article aims to contribute to the discussions on social identity and its ‘contents’ in the light of migration processes. The main argument centres on the importance of what Barth called the ‘cultural stuff’ of social identities when maintaining boundaries during identification processes. The analysis focuses specifically on certain singing and dancing practices of Khorezmians. It shows how these practices survive, but are also transformed in the context of Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, where people from different regions reside together and are engaged in performing and presenting their own group identity in reference to ‘others’.     

?Managing Migration“ – Eine intersektionale Kapitalismusanalyse am Beispiel der Europ?ischen Migrationspolitik

This essay examines the Europeanization of migration policy on the basis of a materialist theory of the state that is extended by an intersectional approach. The analysis revolves around four dimensions of the international division of labour: class, sex, North-South relations and ethnicity. They provide the context for both the following analysis of actors inspired by reflections on hegemony and the illustration of the hegemonic project of ??migration management??, e.g. the European recruiting of highly skilled worker and national special regimes for domestic workers. In doing so, the essay argues that such an intersectional analysis of capitalism must not end with the study of individual policies; rather it has to treat the interwoven social power relations as a starting point for further research.     

Wie entstehen Preise?

How are prices made? From the perspective of economic price theory prices are determined by supply and demand, while from an economic sociology point of view they result from the embeddedness of market transactions in institutions, networks or cultural frames of meaning. In order to build a price, the value of a good has to be transformed into economic value, i.e. a price. The paper analyses the process of transformation from value to price on the market for the rating of structured finance products. On this market, with the help of calculative practices, the abstract value of ??creditworthiness?? is converted into a concrete rating which determines credit costs. As the subprime crisis has shown, the credit bureaus and rating agencies responsible for this translation process have not been able to draw the price near to the value to which it refers. The article describes the divergence between value and price as the ??social space?? where price building is influenced by social factors that may distort prices and lead to a breakdown of the market.     

Racialisation of Immigrants at Work: Labour Mobility and Segmentation of Peruvian Migrants in Chile

This article explores the emergent racialisation of Peruvian migrants as one element conditioning the labour segregation that characterises Peruvian insertion in Chile. We understand racialisation as a process of construction of categories in which both individual and collective actors participate, and whose expression is demonstrated by the differentiation and inequality that affects the racialised group. We tackle the articulation of racial differences among individual actors, both Chilean employers and Peruvian migrant workers, to suggest that the attribution of naturalised characteristics to migrants is related to segregation, mobility, and specific trajectories in the labour market.     

Caste in Stone? Exploring Caste and Class Dimensions of Conservation Displacement in Central India

ABSTRACT

This article explores the caste and class dimensions of the local resource politics of conservation displacement. Through long-term study of a conservation displacement site in central India, it interrogates how alliances and rivalries contoured along historical class-caste contestations result in differential patterns of recovery from “green grabbing” and exclusionary conservation. It is argued that contestations within and between subaltern social groups, traditional dominant castes and newly upwardly mobile peasant castes are geared towards cornering resource flows associated with the local welfare/developmental state. Given severely limited avenues of gainful employment for the rural poor in the neo-liberal era, access to the local gatekeeping economy shapes trajectories of accumulation and decline in the context of India’s new land wars.     

Social Media, Massenmedien und gesellschaftliche Wirklichkeitskonstruktion

Since the 1990s, the Internet serves as a projection space for varied visions of a more transparent and integrative public sphere and a less dominant role of mass media in the social construction of a ??common?? reality. In light of those expectations, this text scrutinizes the relations between digital social media and mass media from a systems-theoretical perspective and observes the present preferences of German onliners as well as the content quality of network communications (weblogs, podcasts, social networking services, microblogging). The investigations lead to the conclusion that social media and mass media are situated on complementary levels of publicness.