Limits of knowing or the consequences of difficult-access problems for multi-method research and public policy

How can scientists acquire an adequate level of knowledge on phenomena whose actors actively conceal their activities? Social phenomena such as terrorism, sects, corruption, Mafia organizations, drug dealers, or government intelligence agencies actively guard their secrecy, conceal their activities, decide who is allowed (not) to know, and have no interest in being observed or understood by others. The article discusses the consequences of researching difficult-access problems for doing multi-method research. In an ideal?Ctypical approach, we distinguish between social problems that can be easily accessed and those that are difficult to access or non-accessible. To distinguish the two, we define characteristics that eventually lead to the conclusion that scientific inquiry that follows the conventional paradigm of professionalism, transparency, and replicable research reaches its limits when confronted with the active resistance of phenomena that do not like to be observed, understood, or critically approached. From this flows, the necessity to think about interdisciplinary, collaborative, and investigative modes of research that come with various prices.     

Studentische Hilfskräfte im deutschen Bildungswesen

The article takes a critical look at the situation of graduate assistants at German universities. For this purpose the paper is based on two sociological perspectives. On the one hand, being employed as a student assistant can be regarded as an important individual strategy to gather privileges in the German higher educational system. On the other hand, working as a student assistant is a paradigmatic example of labor conditions in modern society due to the fact that higher qualified persons need to be profoundly flexible and have to work under precarious employment conditions. The analysis highlights that the problematic working conditions of student assistants are caused by the specific structures of the German education system. It is the difference between individual prospects and objective possibilities which makes these precarious labor conditions possible.     

Unsachlichkeit des Ausschlusses des Verlustabzugs für Einkünfte aus VuV

Unsachlichkeit der Beschr?nkung des Verlustabzugs auf betriebliche Einkünfte im EStG angesichts des Fehlens eines hinreichend angepassten Systems der Verlustberücksichtigung für Einkünfte aus VuV.